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NATIONAL  Democratic  Committee. 


PUBLISHED    aV 

B  R  K  N  T  A  N  O  S  : 

5  Union  JSqviare, 

NE"W  YORK. 

lOl  Sttite  Street, 

1015   Rennfsylvoriia  Aven  ue, 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 

WASHINGTON,  D    C.               ' 

X'l^ICE, 


02^E  IDOXj.Xj-A-1^. 


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Digitized-by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

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THE 


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DEMOCRATIC  PARTY 


UNITED  STilTES-.- 


PrEsidEntial  ElEctinn  af  IBBB, 


"  The  Government  can  never  be  restored  and  refortned  except  from  inside,  and  by  the  active^ 
intelligent  agency  of  the  Executive.  We  must  hope  that  Providence  will,  in  its  own  good  time,  raise 
up  a  man  adapted  and  qualified  for  the  wise  execution  of  this  great  work,  and  that  the  people  will 
put  him  in  possession  of  the  executive  administration,  through  ruhich  alone  that  noble  mission  can  be 
accomplishedy  and  the  health  and  life  of  our  political  system  be  preserved  and  invigorated. — Samuel 
J.  TiLDKN  TO  Iroquois  Club,  Chicago,  March  iith,  1882. 

"  Cleveland' s  administration  has  been  free  from  official  or  personal  scandal;  has  beeH  honest 
and  clean.  There  have  been  no  Star  Route  robberies;  no  navy  jobberies ;  no  War  Department  cor- 
ruptions;  no  profligate  waste  by  United  States  Marshals;  no  Treasury  combinations  or  speculations: 
no  corrupt  operations  in  or  through  the  Land  OJfice.  No  American  at  home  or  abroad  has  had 
occasion  to  droop  his  eyes  in  shame  because  of  any  such  things  under  Mr.  Cleveland' s  administra- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  there  has  been  a  resolute  effort  to  promote  honest  government,  to  increase 
efficiency,  and  to  lessen  expenses.— Q^o.  W.  Childs,  in  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  August,  1888. 


PREPARED    BY    DIRECTION    OF    THE 

NATIONAL  Democratic  Committee. 


101  State  Street, 
CHICAGO,  ILL. 


PUBLISHED   BY 

BRKNXAKOS: 

S  Union  Square, 
NEW  YORK. 

1015  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


COPYRIGHT. 
1888. 


The  Sun  Book  and  Job  Printing  Office,  Baltimore,. 


THE  leader's  AYATCHWOED.  X7 

With  an  unalterable  hatred  of  all  such  schemes  we  count  the  checking  of  their 
baleful  operations  among  the  good  results  promised  by  revenue  reform. 

While  we  cannot  avoid  partisan  misrepresentation  our  position  upon  the 
question  of  revenue  reform  should  be  so  plainly  stated  as  to  admit  of  no  misunder- 
BtaDding. 

HOW  REPUBLICANS  HAVE  BELIED   THEIR  PROMISES. 

We  have  entered  upon  no  crusade  of  free  trade.  The  reform  we  seek  to  inaugu- 
rate is  predicated  upon  the  utmost  care  for  established  industries  and  enterprises,  a 
jealous  regard  for  the  interests  of  American  labor  and  a  sincere  desire  to  relieve  the 
country  from  the  injustice  and  danger  of  a  condition  which  threatens  evil  to  all  the 
people  of  the  land. 

We  are  dealing  with  no  imaginary  danger.  Its  existence  has  been  repeatedly 
confessed  by  all  political  parties,  and  pledges  of  a  remedy  have  been  made  on  all 
sides. 

Yet  when  in  the  legislative  body,  where  under  the  Constitution  all  remedial 
measures  applicable  to  this  subject  must  originate,  the  Democratic  majority  were 
attempting  with  extreme  moderation  to  redeem  the  pledge  common  to  both  parties, 
they  were  met  by  determined  opposition  and  obstruction  ;  and,  the  minority  refus- 
ing to  co-operate  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  or  propose  another  remedy,  have 
remitted  the  redemption  of  their  party  pledge  to  the  doubtful  power  of  the  Senate. 

The  people  will  hardly  be  deceived  by  their  abandonment  of  the  field  of  legis- 
lative action  to  meet  in  political  convention  and  flippantly  declare  in  their  party 
platform  that  our  conservative  and  careful  effort  to  relieve  the  situation  is  destruc- 
tive to  the  American  system  of  protection.  Nor  will  the  people  be  misled  by  the 
appeal  to  prfjudice  contained  in  the  absurd  allegation  that  we  serve  the  interests 
of  Europe,  while  they  will  supi  ort  the  interests  of  America. 


FREE  WHISKEY  AND  FREE  TOBACCO  PROMISED  BY  REPUBLICANS. 

They  propose  in  their  platform  to  thus  support  the  interests  of  our  country  by 
removing  the  internal  revenue  tax  from  tobacco  and  from  spirits  used  in  the  arts 
and  for  mechanical  purposes.  They  declare  also  that  there  should  be  such  a  revision 
of  our  tariflTlaws  as  shall  tend  to  check  the  importation  of  such  articles  as  are  pro- 
duced here.  Thus  in  proposing  to  increase  the  duties  upon  such  articles  to  nearly 
or  quite  a  prohibitory  point,  they  confess  themselves  willing  to  travel  backward  in 
the  road  of  civilization  and  to  deprive  our  people  of  the  markets  for  their  goods, 
which  can  only  be  gained  and  kept  by  the  semblance,  at  least,  of  an  interchange 
of  business,  while  they  abandon  our  consumers  to  the  unrestrained  oppression  of 
the  domestic  trusts  and  combinations  which  are  in  the  same  platform  perfunctorily 
condemned. 

They  propose  further  to  release  entirely  from  import  duties  all  articles  of  forei£:Q 
production  (except  luxuries)  the  like  of  which  cannot  be  produced  in  this  country. 
The  plain  people  of  the  land  and  the  poor,  who  scarcely  use  articles  of  any  descrip- 
tion produced  exclusively  abroad  and  not  already  free,  will  find  it  diflflcult  to  discover 
where  their  interests  are  regarded  in  this  proposition.      They  need  in  their  homes 


I 


992786 


XVI  THE   leader's  WATCHWORD. 

cheaper  domestic  necessaries ;  and  this  seems  to  be  entirely  unprovided  for  in  this 
proposed  scheme  to  serve  tlie  country. 

Small  compensation  for  this  neglected  need  is  found  in  the  further  purpose  here 
announced  and  covered  by  the  declaration,  that  if  after  the  changes  already  men- 
tioned there  still  remains  a  larger  revenue  than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  of  the 
government,  the  entire  internal  taxation  should  be  repealed  "rather  than  surrender 
any  part  of  our  protective  system." 

Our  people  ask  relief  from  the  undue  and  unnecessary  burden  of  tarifi  taxation 
now  resting  upon  them.    They  are  offered  instead — free  tobacco  and  free  whiskey. 

They  ask  for  bread  and  they  are  given  a  stone. 

THE  INTERESTS  OF   LABOR    DEMAND  REDUCED  COST   OF  LIVING. 

The  implication  contained  in  this  party  declaration  that  desperate  measures 
are  justified  or  necessary  to  save  from  destruction  or  surrender  what  is  termed  our 
protective  system,  should  confuse  no  one.  The  existence  of  such  a  system  is  entirely 
consistent  with  the  regulation  of  the  extent  to  which  it  should  be  applied  and  cor- 
rection of  its  abuses. 

Of  course  in  a  country  as  great  as  ours,  with  such  a  wonderful  variety  of 
interests,  often  leading  in  entirely  different  directions,  it  is  diflScult  if  not  impossible 
to  settle  upon  a  perfect  tariff  plan.  But  in  accomplishing  the  reform  we  have 
entered  upon,  the  necessity  of  which  is  so  obvious,  I  believe  we  should  not  be  con- 
tent with  a  reduction  of  revenue  involving  the  prohibition  of  importations  and  the 
removal  of  the  internal  tax  upon  whiskey.  It  can  bs  better  and  more  safely  done 
within  the  lines  of  granting  actual  relief  to  the  people  in  their  means  of  living,  and 
at  the  same  time  giving  an  impetus  to  our  domestic  enterprises  and  furthering  our 
national  welfare. 

If  misrepresentations  of  our  purposes  and  motives  are  to  gain  credence  and 
defeat  our  present  effort  in  this  direction,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  every 
endeavor  in  the  future  to  accomplish  revenue  reform  should  not  be  likewise 
attacked  and  with  like  result.  And  yet  no  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  see  in  the 
continuance  of  the  present  burdens  of  the  people,  and  the  abstraction  by  the  govern- 
ment of  the  currency  of  the  country,  inevitable  distress  and  disaster.  All  danger 
will  be  averted  by  timely  action.  The  diflQculty  of  applying  the  remedy  will  never 
be  less,  and  the  blame  should  not  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Democratic  party  if  it  is 
applied  too  late. 

With  firm  faith  in  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  our  countrymen,  and  rely- 
ing upon  the  conviction  that  misrepresentation  will  not  influence  them,  prejudice 
will  not  cloud  their  understanding  and  that  menace  will  not  intimidate  them,  let  us 
urge  the  people's  interest  and  public  duty  for  the  vindication  of  our  attempt  to 
inaugurate  a  righteous  and  beneficent  reform. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTEE  L 
DEMOCRATIC  DOCTRINES 


I. 

The    Platform    of    1888 — Adopted    by    the    Democratic 

National  Convention  at  St.  Loui^,  June  7. 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States,  iu  national  convention  assembled, 
renews  the  pledge  of  its  fidelity  to  Democratic  faith  and  reaffirms  the  platform 
adopted  by  its  representatives  in  the  convention  of  1884,  and  endorses  the  views 
expressed  by  President  Cleveland  in  his  last  annual  message  to  Congress,  as  the 
correct  interpretation  of  that  platform  upon  the  question  of  tariff  reduction ;  and 
also  endorses  the  efforts  of  our  Democratic  representatives  in  Congress  to  secure  a 
reduction  "^f  excessive  taxation. 

Chief  among  its  principles  of  party  faith,  are  the  maintenance  of  an  indisso- 
luble union  of  free  and  indestructible  states,  now  about  to  enter  upon  its  second 
century  of  unexampled  progress  and  renown  ;  devotion  to  a  plan  cf  government 
regulated  by  a  written  constitution,  strictly  specifying  every  granted  power  and  ex- 
pressly reserving  to  the  States  or  people  the  entire  ungranted  residue  of  power;  the 
encouragement  of  a  jealous  popular  vigilance,  directed  to  all  who  have  been 
chosen  for  brief  terms  to  enact  and  execute  the  laws  and  are  charged  with  the 
duty  of  preserving  peace,  insuring  equality  and  establishing  justice. 

The  Democratic  party  welcome  an  exacting  scrutiny  of  the  administration  of  the 
executive  power,  which  four  years  ago  was  committed  to  its  trust  in  the  election  of 
Grover  Cleveland  President  of  the  United  States;  and  it  challenges  the  most 
searching  inquiry  concerning  its  fidelity  and  devotion  to  the  pledges  which  then 
invited  the  suffrages  of  the  people. 

During  a  most  critical  period  of  our  financial  affairs,  resulting  from  overtaxa- 
tion,  the  anomalous  condition  of  our  currency,  and  a  public  debt  unrnaturei,  it  l>as, 
by  the  adoption  of  a  wise  and  conservative  course,  not  only  averted  disaster,  but 
greatly  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

It  has  reversed  the  improvident  and  unwise  policy  of  the  Republican  party 
touching  the  public  domain,  and  has  reclaimed  from  corporations  and  syndics  es, 
alien  and  domestic,  and  restored  to  the  people  nearly  100,000,000  of  acres  of  valuable 
land,  to  be  sacredly  held  as  homesteads  for  our  citizens. 

While  carefully  guarding  the  interest  of  the  taxpayers,  and  conforming  strictly 
to  the  principles  of  justice  and  equity,  it  has  paid  out  more  for  pensions  and  bounties 
to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  republic  than  was  ever  paid  before  during  an  equal 
period 


4  DEMOCRATIC  DOCTRINES, 

By  intelligenr.  management  and  a  judicious  and  economical  expenditure  of  the 
public  money,  it  has  set  on  foot  the  reconstruction  of  the  American  navy  upon  a 
system  which  forbids  the  recurrence  of  scandal  and  insures  successful  results. 

It  has  adopted  and  consistently  pursued  a  firm  and  prudent  foreign  policy, 
preserviijg'py^ace  vf'itH  ^\\  dji^obs.  while  scrupulously  maintaining  all  the.rights  and 
Interests  o?'our  owri'goveVrMilent  and  people  at  home  and  abroad. 

The:e2.t;kr$ion.fTqm  our  shor-eaol  Chinese  laborers  has  been  eflFectually  secured 
undei  tVd  provisions  bf^.trjpaV,  tjie  operation  of  which  has  been  postponed  by  the 
action  of  a  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate. 

Honest  reform  in  the  civil  service  Las  been  inaugurated  and  maintained  by 
President  Cleveland,  and  he  has  brought  the  public  service  to  the  highest  standard 
of  efficiency,  not  only  by  rule  and  precept,  but  by  the  example  of  his  own  untiring 
and  unselfish  administration  of  public  afEairs . 

In  every  branch  and  department  of  the  Government  under  Democratic  control 
the  rights  and  the  welfare  of  all  the  people  have  been  guarded  and  defended  ;  every 
public  interest  has  been  protected,  and  the  equality  of  all  our  citizens  before  the 
law,  without  regard  to  race  or  color,  has  been  steadfastly  maintained. 

Upon  its  record  thus  exhibited  and  upon  the  pledge  of  a  continuance  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  benvfils  of  good  government,  the  National  Democracy  invokes  a  renewal, 
of  popular  trust  by  the  re  election  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  who  is  faithful,  able  and 
prudent. 

They  invoke  an  addition  to  that  trust  by  the  transfer  also  to  the  Democracy  of 
the  entire  legislative  power. 

The  Republican  party,  controlling  the  Senate,  and  resisting  in  both  houses  of 
Congress  a  reformation  of  unjust  and  unequal  tax  laws,  which  have  outlasted  the 
necessities  of  war  and  are  now  undermining  the  abunaance  of  a  long  peace^  deny 
to  the  people  equality  before  the  law  and  tbe  fairness  and  the  justice  which  are  their 
right.  Thus  the  cry  of  American  labor  for  a  better  share  in  the  rewards  ot  indus- 
try is  stifled  with  false  prettnses;  enterprise  is  fettered  and  bound  down  to  home 
markets;  capital  is  discouraged  with  doubt,  and  unequal,  unjust  laws  can  neither  be 
properly  amended  nor  repealed. 

The  Democratic  party  will  continue,  with  all  the  power  confided  to  it,  the  strug- 
gle to  reform  these  laws  in  accordance  with  the  pledges  of  its  last  platform,  en- 
dorsed at  the  ballot-box  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people. 

Of  all  the  industrious  freemenof  our  land  an  immense  majority,  including  every 
tiller  of  tbe  soil,  gain  no  advantage  from  the  tax  laws,  but  the  price  of  nearly  every- 
thing they  buy  is  increased  by  the  favoritism  of  an  unequal  system  of  tax  legisla- 
tion. 

All  unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation. 

It  is  repugnant  to  the  creed  of  Dt^mocracy  that  by  such  taxation  the  cost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  should  be  unjustifiably  increased  to  all  our  people. 

Judged  by  Democratic  principles,  the  interests  of  the  people  are  betrayed  when 
by  unnecessary  taxation  trusts  and  combinations  are  permitted  and  fostered,  which, 
while  unduly  enriching  the  lew  that  combine,  rob  the  body  of  our  citizens,  by  de- 
priving them  as  purchasers.of  the  benefits  of  natural  competition.  Every  Demo- 
cratic rule  of  governmental  action  is  violated  when  through  unnecessary  taxation  a 
vast  sum  of  money,  far  beyond  the  needs  of  an  economical  administration,  is  drawn 
from  the  people  and  the  channels  of  trade  and  accumulated  as  a  demoralizing  sur- 
plus in  the  national  treasury.  * 


DEMOCRATIC   DOCTRINES.  6 

The  money  now  lying  idle  in  the  federal  treasury  resulting  from  superfluous 
taxation,  amounts  to  more  than  $125,000,001),  and  the  surplus  collected  is  reaching 
the  sum  of  more  than  $60,000,000  aunually. 

Debauched  by  this  immense  temptation,  the  remedy  of  the  Republican  party  is 
to  meet  and  exhaust  by  extravagant  appropriations  and  expenditures,  whether  con- 
stitutional or  not,  the  accumulations  of  extravagant  taxation. 

Tlie  Democratic  policy  is  to  enforce  frugality  in  public  expense  and  abolish 
unnecessary  taxation. 

Our  established  domestic  industries  and  enterprises  sholild  not,  and  need  not,  be 
endangered  by  a  reduction  and  correction  of  the  burdens  of  taxation.  On  the  con- 
trary, a  fair  and  careful  revision  of  our  tax  laws,  with  due  allowance  for  the  dif- 
ference between  the  wages  of  American  and  foreign  labor,  must  promote  and  en- 
courage every  branch  of  such  industries  and  enterprises,  by  giving  them  assurance 
of  an  extended  market  and  steady  and  continuous  operation. 

In  the  interest  of  American  labor,  which  should  in  no  event  be  neglected,  the 
revision  of  our  tax  laws  contemplated  by  the  Democratic  party,  would  promote 
the  advantage  of  such  labor,  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  the 
lioine  of  every  working  man,  and  at  the  same  time  securing  to  him  steady  and  re- 
munerative employment. 

Upon  this  question  of  tariff  reform,  so  closely  conceroing  every  phase  of  our 
national  life,  and  upoa  every  que^^tion  involved  in  the  problem  of  good  govern- 
ment, the  Democratic  party  submits  its  principles  and  professions  to  the  intelligent 
suffrages  of  the  American  people. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  hereby  indorses  and  recommends  the  early  pass- 
age of  the  bill  for  the  reduction  of  the  revenue  now  pending  in  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives. 

Resolved,  That  a  just  and  liberal  policy  should  be  pursued  in  reference  to  the 
Territories;  that  right  of  self  government  is  inherent  in  the  people  and  guaranteed 
under  the  Constitution;  that  the  Territories  of  Washington,  Dakota,  Montana,  and 
New- Mexico  are  by  virtue  of  population  and  development  entitled  to  admission 
into  the  Union  as  States,  and  we  unqualifiedly  condemn  the  course  of  the  Republi- 
can Party  in  refusing  Statehood  and  self-government  to  their  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  express  our  cordial  sympathy  with  the  struggling  people  of  all 
nations  in  their  effort  to  secure  for  themselves  the  inestimable  blessings  of  self- 
givernment  and  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  we  especially  declare  our  sympathy 
with  the  efforts  of  those  noble  patriots  who,  led  by  Gladstone  and  Parnell,  have 
conducted  their  grand  and  peaceful  contest  for  home  rule  in  Ireland. 


II. 

Democratic  Platform  Adopted  at  Chicago,  July   10,  1884, 
AND  Reaffirmed  at  St.  Louis,  Juxe  7,  1888. 

The  Democratic  Party  of  the  tfnion,  through  its  representatives  in  National 
Convention  assembled,  recognizes  that,  as  the  nation  grows  older,  new  issues  are 
born  of  time  and  progress,  and  old  issues  perish.  But  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Democracy,  approved  by  the  united  .voice  of  the  people,  remain,  and  will 


4  DEMOCRATIC  DOCTRINES. 

ever  remain,  as  the  best  and  only  security  for  the  continuance  of  free  government 
The  preservation  of  personal  rights ;  the  equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law ; 
the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  'the  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Government 
within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  will  ever  form  the  true  basis  of  our  liberties, 
and  can  never  be  surrendered  without  destroying  that  balance  of  rights  and  powers 
which  enables  a  continent  to  be  developed  in  peace,  and  social  order  to  be  main- 
tained by  means  of  local  self  government. 

But  it  is  indispensable  for  the  practical  application  and  enforcement  of  these 
fundamental  principles  that  the  government  should  not  always  be  controlled  by 
one  political  party.  Frequent  change  of  administration  is  as  necessary  as  constant 
recurrence  to  popular  will.  Otherwise  abuses  grow,  and  the  government,  instead 
of  being  carried  on  for  the  general  welfare,  becomes  an  instrumentality  for  impos- 
ing heavy  burdens  on  the  many  who  are  governed  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  who 
govern.    Public  servants  thus  become  arbitrary  rulers. 

This  is  now  the  condition  of  the  country.  Hence  a  change  is  demanded.  The 
Republican  party,  so  far  as  principle  is  concerned,  is  a  reminiscence ;  in  practice  it 
is  an  organization  for  enriching  those  who  control  its  machinery.  The  frauds  and 
jobbery  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in  every  department  of  the  government 
are  sufhcient  to  have  called  for  reform  within  the  Republican  party ;  yet  those  in 
authority,  made  reckless  by  the  long  possession  of  power,  have  succumbed  to  its 
corrupting  influence,  and  have  placed  in  nomination  a  ticket  against  which  the 
independent  portion  of  the  party  are  in  open  revolt. 

Therefore  a  change  is  demanded.  Such  a  change  was  alike  necessary  in  1876, 
but  the  will  of  the  people  was  then  defeated  by  fraud  which  can  never  be  for- 
gotten, nor  condoned.  Again,  in  1880,  the  change  demanded  by  the  people  was  de- 
feated by  the  lavish  use  of  money  contributed  by  unscrupulous  contractors  and 
shameless  jobbers,  who  had  bargained  for  unlawful  profits,  or  for  high  office. 

The  Republican  party,  during  its  legal,  its  stolen,  and  its  bought  tenures  of 
power,  has  steadily  decayed  in  moral  character  and  political  capacity. 

Its  platform  promises  are  now  a  list  ot  its  past  failures. 

It  demands  the  restoration  of  our  navy.  It  has  gquanc'ered  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions to  create  a  navy  that  does  not  exist. 

It  calls  upon  Congress  to  remove  the  burdens  under  which  American  shipping 
has  been  depressed.    It  imposed  and  has  continued  those  burdens. 

It  professes  the  policy  of  reserving  the  public  lands  for  small  holdings  by  actual 
settlers.  It  has  given  away  the  people's  heritage  till  now  a  few  railroads  and  non- 
resident aliens,  individual  and  corporate,  possess  a  larger  area  than  that  of  all 
our  farms  between  the  two  seas. 

It  professes  a  preference  for  free  institutions.  It  organized  and  tried  to  legalize 
a  control  of  State  elections  by  Federal  troops. 

It  professes  a  desire  to  elevate  labor.  It  has  subjected  American  workingmen 
to  the  competition  of  convict  and  imported  contract  labor. 

It  professes  gratitude  to  all  who  were  disabled  or  died  in  the  war,  leaving 
widows  and  orphans.  It  left  t)  a  Democratic  House  of  Representatives  the  first 
effort  to  e  ^ualize  both  bounties  and  pensions. 

It  proffers  a  pledge  to  correct  the  irregularities  of  our  tariff.  It  created  and  has 
continued  them.  Its  own  Tariff  Commission  confessed  the  need  of  more  than 
twenty  per  cent,  reduction.  Its  Congress  gave  a  reduction  of  less  than  four  per  cent. 


DEMOCRATIC   DOCTRINES.  7 

It  professes  the  protection  of  American  manufactures.  It  has  subjected  them  to 
an  increasing  flood  of  manufactured  goods,  and  a  hopeless  competition  with  manu- 
facturing nations,  not  one  of  which  taxes  raw  materials. 

It  professes  to  protect  all  American  industries.  It  has  impoverished  many  to  sub- 
sidize a  few. 

It  professes  the  protection  of  American  labor.  It  has  depleted  the  returns  of 
American  agriculture—an  industry  followed  by  half  our  people. 

It  professes  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law.  Attempting  to  6x  the  status 
of  colored  citizens,  the  acts  of  its  Congress  was  overset  by  the  decisions  of  its 
courts. 

It  "  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leadiri^  in  the  work  of  progress  and  reform."  Its 
caught  criminals  are  permitted  to  escape  through  contrived  delays  or  actual  conni- 
Tance  in  the  prosecution.  Honeycombed  with  corruption,  outbreaking  exposures 
no  longer  shock  its  moral  sense.  Its  honest  members,  its  independent  journals  no 
longer  maintain  a  successful  contest  for  authority  in  its  counsels  or  a  veto  upon  bad 
nominations. 

Tbat  change  is  necessary.is  proved  by  an  existing  surplus  of  more  than  $100,000,- 
OOO,  which  has  yearly  been  collected  from  a  sufferiug  people.  Unnecessary  taxation 
is  unjust  taxation.  We  denounce  the  Republican  pirty  for  having  failed  to  relieve 
the  people  from  crustiiug  war  taxes  which  have  paralyzed  business,  crippled  in- 
dustry and  deprived  labor  of  employment  and  just  reward. 

The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the  administration  from  corruption,  to 
restore  economy,  to  revive  respect  for  law,  and  to  reduce  taxation  to  the  lowest 
limit  consistent  with  due  regard  to  the  preservation  of  the  faith  of  the  nation  to  its 
creditors  and  pensioners. 

Knowing  full  well,  however,  that  legislation  affecting  the  occupations  of  the 
people  should  ba  cautious  and  conservative  in  method,  not  in  advance  of  public 
opinion,  but  responsive  to  its  demands,  the  Democratic  party  is  pledged  to  revise 
the  tariff  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  to  all  interests. 

But  in  makmg  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is  not  proposed  to  injure  any  domestic  in- 
dustries, but  raiher  to  promote  their  healthy  growtli.  From  lue  foundation  of  this 
government  taxes  collected  at  the  custom  house  have  been  the  chief  source  of 
federal  revenue.  Such  they  mast  continue  to  be.  Moreover,  many  industries  have 
come  to  rely  upon  legislation  for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of  law 
must  be  at  every  step  reirardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus  involved.  The  process 
of  reform  must  be  subject  in  the  execution  of  this  plain  dictate  of  justice. 

All  taxation  shall  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of  economical  government.  The 
necessary  reduction  in  taxation  can,  an  I  must,  be  effected  without  depriving  Amer- 
ican labor  of  the  ability  to  compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor,  and  without  im- 
posing lower  rates  of  duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover  any  increased  cost  of  pro- 
duction which  may  exist  in  consequence  of  the  higher  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in 
tlds  country. 

Sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  Federal  Government,  economi- 
cally adaiiiiistered,  including  pensions,  mterest  and  principal  of  the  public  debt,  can 
begot,  under  our  present  system  of  taxation,  from  custom  house  taxes  on  fewer 
imported  articles,  bearing  heaviest  on  articles  of  luxury,  and  bearing  lightest  on 
articles  of  necessity. 


8  DEMOCRATIC   DOCTRINES. 

We,  therefore,  denounce  the  abuses  of  the  existing  tariff,  and,  subject  to^the  pre- 
ceding limitations,  we  demand  that  Federal  taxation  shall  be  exclusively  for  public 
purposes,  and  shall  not  exceed  the  needs  of  the  Government,  economically  adminis- 
tered. 

The  system  of  direct  taxation  known  as  "  internal  revenue  "  is  a  war  tax,  and  so 
long  as  the  law  continues  the  money  derived  therefrom  should  be  sacredly  devoted 
to  the  relief  of  the  people  from  the  remaining  burdens  of  the  war  and  be  made  a  fund 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  care  and  comfort  of  worthy  soldiers  disabled  in  the  line 
of  duty  in  the  wars  of  the  republic,  and  for  the  payment  of  such  pensions  as  Con- 
gress may  from  time  to  time  grant  to  such  soldiers,  a  like  fund  for  the  sailors  having 
been  already  provided,  and  any  surplus  should  ])e  paid  into  the  treasury. 

We  favor  an  American  continental  policy  based  upon  more  intimate  commercial 
and  political  relations  with  the  fifteen  sister  republics  of  North,  Central  and  South, 
America,  but  entangling  alliances  with  none. 

We  believe  in  honest  money,  the  gold  and  silver  coinage  of  the  Constitution,  and 
a  circulating  medium  convertible  into  such  money  without  loss. 

Asserting  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  we^old  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
government,  in  its  dealings  with  the  people,  to  mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice  to 
all  citizens  of  whatever  nativity,  race,  color,  or  persuasion— religious  or  political. 

We  believe  in  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count,  and  we  recall  to  the  memory  of  the 
people  the  noble  struggle  of  the  Democrats  in  the  Forty-fifth  and  Forty-sixth 
Congresses,  by  which  a  reluctant  Republican  opposition  was  compelled  to  assent  to 
legislation  making  everywhere  illegal  the  presence  of  troops  at  the  polls,  as  a  con- 
clusive proof  that  a  Democratic  administration  will  preserve  liberty  with  order. 

The  selection  of  Federal  officers  for  the  territoiy  should  be  restricted  to  citizens 
previously  resident  therein. 

We  oppose  sumptuary  laws  which  vex  the  citizen  and  interfere  with  individual 
liberty ;  we  favor  honest  civil  service  reform,  and  the  compensation  of  all  United 
States  officera  by  fixed  salaries;  the  separation  of  church  and  state,  and  the  diffusion 
of  free  education  by  common  schools,  so  that  every  child  in  the  land  may  be  taught 
the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship. 

While  we  favor  all  legislation  that  will  tend  to  the  equitable  distribution  of  prop- 
erty, to  the  prevention  of  monopoly,  and  to  the  strict  enforcement  of  individual 
Tights  against  corporal  abuses,  we  hold  that  the  welfare  of  society  depends  upon  a 
Bcrupulous  regard  for  the  rights  of  property  as  defined  by  law. 

We  believe  that  labor  is  best  rewarded  where  it  is  freest  and  most  enlightened. 
It  should  therefore  be  fostered  and  cherished.  We  favor  the  repeal  of  all  laws 
restricting  the  free  action  of  labor,  and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which  labor  organ- 
izations may  be  incorporated,  and  of  all  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to  enlighten 
the  people  as  to  the  true  relations  of  capital  and  labor. 

We  believe  that  the  public  lands  ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  be  kept  as  home- 
steads for  actual  settlers ;  that  all  unearned  lands  heretofore  improvidently  granted 
to  railroad  corporations  by  the  action  of  the  Republican  party  should  be  restored  to 
the  public  domain  ;  and  that  no  more  grants  of  land  shall  be  made  to  corporations 
or  be  allowed  to  fall  into  the  ownership  of  alien  absentees. 

We  are  opposed  to  all  propositions  which,  upon  any  pretext,  would  convert  the 
General  Government  into  a  machine  for  collecting  taxes  to  be  distributed  among 
the  States  or  the  citizens  thereof. 


DEMOCRATIC  DOCTRINES.  9 

In  reaffirming  the  declaration  of  the  Democratic  platform  of  1856,  that  "the  lib- 
eral principles  embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  Declaration  of  independence,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Constitution,  which  make  ours  the  land  of  liberty  and  the  asylum  of 
the  oppressed  of  every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles  in  the  Democratic 
faith,"  we  nevertheless  do  not  sanction  the  importation  of  foreign  labor,  or  the  ad- 
mission of  servile  races,  unfitted  by  habits,  training,  religion,  or  kindred  for  absorp- 
tion into  the  great  body  of  our  people,  or  for  the  citizenship  which  our  laws  confer. 
American  civilization  demands  that  against  the  immigration  or  importation  of  Mon- 
goliaus  to  these  shores,  our  gates  be  closed. 

The  Democratic  party  insists  that  it  is  the  duty  of  this  government  to  protect, 
with  equal  fidelity  and  vigilance,  the  rights  of  its  citizens,  native  and  naturalized,  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  to  the  end  that  this  protection  may  be  assured,  United  States 
papers  of  naturalization,  issued  by  courts  of  competent  jurisdiction,  must  be 
respected  by  the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  our  own  government  and 
by  all  foreign  powers. 

It  is  an  imperative  duty  of  this  government  to  efficiently  protect  all  the  rights 
of  persons  and  property  of  every  American  citizen  in  foreign  lands,  and  demand 
and  enforce  full  reparation  for  any  invasion  thereof 

An  American  citizen  is  only  responsible  to  his  own  government  for  any  act 
done  in  his  own  country,  or  under  her  flag,  and  can  only  be  tried  therefor  on  her 
own  soil  and  according  to  her  laws ;  and  no  power  exists  in  this  government  to 
expatriate  an  American  citizen  to  be  tried  in  any  foreign  land  for  any  such  act. 

This  country  has  never  had  a  well-defined  and  executed  foreign  policy  save 
under  Democratic  administration  ;  that  policy  has  ever  been,  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations,  so  long  as  they  do  no  act  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  country  or 
hurtful  to  our  citizens,  to  let  them  alone ;  that  as  the  result  of  this  policy  we  recall 
the  acquisition  of  Louisiaua.  Florida,  California,  and  of  the  adjacent  Mexican  terri- 
tory by  purchase  alone,  and  contrast  these  grand  acquisitions  of  Democratic  states- 
manshio  with  the  purchase  of  Alaska,  the  sole  fruit  of  a  Republican  administration 
of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  Federal  government  should  care  for  and  improve  the  Mississippi  river 
and  other  great  waterways  of  the  republic,  so  as  to  secure  for  the  interior  States 
easy  and  cheap  transportation  to  tide-water. 

Under  a  long  period  of  Democratic  rule  and  policy  our  merchant  marine  was 
fast  overtaking,  and  on  the  point  of  outstripping  that  of  Grent  Britain. 

Under  twenty  years  of  Republican  rule  and  policy  our  commerce  has  been  left 
to  British  bottoms,  and  almost  has  the  American  flag  been  swept  off  the  high  seas. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  British  policy  we  demand  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States  an  American  policy. 

Under  Democratic  rule  and  policy  our  merchants  and  sailors,  flying  the  stars 
and  stripes  in  every  port,  successfully  searched  out  a  market  for  the  varied  products 
of  American  industry. 

Under  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  Republican  rule  and  policy,  despite  our  mani- 
fest advantage  over  all  other  nations  in  high  paid  labor,  favorable  climates  and 
teeming  soils;  despite  freedom  of  trade  among  all  these  United  States;  despite 
their  population  by  the  foremost  races  of  men,  and  an  annual  immigration  of  the 
young,  thrifty  and  adventurous  of  all  nations;  despite  our  freedom  here  from  the 
inherited  burdens  of  life  and  industry  in  old  world  monarchies— their  costly  war 


lb 


DEMORATIC  DOCTRINES. 


navies,  their  vast  taxcon'^uming,  non- producing  standiag  armies;  despite  their 
twenty  years  of  peace — that  Republican  rule  and  policy  have  managed  to  surrender 
to  Great  Bri'ain,  aloQg  with  our  commerce,  the  control  of  tlie  marlcets  of  the  world. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  British  policy,  we  demand,  in  behalf  of  the 
American  Democracy,  an  American  policy. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  part3^'s  discredited  scheme  and  false  pretense  of 
friendship  for  American  labor,  expressed  by  imposing  taxes,  we  demand,  in  behalf 
of  the  Democracy,  freedom  for  American  labor  by  reducing  taxes,  to  the  end  that 
these  United  States  may  compete  with  unhindered  powers  for  the  primacy  among 
nations  in  all  the  arts  of  peace  and  fruits  of  liberty. 

With  this  statement  of  the  hopes,  principles  and  purposes  of  the  Democratic 
party,  the  great  issue  of  reform  and  change  in  administration  is  submitted  to  the 
people  Id  calm  confidence  that  the  popular  voice  will  pronounce  in  favor  of  new 
men,  and  new  and  more  favorable  conditions  for  the  growth  of  industry,  the  ex- 
tension of  trade,  the  employment  and  due  reward  of  labor  and  of  capital,  and  the 
general  welfare  of  the  whole  country. 


THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  11 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  ST.  LOUIS  CONVENTION. 


Outline   of  the  Proceedings  of  the   Convention  Which 
Nominated  Cleveland  and  Thurman. 

On  February  22, 1888,  the  National  Democratic  Committee  met  in  Washing- 
ton to  issue  the  call  for  the  convention.  There  was  a  sharp  rivalry  between  the 
representatives  of  New  York,  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  San  Francisco  and  Cincinnati  for 
the  convention,  which  was  settled  in  favor  of  St.  Louis,  and  the  time  for  holding 
the  convention  fixed  for  Tuesday,  June  5. 

The  State  Conventions  were  held  from  February  until  within  a  fortnight  of 
the  assembling  of  the  National  Convention  at  St.  Louis.  In  every  one,  without  a 
word  ol  dissent  or  an  opposing  vote,  the  rcnomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  was 
demanded  and  his  administration  indorsed. 

The  National  Committee  met  in  St,  Louis  on  Monday,  June  5th,  and  chose 
Stephen  M.White,  Lieutenant  Governor  of  California,  as  Temporary  Chairman,  and 
Frederick  O.  Prince,  of  Massachusetts,  as  Secretary,  and  these  selections  were  rati- 
fied by  the  vote  of  the  convention.  Prayer  was  offered  by  Bishop  John  G.  Gran- 
berry,  of  Missouri. 

During  the  first  day's  session  the  various  committees  were  chosen,  consisting  of 
one  member  from  each  State  upon  Resolutions,  Credentials,  Permanent  Organiza- 
tion, the  National  Committee,  the  committee  to  notify  the  candidates  of  their  nomi- 
nation, and  a  chairman  and  secretary  for  each  delegation.  Adjournment  was  then 
had  until  the  followiug  day,  to  enable  these  committees  to  do  their  work. 

The  second  day's  session  was  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Green,  of  St. 
Louis.  The  Committee  en  Permaneot  Organization  reported  the  name  of  General 
Patrick  A.  Collins,  Representative  in  Congress  from  Massachusetts,  as  President. 
Mr.  Collins  was  escorted  to  the  chair  by  William  H  Barnum,  of  Connecticut,  Ros- 
well  P.  Flower,  of  New  York,  and  John  ODay,  of  Missouri,  and  made  the  follow- 
ing address : 

GENTSRAL.   COLLINS'S   SPEECH. 

We  represent  in  this  convention  more  than  30,000,000  of  the  American  people ;  we  bear 
the  commission  to  act  for  them,  and  their  injunction  to  act  with  all  the  wisdom  that  God 
has  given  us,  to  protect  and  saleguard  the  institutions  of  the  Republic  as  the  fathers 
founded  them. 

Iq  a  time  when  the  world  was  king-ridden  and  pauperized  by  the  privileged  few,  when 
men  scarcely  dared  to  breathe  the  word  "  Liberty,"  even  if  they  understood  its  meaning, 
the  people  scattered  along  our  eastern  coast,  with  a  sublime  heroism  never  equaled,  broke 
from  all  tradition",  rejected  all  known  systems,  and  established  to  the  amazement  of  the 
world  the  political  wonder  of  the  ages,  the  American  Republic— the  chi'd  of  revoiutJoa 
nursed  by  philosophy.  The  hand  that  framed  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence 
is  the  hand  thai  guided  the  emancipated  country  to  pro^iress  'and  glory.  It  is  the  hand 
that  guides  us  still  in  our  onward  march  as  a  free  and  progressive  people.   The  principles 


13  THE  ST.  LOUIS  CONVENTION. 

upon  which  oxir  f?overnmetit  can  securely  rest,  upon  which  the  peace,  prosperity  and 
liberties  ot  the  people  depend,  are  the  principles  of  the  founder  of  our  party,  the  apostle 
of  Democracy,  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Our  younff  men  under  thirty  have  heard  more  in  their  time  of  the  clash  of  arms  and 
the  echoes  of  war  than  of  the  principles  of  government.  It  has  been  a  period  of  passion, 
force,  impulse,  and  emotional  politics.  So  that  we  need  not  wonder  that  now  and  then  we 
hear  the  question  asked  and  scarcely  answered,  "  Wha  s  difference  is  there  between  the  two 
parties?  "  Every  Democrat  knows  the  difference.  The  Democratic  creed  was  not  penned 
by  Jefferson  for  a  section  or  a  class  of  the  people,  but  for  ail  time.  These  principles  con- 
served and  expanded  the  Republic  in  all  its  better  days.  A  STict  adherence  to  them  will 
preserve  it  to  the  end,  so  the  Democracy  of  to-day  as  in  the  past  believe  with  Jefferson 
in  (1)  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men  of  wdatever  state  or  persuasion,  religious  or 
political;  (3)  peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations,  entangling  alliances 
with  none :  (3)  support  of  the  State  Governments  in  all  their  rights  as  the  most  competent 
administratorsof  our  domestic  concerns,  and  the  surest  bulwarks  against  anti- Republican 
tendencies;  (4)  the  preservation  of  the  general  Government  in  its  whole  constitutional 
vigor,  asthesheet  anchor  of  our  peace  and  safety  abroad;  (5)  a  jealous  care  of  the  right 
ot  election  bv  the  people,  a  mild  and  safe  corrective  of  abuses,  which  are  lopped  off  by 
Ihe  sword  of  revolution  where  peaceable  means  are  unprovided ;  (6)  absolute  acquiescence 
m  th«  decisions  of  the  majority,  the  vital  principle  of  republics,  from  which  is  no  appeal 
Dvit  to  force,  the  vital  principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism;  (7)  a  well- disciplined 
militia,  our  best  reliance  in  peace  and  for  the  first  moments  in  war;  (8)  the 
supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority;  (9)  economy  in  the  public  expenses- 
that  labor  may  be  lightly  burdened ;  (10)  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts  and  the  preserva, 
tion  of  our  public  faith;  (11)  encouragement  of  agriculture  and  of  commerce  as  its 
handmaid;  il3)  the  diffusion  of  information  and  arraignment  of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of 
public  reason ;  (13)  freedom  of  religion  ;  (14)  freedom  of  the  press ;  (15)  freedom  of  the 
person  under  the  protection  of  the  habeas  corpus:  (16)  trial  by  juries  impartially  seleced. 
Add  to  these  the  golden  economic  rule  that  no  more  taxes  should  be  levied  upon  the 
people  in  any  way  than  are  necessary  to  meet  the  honest  expenses  of  government,  and 
you  have  a  boiy  of  principles  to  sin  against  which  has  been  political  death  to  every  party 
hitherto,  to  sin  against  which  in  the  future  will  be  political  suicide. 

WHAT  THE  PARTY  HAS  DONE  UNDIR  THESE. 

True  to  these  principles  the  Democratic  party  fought  successfully  our  foreign  wars» 
protected  our  citizens  in  every  clime,  compelled  the  respect  of  all  nations  for  our  flag,  added 
imperial  domain  to  our  territory,  and  insured  peace,  prosperity  and  happiness  to  all  our 
people.  False  to  these  principles  the  great  Federal,  Whig  and  Know-Nothing  parties  went 
down,  never  to  rise,  and  we  are  here  to-day,  representatives  of  the  party  that  has  survived 
all  others,  the  united,  triumphant,  invincible  Democracy,  prepared  to  strike  down  forever 
the  last  surv  ving  foe  in  November. 

Our  standard  must  be  the  rallying  point  now  and  lathe  future  for  all  good  citizens 
who  love  and  cherish  republican  institutions,  who  love  liberty  regulat^i  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  law,  who  believe  in  a  Government  not  for  a  class  or  for  a  few,  but  a  Government 
of  all  the  people,  by  all  the  people,  and  for  all  the  people.  This  has  been  the  asylum  for  all 
good  men  from  over  the  earth  who  flee  from  want  and  opprtssion,  and  mean  to  become 
Americans.  But  we  invite  and  welcome  only  "friends  to  this  ground  and  liegemen"  to  the 
Republic.  Our  institutions  cannot  change  to  meet  hostile  wishes,  nor  be  so  much  as  sensi- 
bly modified  save  by  the  peaceful  and  deliberate  action  of  the  mass  of  our  people  in 
accordance  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  land.  Whatever  problems  the  pres- 
ent has  or  the  future  may  present,  so  far  as  political  action  can  effect  them,  will  be  dealt 
with  by  the  American  people  within  the  law.  And  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  the  people 
will  find  security  for  their  liberty  and  property,  encouragement  and  protection  for  their 
industries,  peace  and  prosperity  in  following  the  party  of  the  American  masses,  which  will 
ever  shield  them  against  the  aggressions  of  power  and  monoply  on^the  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  the  surging  of  chaos.  While  almost  all  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world  is  darkened  by 
armies,  crushed  by  kings,  dr  night-mared  by  conspiracies,  we  alone  enjoy  a  healthy  peace, 
a  rational  liberty,  a  progressive  prosperity.    We  owe  it  to  our  political  institutions,  to  dem- 


THE   ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  13^ 

ociatic  teachings,  at  least  as  much  as  to  the  exuberant  soil.  The  man  is  not  a  prood  Ameri- 
can who,  knowing  what  we  are,  by  act  or  word,  cxoeriraent  or  thought,  in  any  way,  will 
attempt  to  weaken  the  foundation  of  this  splendid  political  structure— the  Republic  of  the 
United  States. 

We  are  confronted  by  a  wily,  unscrupulous,  and  desperate  foe.  There  will  be  no  speck 
on  the  record  that  they  will  not  magnify  into  a  blot;  no  circumstance  that  they  will  not 
torture  and  misrepresent;  no  disappointment  that  they  will  not  exaggerate  into  a  revoltr 
ao  class  or  creed  that  they  will  not  seek  to  inflame;  no  passion  that  they  will  not  attempt  to 
rouse;  no  fraud  that  they  will  not  willingly  perpetrate.  They  fancy,  indeed,  that  there  is 
no  imposture  too  monstrous  for  the  popular  credulity;  no  crime  that  will  not  be  condoned. 
But  we  stand  at  guard,  full  armed  at  every  point  to  meet  them.  Our  appeal  is  not  to  passion 
nor  to  prejudice,  to  class  or  faction,  to  race  or  creed,  but  to  the  sound  common  sense,  the 
interest,  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  American  people. 

THE  NEW  CONDITTOKS  OF  THK  PARTY. 

"We  meet  to-day  under  conditions  new  to  the  Democrats  of  this  generation.  How  often 
closed  about  us,  when  the  day  of  victory  seemed  almost  as  far  away  as  the  day  of  general 
judgment.  It  could  not  then  be  said  that  we  met  for  spoils  or  petsonal  advantage.  We 
met  to  keep  the  fires  of  Democratic  liberty  alive  till  the  dawn  of  a  better  day.  If  we 
were  a  party  of  misfortune,  it  must  also  be  agreed  that  we  were  a  party  of  undaunted 
we  stood  in  conventions  in  the  past  when  toothers  it  seemed  as  if  the  shadows  of  death 
courageand  inflexible  principles.  Twenty-eight  years  ago  the  Dtmocratic  party,  rent  la 
fragments,  heated  by  feuds  that  only  time  could  allay  or  punishment  destroy,  met,  as  It 
looks  now,  merely  to  settle  in  angry  mood  the  terms  upon  which  they  should  become  ex- 
iled from  power.  By  their  mad  dissensions  they  elected  to  go  to  defeat  rather  than  wait 
for  the  sobering  influence  of  time  to  close  the  breach.  To  the  younger  mtn  of  that  day 
the  act  seemed  suicide,  mitigated  by  insanity.  Their  madness  transferred  to  a  minority  of 
the  American  people  the  political  government  of  all.  That  party,  whatever  the  honesty 
and  respectability  of  its  members,  however  patriot  ic  its  motives,  was  not  broad  or  national 
at  its  base.  It  had  almost  but  one  central  Idea,  and  when  that  Idea  was  set  In  the  Consti- 
tution and  crystallized  into  law,  it  ran  a  career  of  riot  that  appalled  all  men.  The  history 
of  that  period  of  political  debauchery  Is  too  sad  and  familiar  to  Americans  to  be  recited 
anew.  The  Republican  party,  sometimes  peacefully  and  sometimes  by  force,  sometimes 
fairly  and  sometimes  by  fraud,  succeeded  in  holding  power  21  years,  till  at  last  the  Ameri- 
can people,  no  longer  condoning  its  faults  or  forgiving  Its  sins,  hurled  it  from  power  and 
again  committed  to  the  historic  party  of  the  Constitution  and  the  whole  Union  the  admin- 
istration of  our  political  aCfaira.  We  won  by  the  well  earned  coufldenco  of  the  country  la 
the  rectitude  of  our  purpose,  by  the  aid  of  chivalrous  and  conscientious  men  who  could  no 
longer  brook  the  corruptions  of  the  Republican  party.  It  was  a  great,  deserved,  necessary 
victory. 

The  day  on  which  Grover  Cleveland,  the  plain,  straightforward,  typical  .A.merican  citJ* 
zen  chosen  at  the  election,  took  the  oath  of  office  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude— a  day 
so  lovely  and  so  perfect  that  all  nature  seemed  exuberantly  to  sanction  and  to  celebrate 
the  victory— that  day  marked  the  close  of  an  old  era  and  the  beginning  of  a  new  one.  It 
closed  the  era  of  usurpation  of  power  by  the  Federal  authority,  of  illegal  force,  of  general 
contempt  for  constitutional  limitations  and  plain  law,  of  glaring  scandals,  profligate  waste 
and  unspeakable  corruption,  of  narrow  sectionalism  and  class  sfrifo,  of  the  reign  of  a 
party  whose  good  work  had  long  been  done.  It  besran  the  era  of  perfect  peace  and  perfect 
union.  The  States  fused  in  all,  their  sovereignty  into  a  Federal  Republic  with  limited  but 
ample  powers,  of  a  public  service  conducted  with  the  absolute  integrity  and  strict  economy . 
of  reforms  pushed  to  their  extreme  limit;  of  comprehensive,  sound,  and  safe  financial 
policy;  giving  security  and  confllence  to  all  enterprise  and  endeavor,  a  Democratic  admin- 
istration faithful  to  its  mijjhty  trust,  loyal  to  its  pledges,  true  to  the  Constitution,  safe- 
guarding the  interests  and  liberties  of  the  poople.  And  now  we  stand  on  the  edge  of 
another  era,  perhaps  a  greater  contest,  Avith  a  relation  to  the  electors  that  we  have  not  held 
for  a  generation— that  of  responsibility  for  the  groat  trust  of  government.  We  aro  no 
longer  authors,  but  accountants;  no  longer  critics,  but  the  criticised.  The  responsibility 
is  ours,  and  if  we  have  not  taken  all  the  power  necessary  to  make  that  responsibility  goo(i 
the  fault  is  ours,  not  that  of  the  people. 


14  THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION    HAS   JUSTIFIED    ITSELF. 

The  Admiaistration  of  President  Cleveland  has  triumpliantly  justified  his  eleotion.  It 
compels  the  respect,  confldence  and  approval  of  the  couatry.  The  prophets  of  evil  and 
disaster  are  dumb.  What  the  people  see  is  the  Government  of  the  Union  restored  to  its 
ancient  footingr  of  justice,  peace,  honesty,  and  impartial  enforcement  of  law.  They  see  the 
demands  of  labor  and  agriculture  met  so  far  as  Government  can  meet  them  by  the  legisla- 
tive enactments  for  their  encouragement  and  protection.  They  see  the  veterans  of  the 
civil  war  granted  pensions  long  due  them  to  the  amount  of  more  than  twice  in  number  and 
nearly  three  times  in  value  of  those  granted  under  any  previous  Administration.  They  see 
more  than  32.000,000  acres  of  land  recklessly  and  illegally  held  by  the  grantees  of  the  cor- 
rupt Republican  regime  restored  to  the  public  domain  for  the  benefit  of  honest  settlers. 
They  see  the  negro,  whose  fears  of  Democratic  rule  were  played  upon  by  demagogues  four 
years  ago,  not  only  more  fully  protected  than  by  his  pretended  friends,  but  honored  as  his 
race  was  never  honored  before.  They  see  a  financial  policy  under  which  reckless  specula- 
tion has  practically  ceased  and  capital  freed  from  distrust.  They  see  for  the  first  time  an 
honest  observance  of  the  law  governing  the  civil  establishment,  and  the  employes  of  the 
people  rid  at  last  of  the  political  highwaymen  with  a  demand  for  tribute  in  one  hand  and  a 
letter  of  dis-nissal  in  the  other.  They  see  useles?  offices  abolished  and  expenses  of  admin- 
istration reduced,  while  improved  methods  have  lifted  the  public  service  to  high  efficiency. 
They  see  tranquility,  order,  security  and  equal  justice  restored  in  the  land;  a  watchful, 
steady,  safe  and  patriotic  Administration— the  solemn  promises  made  by  the  Democracy 
faithfully  kept.    It  is  "  an  honest  Government  by  honest  men." 

If  this  record  seems  prosaic,  if  ir  lacks  the  blood- thrilling  element,  if  it  is  not  lit  with 
lurid  fires,  if  it  cannot  be  illustrated  by  a  pyrotecnnic  display,  if  it  is  merely  the  plain  rec- 
ord of  a  constitutional  party  in  a  time  of  paace,  engaged  in  administrative  reforms,  it  is 
because  the  people  of  the  country  four  years  ago  elected  not  to  trust  to  sensation  and  ex- 
periment, however  brilliant  and  alluring,  but  preferred  to  place  the  helm  in  a  steady  hand, 
with  a  fearless,  trustworthy,  patriotic  man  behind  it.  Upon  that  record,  and  upon  our 
earnest  efforts,  as  yet  incomplete,  to  reduce  and  equalize  the  burdens  of  taxation,  we  enter 
the  canvass  and  go  to  the  polls  confident  that  the  free  and  intelligent  people  of  this  great 
country  will  say,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servants." 

GREETING  TO  THE  INDEPENDENTS. 

To  the  patriotic  independent  citizans  who,  four  years  ago,  forsook  their  old  allegiano<) 
and  came  to  our  support,  and  who  since  tbat  time  have  nobly  sustained  the  Administra- 
tion, the  Damocraiic  party  owes  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude.  That  they  have  been  reviled 
and  insulted  by  their  former  associates  is  not  only  a  signal  compliment  to  their  character 
and  influence,  but  another  evidence  of  the  decadence  of  the  Republican  party.  Blind  wor- 
ship of  the  machine— the  political  juggernaut— is  exacted  from  every  man  who  will  take 
even  standing  room  in  that  party.  The  Democratic  temple  is  open  to  all,  and  if  in  council 
we  cannot  agree  in  all  things,  our  motto  is:  "la  essentials,  unity;  in  non-essentials, 
liberty;  iu  all  thiutrs,  charity."  To  all  good  men  we  eay:  'Come  in."  "Good  will  ne'er 
halted  at  the  door  stone."  As  four  years  ago  you  voted  with  us  to  reform  the  Administra- 
tion, to  conserve  our  institutions  for  the  well  being  of  our  common  country,  so  join  with 
us  again  in  approval  of  the  work  so  well  acoomplished  to  complete  what  re.nains  undone. 
We  ask  you  to  remember  that  it  is  a  "fatal  error  to  weaken  tho  hands  of  a  political  organi- 
zation by  which  great  reforms  have  been  achieved  ani  risk  them  in  the  hands  of  their 
known  adversaries."  Four  years  ago  you  trusted  ten 'ativply  the  Democratic  party,  and 
supported  with  zsal  and  vigor  its  candidate  for  President.  You  thought  him  strong  in  all 
the  sturdy  qaaliMes  requisite  for  the  great  task  of  reform.  Behold  your  splendid  justifica- 
tion. No  President  in  time  of  peace  had  so  diffi  iult  and  laborious  a  duty  to  perform.  His 
party  had  been  out;  of  power  for  twenty-four  years.  Every  member  of  it  hsid  been  almost 
venomously  excluded  from  the  smallest  post  where  administration  could  be  studied. 
Every  place  was  filled  by  men  whose  interest  it  was  to  thwart  inquiry  and  belittle  the  new 
Administration  ;  but  the  master  hand  came  to  the  helm,  and  the  true  course  has  been  kept 
from  the  beginning. 

We  need  not  wait  for  time  to  do  justice  to  the  character  and  services  of  President 
Cleveland.    Honest,  clear-sighted,  patient,  grounded  in  respect  for  law  and  justice,  with  a 


THE  8T.    LOUIS  CONVENTION.  15 

thorough  ^asp  of  principles  and  situations,  with  marvelous  and  conscientious  industry^ 
the  very  incarnation  of  firmness— he  has  nobly  fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  party,  nobly 
met  the  expectations  of  his  country,  and  written  his  name  high  on  the  scroll  where  future 
Americans  will  read  the  names  of  men  who  have  been  supremely  useful  to  the  Republic. 

Fellow  Democrats:  This  is  but  the  initial  meeting  in  a  political  campaign  destined  to  be 
memorable.  It  will  be  a  clashing  of  nearly  even  forces.  Let  no  man  here  or  elsewhere 
belittle  or  underestimate  the  strength  or  resources  of  the  opposition.  But  jrreat  as  they 
are,  the  old  Democratic  party,  in  conscious  strength  and  perfect  union,  faces  the  issue 
fearlessly. 

When  the  permanent  orgtinization  had  been  effected,  the  Committee  on  Reso- 
lutions not  being  ready  to  report,  a  motion  to  proceed  at  once  to  name  candidates 
for  the  nomination  for  President  of  the  United  States  was  carried,  and  Daniel 
Dougherty,  of  New  York,  presented  the  name  of  Grover  Cleveland  in  the 
following  speech : 

DANIEL    DOXTGHERTY'S  NOMINATING  SPEECH. 

I  greet  you,  my  countrymen,  with  fraternal  regard.  In  your  presence  I  bow  to  the 
majesty  of  the  people!  The  sight  itself  is  inspiring;  the  thought  sublime!  You  come 
from  every  State  and  Territory,  from  every  nook  and  corner  of  our  ocean-bound,  conti- 
nent-covering country.  You  are  about  to  discharge  a  more  than  imperial  duty  with 
simplest  ceremonials.  You,  as  representatives  of  the  people,  are  to  choose  a  magistrate 
with  power  mightier  than  a  monarcn,  yet  choclied  aud  controlled  by  the  supreme  law  of  a 
written  Ckmsutution. 

Thus  impressed  I  ascend  the  rostrum  to  name  the  next  President  of  the  United  States. 
New  York  pr  sents  him  to  the  convention  and  pledges  her  electoral  vote.  Delegations 
from  the  thirty-eight  States  and  all  the  Territories  are  assembled  without  caucus  or  con- 
sultation, ready  simultaneously  to  take  up  the  cry  and  make  the  vote  unanimous.  We  are 
here,  not  indeed  to  choose  a  candidate,  but  to  name  the  one  the  people  have  already 
chosen.  Ho  is  the  man  for  the  people !  his  career  illustrates  the  glor*'  of  our  institutions. 
Eight  years  ago,  unknown  save  in  his  own  locality,  he  for  the  last  four  has  stood  in  the 
gaze  of  the  world  discharging  the  most  exalted  duties  that  can  be  confided  to  a  mortal. 
To-day  determines  that  not  of  his  own  choice,  but  by  the  mandate  of  his  countrymen,  and 
with  the  sanction  of  Heaven,  he  shall  fill  the  presidency  for  four  years  more.  He  has  met 
and  mastered  every  question  as  if  from  youth  trained  to  statesmanship.  The  protr'ises  ot 
bis  letter  of  acceptance  aud  inaugural  address  have  been  fulfilled.  His  fidelity  in  the  past 
Inspireataithin  the  future.    He  is  not  a  hope.    He  is  a  realization. 

Scorning  subterfuge,  disdaining  re-election  by  concealing  convictions,  mindful  of  his 
oath  of  office  to  defend  the  Constitution,  he  courageously  declares  to  Congress,,  dropping 
minor  matters,  that  thesupreme  issue  is  reform,  revision,  reduction  of  national  taxation. 
ThattheTreasury  of  the  United  States,  glutted  with  unneeded  gold,  oppresses  industry, 
emiaarrasses  business,  endangers  ^aancial  tranquility,  and  breeds  extravagance,  central- 
ization and  corruption.  That  high  taxation,  vital  for  the  expenditures  of  an  unparalleled 
■war,  is  robbery  in  years  of  prosperous  peace.  That  the  millions  that  pour  into  the  Treasury 
come  from  the  hard-earned  savings  of  the  American  people.  Tbatin  violation  of  equality  of 
rights  the  present  tariff  has  created  a  privileged  class,  wbo,  ehaping  legislation  for  their 
personal  gain,  levy  by  law  contributions  for  the  necessaries  of  life  from  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  the  land.  That  to  lower  the  tarifP  is  not  free  trade.  It  is  to  reduce  the  unjust 
profits  of  monopolists  and  boss  manufacturers  and  allow  consumers  to  retain  the  rest.  The 
man  who  asserts  that  to  lower  the  tariff  means  free  trade  insults  intelligence.  We  brand 
him  asaialsifler.  It  is  furtherest  from  thought  to  imperil  capital  or  disturb  enterprises 
The  aim  is  to  uphold  wages  and  protect  the  rights  of  all. 

This  administration  has  rescued  the  public  domain  frorr^  would-be  barons  and  cormo- 
rant corporations  faithless  to  obligations,  and  reserved  it  for  free  homes  for  this  and  com- 
ing generations.  There  is  no  pilfering.  There  are  no  jobs  under  this  Administration. 
Public  office  is  a  public  trust.    Integrity  stands  guard  at  every  post  of  our  vast  empire. 

While  the  President  has  been  the  medium  through  which  has  flowed  the  undyingr 
gratitude  of  the  Republic  for  her  soHiers,  he  has  not  hesitated  to  withhold  approval  from 
special  legislation  if  strictest  inquiry  revealed  a  want  of  truth  and  justice. 


16  THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION. 

Above  all,  sectional  strife  as  never  before  is  at  an  end,  and  sixty  millions  of  freemen 
la  the  ties  oC  brotherhood  are  prosperous  and  happy. 

These  are  the  achievements  of  this  Administration.  Under  the  same  Illustrious 
leader  we  are  ready  to  meet  our  political  opponents  in  high  and  honorable  debate  and 
stake  our  triumph  on  the  intelligence,  virtus  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  Adhering  to 
the  Constitution,  its  every  Jine  and  letter,  ever  remembering  that  powers  not  delegated  to 
the  United  States  by  the  Constitution  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States  are  reserved  to  the 
States  respectively  or  to  the  people,  by  the  authority  of  the  Democracy  of  New  York 
backed  by  the  Democracy  of  the  entire  Union,  I  give  you  a  name  entwined  with  victory. 
I  nominate  Grover  Cleveland,  of  NeAV  York.  * 

Delegates  from  Kentucky,  Georgia,  South  Carollua,  Texas,  Michigan  seconded 
the  nomination,  and,  as  no  other  name  was  presented  to  the  convention,  Grover 
Cleveland  received  the  vote  of  every  delegate,  and  was  declared  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  President. 

COMPLETING    ITS  WORK. 

The  platform  adopted  by  the  convention  at  its  third  days'  session  will  be  found 
elsewhere. 

The  remaining  work,  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  Vice-President,  was 
completed  at  the  session  of  the  third  day.  M.  F.  Tarpey,  of  California,  presented 
the  name  of  Allen  G.  Thurman,  of  Ohio;  Thomas  M.  Patterson,  of  Colorado,  that 
cf  John  C.  Black,  of  Illinois,  and  Daniel  W.  Voorhces,  of  Indiana,  that  of  Isaac  P. 
Gray,  of  Indiana.  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Thurman  was  seconded  by  the  delegat'^s 
from  Connecticut,  Missouri,  New  York,  Nevada,  New  Jersey,  Tennessee,  South 
Carolina,  Texas,  Virginia  and  Montana,  while  speeches  were  made  in  favor  of  the 
nomination  of  Governor  Gray  by  delegates  from  Gtorgia  and  Kentucky. 

The  first  ballot  showed  6S5  votes  for  Thurman,  104  for  Gray  and  32  for  Black. 
Before  the  result  was  announced  the  names  of  Gray  and  Black  were  withdrawn,  and 
Mr.  Thurman  was  unanimously  nominated  as  thfi  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  platform,  resolutions  were  adopted  expressing  sym- 
pathy with  General  Sheridan  and  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  Thomas  A.  Hend- 
ricks, Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Winfield  S.  Hancock  and  George  B.  McGIellan.  After  the 
usual  resolntion  of  thanks  to  the  officers  of  the  convention  had  been  passed  adjourn- 
ment was  had  bine  die. 


NOTIFICATION  OF  CANDIDATES.  17 

CHAPTER  III. 
NOTIFICATION  OF   CANDIDATES. 


SPEECHES     OF      PRESIDENT      CLEVELAND      AND    THURMAN     IN    RE- 
SPONSE  TO    THE   COMMITTEE   OF   THE   NATIONAL    DEMO- 
CRATIC   CONVENTION. 

On  June  26,  the  committee,  upon  due  notice,  met  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in 
Washington,  for  the  purpDse  of  gi^'ing  the  President  oflEicial  notice  of  his  nomma 
tion  lor  President  by  the  National  Convention  at  St.  Louis  on  June  6.  The  formal 
letter  was  read  by  -Mr  Jacob,  of  Kentucky,  to  which  the  President  responded  in 
the  following  speech : 
Mr.  Collins  and  Oentlemen  of  the  Commitlee: 

I  cannot  but  be  pro fou idly  impressed  when  I  see  about  me  the  messengers  of 
the  national  Democracy,  bearing  its  suoimons  to  daty.  The  political  party  to  which 
1  ovve  allegiance  both  honors  and  commands  me.  It  places  in  my  hand  the  proud 
standard  and  bids  me  bear  it  high  at  the  front  in  a  battle  which  it  wages  bravely 
because  conscious  of  right,  confidently  because  its  trust  is  in  the  people,  and 
soberly  because  it  comprehends  the  obligations  which  success  imposes. 

The  message  which  you  bring  awakens  within  me  the  liveliest  sense  of  per- 
sonal gratitude  and  satisfaction,  and  the  honor  which  you  tender  me  is  in  itself  so 
great  that  there  might  well  be  no  room  for  any  other  sentiment.  And  yet  I  can- 
not rid  myself  of  grive  and  serious  thoughts  when  I  remember  that  party  sapre- 
macy  is  not  alone  involved  in  the  conflict  which  presses  upon  us,  but  that  we 
struggle  to  secure  and  save  the  cherished  institutions,  the  welfare,  and  happiness  of 
a  nation  of  freemen. 

Familiarity  with  the  great  office  which  I  hold  has  but  added  to  my  apprehen- 
sion of  its  sacred  character  and  the  cousecration  demanded  of  him  who  assuines  its 
immense  responsibilities.  It  is  the  repository  of  the  people's  will  and  power. 
Within  its  viaion  should  be  the  protection  and  welfare  of  the  hunjblest  citizen,  and 
with  quick  ear  it  should  catch  from  the  remotest  corner  of  the  land  the  plea  of  the 
people  for  justice  and  for  right.  For  the  sake  of  the  people  he  who  holds  this  office 
of  theirs  should  resist  every  encroachment  upon  its  legitimate  functions,  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  integrity  and  u^efalness  of  the  office  it  should  be  kept  near  to  the  peo- 
ple and  be  administered  in  full  sympathy  with  their  waats  and  needs. 

This  occasion  reminds  me  most  viviJly  of  the  scene  when,  four  years  ago,  I 
received  a  message  from  my  party  similar  to  that  which  you  now  deliver.  With 
all  that  has  passed  since  that  day  I  can  truly  say  that  the  feeling  of  awe  with  which 
I  heard  the  sammoaj  then  is  intensified  many  fold  when  it  is  repeated  now.  Four 
years  ago  I  knew  that  our  chief  executive  office,  if  not  carefully  guarded,  might 
drift  little  by  little  away  from  the  people,  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  become  a  per- 
version of  all  that  it  ought  to  be;  but  I  did  not  know  how  much  its  moorings  had 
already  been  loosened. 


18  NOTIFICATION  OP  CANDIDATES. 

I  knew  four  years  ago  bow  well  devised  were  the  principles  of  true  Democracy 
for  the  successful  operation  of  a  government  by  the  people  and  for  the  people;  but 
I  did  not  know  how  absolutely  necessary  their  application  then  was  for  the  restora- 
tion to  the  people  of  their  safety  and  prosperity.  I  knew  then  that  abuses  and  ex- 
travagances had  crept  into  the  management  of  public  affairs ;  but  I  did  not  know 
their  numerous  forms,  nor  the  tenacity  of  their  grasp.  I  knew  then  something  of 
the  bitterness  of  partisan  obstruction ;  but  I  did  not  know  how  bitter,  how  reckless 
and  how  shameless  it  could  be  I  knew,  too,  that  the  American  people  were 
patriotic  and  just;  but  I  did  not  know  how  grandly  they  loved  their  country,  nor 
how  noble  and  generous  they  were. 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  actsandthepolicyof  the  Administration  now  draw- 
ing to  its  close.  Its  record  is  open  to  every  citizen  of  the  land.  And  yet  1  will  not 
be  denied  the  privilege  of  asserting  at  this  time  that  in  the  exercise  of  the  functions 
of  the  high  trust  confided  (o  me  I  have  yielded  obedience  only  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  solemn  obligation  of  my  oath  of  office.  I  have  done  those  things  which,  in 
the  light  of  the  understanding  God  has  given  me,  seemed  most  conducive  to  the 
welfare  of  my  countrymen  and  the  promotion  of  good  government.  I  would  not 
if  I  could,  for  myself  nor  for  you,  avoid  a  single  consequence  of  a  fair  interpreta- 
tion of  my  courso. 

It  but  remains  for  me  to  say  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the  Democracy  of 
the  Nation,  that  I  accept  the  nomination  with  which  they  have  honored  me,  and 
that  I  will  in  due  time  signify  such  acceptance  in  the  usual  formal  manner. 

MR.   THURMAN's  acceptance. 

On  the  28th  of  June  the  committee  presented  its  letter  of  notification  of  his 
nomination  as  Vice-President  to  Mr.  Thurman,  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  he  made 
the  following  response : 
Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee : 

I  pray  you  to  accept  my  very  sincere  Thanks  for  the  kind  and  courteous  manner 
in  which  you  have  communicated  to  me  the  official  information  of  my  nomination  by 
the  St.  Louis  Convention.  You  know  withoutsaying  it  that  I  am  profoundly  grateful 
to  the  Convention  and  to  the  Democratic  party  for  the  honor  conferred  upon  me, 
and  the  more  so  that  it  was  wholly  unsought  and  undesired  by  me;  not  that  I 
undervalued  a  distmction  which  any  man  of  our  party,  however  eminent,  might 
highly  prize,  but  simply  because  I  had  ceased  to  be  ambitious  for  public  life. 

But  when  I  am  told  in  so  earnest  and  impressive  a  manner  that  I  can 
still  render  service  to  the  good  cause  to  wiiich  I  have  ever  been  devoted — a 
cause  to  which  I  am  bound  by  the  ties  of  affection,  by  the  dictates  of  judgment, 
by  a  sense  of  obligation  for  favors  £0  often  conferred  upon  me,  and  by  a  fervent 
hope  that  the  party  may  long  continue  to  be  able  to  serve  the  republic,  what  can  I 
under  such  circumstances  do  but  yield  my  private  wishes  to  the  demand  of  those 
whose  opinions  I  am  bound  to  respect?  Gentlemen,  with  an  unfeigned  diffidence 
in  my  abifity  to  fulfil  the  exoectations  that  led  to  my  nomination,  I  yet  feel  it  to 
be  my  duty  to  accept  it  and  do  all  that  it  may  be  in  my  power  to  do  to  merit  so 
marked  a  distinction. 

Gentlemen,  the  country  is  blest  by  an  able  and  honest  administration  of  the 
general  Government.  We  have  a  President  who  wisely,  bravely,  diligently,  and 
patriotically  discharges  the  duties  of  hia  high  office.    I  fully  believe  that  the  best 


NOTIFICATION  OF  CANDIDATES.  19 

interests  of  the  country  require  his  re-election,  and  the  hope  that  I  may  be  able  to 
contribute  somewhat  to  bring  about  the  result  is  one  of  my  motives  for  accepting  a 
place  on  our  ticket,  and  I  also  feel  it  my  duty  to  labor  for  a  reduction  of  taxes  and 
to  put  a  stop  to  that  accumulation  of  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury  that,  in  my  judg- 
ment, is  not  only  prejudicial  to  our  financial  welfare,  but  is  in  a  high  degree 
dangerous  to  honest  and  constitutional  government. 

I  suppose,  gentlemen,  that  I  need  say  no  more  to-day.  In  due  time,  and  in 
accordance  with  established  usage,  I  will  transmit  to  your  chairman  a  written 
acceptance  of  my  nomination  with  such  observations  upon  public  qnestions  as 
may  seem  to  me  to  be  proper. 


30  SKETCH  OF   GllOVER  CLEVELAND. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
SKETCH  OF  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States,  was  born  in  Caldwell, 
Essex  county,  New  Jersey,  on  March  18,  1837.  The  house  in  which  he  was 
born,  a  small  two-story  wooden  building,  is  still  standing.  It  was  the  parsonage  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  his  lather,  Richard  Cleveland,  at  the  time  was 
pastor. 

The  family  is  of  New  England  origin,  and  for  two  centuries  has  contributed  to 
the  professions  and  to  business,  men  who  have  reflected  honor  on  the  name  Aaron 
Cleveland,  President  Cleveland's  great  grandfather,  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
but  subsequently  moved  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  became  an  intimate  friend  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  at  whose  house  he  died.  He  left  a  large  family  of  children, 
who  in  time  married  and  settled  in  different  parts  of  New  England.  A  grandson 
■was  one  of  the  small  American  force  that  fought  the  British  at  Bunker  Hill.  He 
served  with  gallantry  throughout  the  Revolution,  and  was  honorably  discharged  at 
its  close  as  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Continental  army.  Another  grandson,  William 
Cleveland,  a  son  of  a  second  Aaron  Cleveland,  who  was  distinguished  as  a  writer 
and  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  legislature,  was  Grover  Cleveland's  grand- 
father. William  Cleveland  was  a  silversmith  in  Norwich,  Connecticut.  He  ac- 
quired by  industry  some  property  and  sent  his  son,  Richard  Cleveland,  the  father 
of  Grover  Cleveland,  to  Yale  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1824.  During  a 
year  spent  in  teaching  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  after  graduation,  he  met  Miss  Anne 
Neale,  daughter  of  a  Baltimore  book  publisher,  of  Irish  birth.  He  was  earning  his 
own  way  in  the  world  at  the  time  and  was  unable  to  marry ;  but  in  three  years  he 
completed  a  course  of  preparation  for  the  ministry,  secured  a  church  in  Windham, 
Connecticut,  and  married  Anne  Neale.  Subsequently  he  moved  to  Portsmouth,  Va., 
where  he  preached  for  nearly  two  years,  when  he  was  summoned  to  Caldwell,  N.  J., 
where  was  born  Grover  Cleveland.  When  he  was  three  years  old  (1841)  the  family 
moved  to  Fayette ville,Onondago  county,NewYork.  Here  Grover  Cleveland  lived, 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  the  rugged,  healthful  life  of  a  country  boy.  His 
frank,  generous  manner  made  him  a  favorite  among  his  companions,  and  their  re- 
spect was  won  by  the  good  qualities  in  the  germ  which  his  manhood  developed.  He 
attended  the  district  school  of  the  village  and  was  for  a  short  time  at  the  academy. 
His  father,  however,  believed  that  boys  should  be  taught  to  labor  at  an  early  age, 
and  before  he  had  completed  the  course  of  study  at  the  academy  he  began  to  work 
in  the  village  store  at  $50  for  the  first  year  and  the  promise  of  |100  for  the  second 
year.  His  work  was  well  done,  and  the  promised  increase  of  pay  was  granted  in  the 
second  year. 

Meanwhile  his  father  and  family  bad  moved  to  Clinton,  the  seat  of  Hamilton 
college,  where  his  father  acted  as  agent  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions, preaching  in  the  churc!  es  of  the  vicinity.  Hither  Grover  came  at  his 
father's  request  shortly  after  the  begmning  of  his  second  year  at  the  FayettevillQ 


I 


SKETCH  OF  GROVER   CLEVELAND.  21 

store,  and  resumed  his  studies  at  the  Clinton  Academy.  After  three  years  spent  in 
this  town,  the  Rev.  Richard  Cleveland  was  called  to  the  village  church  of  Holland 
Patent,  He  had  preached  heie  only  a  month  when  he  was  suddenly  stricken  down 
and  died  wittiout  an  hour's  warning.  The  death  of  the  father  left  the  family  in 
straitened  circumstances,  as  Richard  Cleveland  had  spent  all  of  his  salary  of 
$1,000  per  year,  which  was  not  required  for  the  necessary  expenses  of  living  upon 
the  education  of  his  children,  of  whom  there  were  nine,  Grover  being  the  fifth. 
<jrROVEB  was  hoping  to  enter  Hamilton  College,  but  the  death  of  h  s  father  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  earn  his  own  livelihood.  For  the  first  year  (1853  4)  he  acted 
as  assistant  teacher  and  bookkreper  in  the  institution  for  the  Blind  in  New  York 
city.  In  the  winter  of  1854  he  returned  to  Holland  Patent,  where  the  generous 
people  of  that  place,  Fayetteville  and  Chnton  had  purchased  a  home  for  his  mother, 
and  in  the  following  spring,  borrowing  twenty-five  dollars  he  set  out  for  the  West 
to  earn  his  living.  Reaching  Bufi'alo  he  paid  a  hasty  visit  to  an  uncle,  Mr.  Lewis 
F.  Allen,  a  well-known  stock  farmer,  living  at  Black  Rock,  a  few  miles  distant. 
He  communicated  his  plans  to  Mr.  Allen,  who  discouraged  the  idea  of  the  West 
and  finally  induced  the  enthusiastic  boy  of  seventeen  to  remain  with  him  and  help 
him  prepare  a  catalogue  of  blooded  short-horn  cattle,  known  as  "  Allen's  American 
Herd  Book,"  a  publication  familiar  to  all  breeders  of  cattle.  For  this  work  young 
Cleveland  was  to  receive  fifty  dollars,  and  his  uncle  further  agreed  to  secure  a 
position  for  him  in  a  lawyer's  oflSce  as  a  clerk  or  copyist.  His  ambition  had  turned 
toward  the  law  ever  since  his  days  in  the  Clinton  Academy,  and  it  was  partially  in 
the  hope  of  finding  some  opportunity  to  begin  the  study  of  the  law  that  he  had 
first  decided  to  go  West.  After  several  unsuccessful  efl"ort8  he  secured  a  place  with 
Rogers,  Bowen  &  Rogers,  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  in  the  county.  He  entered 
that  office  accordingly  in  August,  1855,  and  after  serving  a  few  months  without  pay 
was  paid  four  dollars  a  week — an  amount  barely  sufficient  to  meet  the  necessary  ex- 
penses of  his  board  in  the  family  of  a  fellow  student  in  Buffalo,  with  whom  he  took 
lodgings.  Shortly  afterward  he  took  a  small  room  in  the  attic  of  the  Southern 
Hotel,  then  a  favorite  stopping  place  with  di overs  and  farmers. 

Life  at  this  time  with  Grover  Cleveland  was  a  stern  battle  with  the  world.  He 
took  his  breakfast  by  candle  light  wth  the  drovers,  and  went  at  once  to  the  office, 
where  the  whole  day  was  spent  in  work  and  study.  Usually  he  returned  again  at 
night  to  resume  reading  which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  duties  of  the  day.  In 
this  manner  the  foundations  of  legal  knowledge  were  laid  deep  and  firm  at  the  same 
time  that  habits  of  industry  and  close  application  were  acquired.  Gradually  his  em- 
ployers came  to  recognize  the  ability,  trustworthiness  and  capacity  for  hard  work  in 
their  young  employee,  and  by  the  time  that  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  (1859)  he 
stood  high  in  their  confidence.  A  year  later  he  was  made  confidential  and  managing 
clerk,  and  in  the  course  of  three  years  more  his  salary  had  been  raised  to  $1,000.  In 
1863  he  was  appointed  Assistant  District  Attorney  of  Erie  County  in  recognition  of 
his  abilities  and  his  services  to  the  Democratic  party. 

Since  his  first  vote  had  been  cast  in  1858  he  had  been  a  staunch  Democrat,  and 
had  enrolled  himself  among  the  young  men  of  his  ward  to  do  duty  at  the  polls  on 
election  day.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  until  he  was  chosen  Governor  he  always 
made  it  his  duty,  rain  or  shine,  to  stand  at  the  polls  and  give  out  ballots  to  Demo- 
cratic voters.  During  the  first  year  of  his  term  as  Assistant  District  Attorney,  the 
Democrats  desired  especially  to  carsy  the  Board  of  Supervisors.    The  old  Second 


I 


22  SKETCH  OF  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

Ward  in  "which  he  lived  was  Republican  ordinarily  by  250  majority,  but  at  the  urgent 
request  of  the  party  Qrover  Cleveland  consented  to  be  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Supervisor,  and  came  within  thirteen  votei  of  an  election.  The  three  years  spent 
in  the  District  Attorney's  office  were  devoted  to  assiduous  labor  and  the  extension 
of  his  professional  attainments.  So  vigorously  was  crime  prosecuted  and  so  effici- 
ently did  he  administer  the  office  that  he  was  nominated  for  District  Attorney  in 
1865,  with  one  voice  by  the  Democrats.  The  Republicans  nominated  Mr.  L)  man 
K.  Bass,  a  particular  friend  of  Cleveland's,  in  order  to  divide  the  young  men's  vote 
then  beginning  to  be  a  prominent  factor  in  Buffalo  politics.  The  election  was 
closely  contested,  but  Bass  won  by  about  500  majority,  although  Cleveland  polled 
more  than  the  party  vote  in  all  the  city  wards.  When  he  retired  from  the  position 
of  Assistant  District  Attorney,  on  January,  1866,  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
the  late  Isaac  V.  Vanderpoel,  ex-State  Treasurer,  under  the  firm  name  of  Vanderpoel 
&  Cleveland.  Here  the  bulk  of  the  work  devolved  on  Cleveland's  shoulders,  and 
he  soon  won  a  good  standing  at  the  bar  of  Erie  County.  In  1809  Mr.  Cleveland 
formed  a  partnership  with  ex  Senator  A.  P.  Laning  and  ex-Assistant  United  States 
District  Attorney  Oscar  Folsom,  under  the  firm  name  of  Laning,  Cleveland  &  Fol- 
Bom.  Daring  these  years  he  began  to  earn  a  moderate  professional  income ;  but  the 
larger  portion  of  it  was  sent  to  his  mother  and  sisters  at  Holland  Patent,  to  whose 
support  he  had  contributed  ever  since  1800. 

In  1870,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  Democracy  and  against  his  own 
wishes,  he  consented  to  be  the  candidate  for  Sheriff.  The  election  was  closely 
contested,  but  Mr.  Cleveland  and  the  en'ire  Democratic  ticket  was  elected  by  a 
good  majority. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  official  term  as  Sheriff  (January  1, 1874),  Mr.  Cleve- 
land resumed  the  practice  of  the  law.  associating  himself  with  the  Hon.  Lyman 
K.  Bass,  his  former  competitor,  and  Mr.  Wilson  S.  Bissell.  The  firm  was  strong 
and  popular,  and  soon  commanded  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  Ill-health 
forced  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Bass  in  1379,  and  the  firm  became  Cleveland  &  Bis- 
sell.    In  1881  Mr.  George  J.  Sicard  was  added  to  the  firm. 

In  the  autumn  election  of  1881  the  Democrats  of  Buffalo  nominated  Grover 
Cleveland  for  Mayor  on  a  platform  pledging  the  party  to  administrative  reform 
and  economy  in  the  expenditures  of  the  city.  He  was  elected  by  a  majority  of 
over  3,500— the  largest  majority  ever  given  a  candidate  for  Mayor — and  the  Demo- 
cratic city  ticket  was  successful,  although  the  Republicans  carried  Buffalo  by  ov-^r 
1,000  majority  for  their  State  ticket.  Grover  Cleveland's  administration  as  Mayor 
fully  justified  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  people  of  Buffalo,  evidenced 
by  the  great  vote  he  received. 

It  was  his  courageous  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  people  and  his  great 
executive  abilities  which,  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1882,  gave  him  prominence 
before  the  Democracy  of  the  State  as  a  candidate  for  Governor.  The  Democratic 
State  Convention  met  at  Syracuse,  on  September  22, 1882,  and  nominated  Grover, 
Cleveland  for  Gqyernor  on  the  third  bahot.  The  campaign  that  followed  was  aus- 
picious from  the  beginning,  and  terminated  with  a  triumphant  victory.  Cleveland} 
was  elected  Governor  over  Charles  J.  Folger,  ex- Chief  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Ap- 
peals and  at  the  time  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  by  a  majority  of  192,000,  by  faH 
the  largest  ever  given  in  this  State,  and  the  largest  ever  given  in  any  State  in  thoj 
Union.    He  was  inaugurated  on  January  1, 1883. 


SKETCH  OP  GROVER  CLEVELAND.  g3 

Physically,  he  is  of  a  large  and  powerful  frame,  deliberate  and  firm,  but  not 
slow  in  his  motions.  His  manner  and  tone  of  voice  are  genial  and  agreeable.  He 
is  broad-minded  and  liberal  in  his  habits  of  thought,  and  a  man  of  conscience 
rather  than  a  man  of  any  sect  or  creed.  All  his  surroundings  and  habits  are  those 
of  Democratic  simplicity. 

Mr.  Cleveland  was  chosen  President  at  the  election  held  Tuesday,  November  8, 
1884,  receiving  219  electoral  votes  to  182  cast  for  James  G.  Blaine.  He  resigned  the 
governorship  of  the  State  of  New  York  upon  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature  in 
January,  1885. 

He  continued  to  reside  in  Albany  until  about  the  first  of  March  following,  when 
he  went  to  Washiagton  to  prepare  for  his  inauguration  as  President  on  March  4. 

Since  that  time  he  has  given  close  personal  attention  to  the  duties  of  his  oflSice, 
with  occasional  relief  in  the  way  of  trips  to  difi'erent  sections  of  the  country.  The 
most  extensive  of  these  was  that  to  the  West  and  South,  during  which  he  visited  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Nebraska,  Kansas, 
Missouri,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Alabama,  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  He  also 
made  a  brief  visit  to  Florida  and  South  Carolina  upon  another  trip. 

On  June  2, 1886,  the  President  was  married  in  the  White  House  to  Miss  Frances 
Folsom,  of  Bufl'dlo,  New  York. 


34  SKETCH  OF  ALLEN   G.  TIIUKMAN. 

CHAPTER  V. 
ALLEN  G.   THURMAN. 


Allen  Granbery  Thurman  was  born  on  November  13, 1813,  in  Lynchburg-, 
Va.,  of  good  descent  on  both  sides  of  his  family.  His  mother  was  a  half  sister  of 
William  Allen,  who  became  Governor  of  Ohio.  His  paternal  grandfather,  wha 
was  a  Baptist  minister,  was  a  slaveholder  by  inheritance,  but  became  conscien- 
tiously opposed  to  slavery,  and  resolved  to  free  his  negroes.  He  therefore  removed 
to  Ohio  with  them  and  his  family,  numbering  three  generations,  when  Allen  G. 
Thurman  was  six  years  old. 

A  settlement  was  made  in  Chillicothe,  where  the  boy's  father  at  first  taught 
school,  and  then  engaged  in  woolen  manufacture.  The  lad  obtained  his  education- 
at  the  Chillicothe  Academy,  where  he  was  especially  proficient  in  mathematics, 
and  was  graduated  with  high  honors  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  He  had  also  taken 
lessons  in  French  from  a  poor  French  gentleman  who,  for  a  time,  was  an  inmate 
of  his  father's  .house.  After  his  graduation,  his  health,  which  had  been  delicate, 
was  permanently  invigorated  by  exercise  in  field  sports,  by  his  riding  about  the 
country  .as  an  assistant  of  the  county  tax  assessor,  and  by  outdoor  work  as  a  mem- 
ber of  laud  surveying  parties. 

Then  he  studied  law  in  the  offices  of  his  uncle,  William  Allen,  and  Judge 
Swayne,  of  Columbus,  (>.  During  his  period  of  study  in  the  State  capital  he  read 
law  chiefly  at  night,  as  in  the  daytime  he  was  acting  as  the  private  secretaiy  of 
Gov.  Lucas,  and  the  duties  of  the  position  included  much  work  which  would  now 
be  assigned  to  a  number  of  clerks.  In  1835  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  began 
practice  in  Chillicothe  as  the  partner  of  his  uncle,  who,  becoming  engrossed  in  poli- 
tics, soon  left  the  care  of  his  law  business  entirely  to  the  young  man. 

Mr.  Thurman  applied  himself  with  great  industry  to  his  profession,  in  which 
he  quickly  attained  distinction.  The  circuit  in  which  he  practist  d  embraced  four 
counties,  and  nearly  all  the  long  journeys  which  he  made  to  attend  court  were 
performed  on  horseback.  On  account  of  bis  devotion  to  his  legal  work,  he  several 
times  declined  requests  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature,  although  he  had 
always  taken  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  was  an  earnest  Democrat.  In  1839  he 
made  a  visit  to  Washington,  where  his  uncle  was  then  a  Senator  from  Ohio.  There 
he  passed  six  weeks,  and  was  introduced  by  Senator  Allen  to  many  prominent  men,, 
including  John  C.  Calhoun,  w^ho  received  the  young  lawyer  with  marked  cordiality. 
He  did  not  revisit  Washington  until  1842,  whe^i  he  svent  there  to  appear  in  a 
case  before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Three  years  afterwards,  while  he 
was  absent  from  his  Congressional  district  on  professional  business,  its  Democratic 
Convention  nominated  him  for  Congress  without  his  solicitation  or  knowledge. 
Mr.  Thurman  was  persuaded  to  accept  the  candidacy,  and  was  elected  after  a  per- 
sonal canvass  of  the  whole  district,  in  which  he  frequently  had  public  discussiona 
with  his  Whig  opponent 


SKETCH  OF  ALLEN  G.   THURMAN.  25 

In  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress  he  Ferved  oh  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and 
delivered  some  able  speeches  on  important  questions.  At  the  end  of  his  term  he 
declined  a  renomination,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1851  he 
was  elected,  upon  the  Democratic  ticket,  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio, 
and  from  1854  till  1856  he  was  the  Chief  Justice  of  that  court.  Hib  services  as  a 
jurist  largely  enhanced  his  reputation  with  the  bar  and  with  the  people  of  the 
State  generally,  but  he  declined  a  re  election,  as  the  meagre  salary  of  the  Judgeship 
was  insufficient  for  proper  support.  Returning  to  the  bar  he  found  business  pour- 
ing in  upon  him  from  all  sides,  and  by  his  profefcsional  labors  he  gradually  acquired 
a  competeuce. 

In  1867  he  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  Democratic  State  Con- 
vention for  Governor  of  Ohio,  and  after  a  hotly  contested  campaign,  in  which  he 
took  an  active  part,  was  defeated  by  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  He  had,  however,  cut 
down  the  Reijublican  majority  of  43,000  the  year  before  to  less  than  3,000,  and  the 
Legislature  elected  was  Democratic.  In  1868  Mr.  Thurman  was  chosen  United 
States  Senator  from  Ohio,  succeeding  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  and  he  was  re-elected  in 
1874.  During  his  twelve  years  in  the  Senate  he  served  on  a  number  of  the  most 
important  committees,  and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the 
Democratic  party.  Much  public  attention  was  attracted  by  a  number  of  his 
speeches  in  debate,  including  that  on  the  Georgia  Bill  in  1809,  the  Geneva  Award 
Bill,  and  the  Pacific  Railway  Funding  Bill.  He  served  as  a  member  of  the  Elec- 
toral Commission  of  1876,  and  was  appointed  by  President  Garfield  to  the  Inter- 
national Monetary  Conference. 

Mr.  Thurman  received  votes  for  the  nomination  for  President  in  the  last  three 
Democratic  national  conventions  preceding  the  one  just  held.  In  the  conventions 
of  1880  and  1884  his  name  was  formally  presented  on  behalf  of  Ohio.  On  account 
of  his  unblemished  character  for  personal  integrity,  he  has  always  had  the  respect 
ot  his  political  opponents,  and  he  has  long  possessed  exceptional  popularity  among 
large  numbers  of  the  Democratic  party,  particularly  in  the  Western  States.  His 
special  followers  have  admiringly  termed  him  *'the  old  Roman,"  and  the  trifling 
fact  that  he  has  always  retained  the  old-fashioned  bandana  as  a  part  of  his  per- 
sonal equipment  has  caused  them  to  adopt  that  handkerchief  as  their  badge  of 
allegiance. 

Since  his  retirement  from  the  Senate,  Mr.  Thurman  has  taken  but  little  active 
part  in  political  affairs.  He  has  continued  to  practice  law,  appearing  in  court  in 
some  important  cases,  but  has  intimated  that  he  had  no  desire  to  return  to  public 
life. 

In  James  G.  Blaine's  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  that  Republican  leader 
speaks  of  Mr.  Thurman  as  follows: 

"  His  rank  in  the  Senate  was  established  from  the  day  he  took  his  seat,  and  was 
never  lowered  during  the  period  of  his  service.  He  was  an  admirably  disciplined 
debater,  was  fair  in  his  method  of  statement,  logical  in  his  argument,  honest  m  his 
conclusions.  He  had  no  tricks  in  discussion,  no  catch  phrases  to  secure  attention, 
but  was  always  direct  and  manly.  His  mind  was  not  preoccupied  and  engrossed 
with  political  contests  or  with  affairs  of  state.  He  had  natural  and  cultivated 
tastes  outside  of  those  fields.  He  was  a  discriminating  reader,  and  enjoyed  not 
only  serious  books,  but  inclined  also  to  the  lighter  indulgence  of  romance  and 
poetry.    He  was  especially  fond  of  the  best  French  writers.    He  loved  Molidre  and 


26  SKETCH   OF   ALLEN   G.  THURMAN. 

Racine,  and  could  quote  with  fare  enjoyment  the  humorous  scenes  depicted  by 
Balzac.  He  took  pleasure  in  the  drama,  and  was  devoted  to  music.  In  Washing- 
ton he  could  usually  be  found  in  the  best  seat  of  the  theatre  when  a  good  play  was 
to  be  presented  or  an  opera  was  to  be  given.  These  tastes  illustrate  the  genial  side 
of  his  nature,  and  were  a  fitting  complement  to  the  stronger  and  sterner  elements  of 
the  man.  His  retirement  Irora  the  Senate  was  a  serious  loss  to  his  party — a  loss  in- 
deed to  the  body.  He  left  behind  him  the  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  had  been 
associated  during  his  twelve  years  of  honorable  service." 


CLEVELAND  ON   TDE   TARIFF*  21 

CHAPTER  VL 
Ci^EYELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF. 


EEVE^'UE   BY   REDUCING     BURDENSOME    TAXES. 


A  Policy  'Wliicli  He  Has  Consistently  Urged  at  All  Times, 

Botli   While  He  loas  a   Candidate,   and  After 

He  Became  F resident, 

I. 
MESSAGE  TO  NEW  YORK  LEGISLATURE,  JANUARY  1,  1884 

The  State  of  New  York  largely  represents  within  her  borders  the  development 
of  every  interest  which  makes  a  nation  great.  Proud  of  her  place  as  leader  in  the 
community  of  States,  she  fully  appreciates  her  immediate  relations  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  country ;  and  justly  realizing  the  responsibility  of  her  position,  slie  recog- 
nizes, in  her  policy  and  her  laws,  as  of  first  importance,  the  freedom  of  commerce 
from  all  unnecessary  restrictions.  Her  citizens  have  assumed  the  burden  of  main- 
taining, at  their  own  cost  and  free  to  commerce,  the  waterway  which  they  have 
built  and  through  which  the  products  of  the  great  West  are  transported  to  the  sea- 
board. At  the  suggestion  of  danger  she  hastens  to  save  her  northern  forests,  and 
thus  preserve  to  commerce  her  canals  and  vessel-laden  rivers.  The  State  has  become 
responsible  for  a  bureau  of  immigration,  which  cares  for  those  who  seek  our  shores 
from  other  lands,  adding  to  the  nation's  population  and  hastening  to  the  develop- 
ment of  its  vast  dornain ;  while  at  tlie  country's  gateway  a  quarantine,  established 
by  the  State,  protects  the  nation's  health. 

Surely  this  great  Commonwealth,  committed  fully  to  the  interests  of  commerce 
and  all  that  adds  to  the  country's  prosperity,  may  well  inquire  how  her  efforts  and 
sacrifices  have  been  answered  ;  and  she,  of  all  the  States,  may  urge  that  the  Interests 
thus  by  her  protected,  should,  by  the  greater  Government  administered  for  all,  be'  os- 
tered  for  the  benefit  of  the  American  people. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  most  distinguished  foreigner,  who  visited  this  country  and 
studied  its  condition  and  prospects,  wrote  : 

"When  I  contemplate  the  ardor  with  which  the  Americans  prosecute  commerce,  the  ad- 
vantages which  aid  them  and  the  success  of  their  undertakings,  I  cannot  help  believing  that 
they  will  one  day  become  the  first  maritime  power  of  the  globe.  They  are  bound  to  rule 
the  seas  as  the  Romans  were  to  conquer  the  world.  *  *  *  The  Americans  themselves  now 
transport  to  their  own  shores  nine-tenths  of  the  European  produce  which  they  consume, 
and  th^y  a'so  bring  three- fourths  of  the  exports  of  the  New  AVorld  to  the  European  con- 
sumers.  The  ships  of  the  United  States  fill  the  docks  of  Havre  and  Liverpool,  whilst  the 
numter  of  English  and  French  vessels  whi  jh  are  to  be  seen  at  New  York  is  coinparativeiy 
small." 


28  CLEVELAND  ON   THE   TARIFF. 

We  turn  to  the  actual  results  reached  since  these  words  were  written  with  dis- 
appointment. 

In  1840  American  vessels  carried  eighty-two  and  nine  tenths  per  cent,  of  all  our 
exports  and  imports;  in  1850,  seventy  two  and  five  tenths ;  in  1860,  sixty- six  and 
five-tenths;  in  1870,  thirty-five  and  six-tenths  ;  in  1880,  seventeen  and  four  tenths; 
in  1882,  fifteen  and  five-tenths. 

The  citizen  of  New  York,  looking  beyond  his  State  and  all  her  efibrts  in  the  in- 
terest of  commerce  and  national  growth,  will  naturally  inquire  concerning  the 
causes  of  this  decadence  of  American  shipping. 

While  he  sternly  demands  of  his  own  government  the  exact  limitation  of  taxa- 
tion by  the  needs  of  the  State,  he  will  challenge  the  policy  that  accumulates  mil- 
lions of  useless  and  unnecessary  surplus  in  the  national  treasury,  which  has  been 
not  less  a  tax  because  it  was  indirectly  and  surely  added  to  the  cost  of  the  people's 
life. 

Let  us  anticipate  a  time  when  care  for  the  people's  needs,  as  they  actually  arise, 
and  the  application  of  remedies,  as  wrongs  appear,  shall  lead  in  the  conduct  of  na- 
tional aflFairs;  and  let  us  undertake  the  business  of  legislation  with  the  full  deter- 
mination that  these  principles  shall  guide  us  in  the  performance  of  our  duties  as 
guardians  of  the  interests  of  the  State. 

II. 
SPEECH  AT  NEWARK,  N.  J.,  OCTOBER,  1884. 

In  common  with  all  other  citizens  they  should  desire  an  honest  and  economical 
administration  of  public  aff"airs.  It  is  quite  plain,  too,  that  the  people  have  a  right 
to  demand  that  no  more  money  should  be  taken  from  them,  directly  or  indirectly, 
for  public  uses  than  is  necessary  for  this  purpose. 

Indeed,  the  right  of  the  government  to  exact  tribute  from  the  citizen  is  limited  ta 
its  actual  necessities,  and  everp  cent  takenfrom  tlie  people  beyond  that  required  for  their 
protection  by  the  goiyernment  is  no  better  than  robbery.  We  surely  must  condemn, 
then,  a  system  which  takes  from  the  pockets  of  the  people  millions  of  dollars  not 
needed  for  the  support  of  the  government  and  which  tends  to  the  inauguration  of 
corrupt  schemes  and  extravagant  expenditures.    (Applause.) 

The  Democratic  party  has  declared  that  all  taxation  shall  be  limited  by  the 
requirements  of  an  economical  government.  This  is  plain  and  direct,  and  it  dis- 
tinctly recognizes  the  value  of  labor  and  its  right  to  governmental  care  when  it 
further  declared  that  the  necessary  reduction  in  taxation  and  limitation  thereof  to 
the  country's  needs  should  be  etfected  without  depriviog  American  labor  of  the 
ability  to  compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor  and  without  injuring  the  interests 
of  our  laboring  population. 

At  this  time,  when  the  8uff"rages  of  the  laboring  men  are  so  industriously 
sought,  they  should,  by  careful  inquiry,  discover  the  party  pledged  to  the  protec- 
tion of  their  interests,  and  which  recognizes  in  their  labor  something  most  valuable 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  country  and  primarily  entitled  to  its  care  and  protection. 
An  intelligent  examination  will  lead  them  to  the  exercise  of  their  privileges  as  citi- 
zens in  furtherance  of  their  interests  and  the  welfare  of  their  country.  An  unthink- 
ing performance  of  their  duty  at  the  ballot-box  will  result  in  their  injury  and  be* 
trayal. 


CLEVELAND   ON   THE   TAKIFP.  2& 

III. 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS,  MARCH  4,  1885. 

A  due  regard  for  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  all  the  people  demands  that 
our  finances  shall  be  established  upon  such  a  sound  and  sensible  basis  as  shall 
secure  the  safety  and  confidence  of  business  interests  and  make  the  wage  of  labor 
sure  and  steady ;  and  that  our  system  of  revenue  shall  be  so  adjusted  as  to  reliev© 
the  people  of  unnecessary  taxation,  having  a  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  capital 
invested  and  workingmen  employed  in  American  industries,  and  preventing  the 
accumulation  of  a  surplus  in  the  treasury  to  tempt  extravagance  and  waste. 

IV. 
FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS. 

In  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress,  December,  18S5,  the  President  made 
the  following  recommendations  on  the  reduction  of  useless  taxes : 

•'  The  fact  that  our  revenues  are  in  excess  of  the  actual  needs  of  an  economical 
administration  of  the  government  justifies  a  reduction  in  the  amount  exacted  from 
the  people  for  its  support.  Our  government  is  but  the  means,  established  by  the 
will  of  a  free  people,  by  which  certain  principles  are  applied  which  they  have 
adopted  for  their  benefit  and  protection;  and  it  is  never  better  administered,  and 
its  true  spirit  is  never  better  observed  than  when  the  people's  taxation  for  its  sup- 
port is  scrupulously  limited  to  the  actual  necessity  of  expenditure,  and  distributed 
according  to  a  just  and  equitable  plan. 

**  The  proposition  with  which  we  have  to  deal  is  the  reduction  of  the  revenue 
received  by  the  government,  and  indirectly  paid  by  the  people  from  customs 
duties.  The  question  of  free  trade  is  not  involved,  nor  is  there  now  any  occasion 
for  the  general  discussion  of  the  wisdom  or  expediency  of  a  trotectivei. 

SYSTEM. 

'' Justice  and  fairness  dictate  that  in  any  modification  of  our  present  laws  relating  tO' 
revenue,  the  industries  and  interests  wliich  have  been  encouraged  by  such  laws,  and  in. 
which  our  citizens  have  large  investments,  should  not  he  ruthlessly  injured  oi'  destroyed. 
We  should  also  deal  with  the  subject  in  such  manner  as  to  protect  the  interests  of  American 
labor,  which  is  Vie  capital  of  our  iDorkingynen;  its  stability  and  proper  reinuneration 
furnish  the  most  justifiable  pretext  for  a  protective  policy. 

"  Within  these  limitations  a  certain  reduction  should  be  made  in  our  customs- 
revenue.  The  amount  of  such  i eduction  having  been  determined,  the  inquiry 
follows — where  can  it  best  be  remitted,  and  what  articles  can  best  be  released  from 
duty  in  the  interest  of  our  citiz(ns? 

"  I  think  the  reduction  should  be  made  in  the  revenue  derived  from  a  tax  upon 
the  imported  necessarips  of  life.  We  thus  directly  lessen  the  cost  of  living  in  every 
family  of  the  land,  and  release  to  the  people  in  every  humble  home  a  larger  measure 
of  the  rewards  of  frugal  industry." 


80  CLEVELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

V. 
SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER,  1886. 

In  his  second  annual  message,  transmitted  to  Congress  in  December,  1886,  the 
President  treated  the  question  at  greater  length,  and  laid  down  the  principles  upon 
which,  in  his  opinion,  the  war  taxes  should  be  reduced : 

The  income  of  the  Government,  by  its  increased  volume  and  through  econo- 
mies in  its  collection,  is  now  more  than  ever  in  excess  of  public  necessities.  The 
application  of  the  surplus  to  the  payment  of  such  portion  of  the  public  debt  as  is 
now  at  our  option  subject  to  extmguishment,  if  continued  at  the  rate  which  has 
lately  prevailed,  would  retire  that  class  of  indebtedness  within  less  than  one  year 
from  this  date.  Thus  a  continual  ion  of  our  present  revenue  system  would  soon 
result  in  the  receipt  of  an  annual  income  much  greater  than  necessary  to  meet  Gov- 
ernment expenses,  with  no  indebtedness  upon  which  it  could  be  applied.  We  should 
then  be  confronted  with  a  vast  quantity  of  money,  the  circulating  medium  of  the 
people,  hoarded  in  the  Treasury  when  it  should  be  in  their  hands,  or  we  should  be 
drawn  into  wasteful  public  extravagance  with  all  the  corrupting  national  dsmoraliza- 
Uon  which  follows  in  its  train. 

But  it  is  not  the  simple  existence  of  this  surplus,  and  i»s  threatened  attendant 
evils,  which  furnish  the  strongest  argument  against  cur  present  scale  of  Federal 
taxation.  Its  worst  phase  is  the  exaction  of  such  a  surplus  through  a  perversion 
of  the  relations  between  the  people  and  their  Government,  and  a  dangerous  de- 
parture from  the  rules  which  limit  the  right  of  Federal  taxation. 

The  indirect  manner  in  which  these  exactions  are  made,  has  a  tendency  to  con- 
ceal their  true  character  and  their  extent.  Bat  we  have  arrived  at  a  stage  of  super- 
fluous revenue  which  h;i3  aroused  the  people  to  a  realization  of  the  fact,  that  the 
amount  raised  professedly  for  the  support  of  the  Government,  is  paid  by  them  as 
absolutely,  if  added  to  the  price  of  the  things  which  supply  their  daily  wants,  as  if 
it  was  paid  at  fixed  periods  into  the  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer. 

Those  who  toil  for  diily  wages  are  heginniiig  to  underdand  that  capital,  ihovgh 
eometimes  vaunting  its  imprtance  and  clamoring  for  the  protection  and  favor  of  tJie 
Oovernment,  is  dull  and  slugg'sh,  till,  touched  by  the  m-igical  lumd  of  labor,  it  springs 
into  activity,  fur nixJiing  an  occasion  _f or  Federal  taxation  arid  gaining  the  value  which 
enables  it  to  bear  its  burden.  And  the  laboring  man  is  thovghtfully  inquiHng  whether 
in  these  circumstances,  and  considering  tlie  tribute  he  constantly  pays  into  the  public 
Treasury  an  he  supplies  his  daily  toants,  he  receives  his  fair  share  of  advantages. 

There  is  also  a  suspicion  abroad,  that  the  surplus  of  our  revenues  indicates  ab- 
normal and  exceptional  business  profits,  which,  under  the  system  which  produces 
such  surplus,  increase  without  corresponding  benefit  to  the  people  at  large,  the  vast 
accumulations  of  a  few  among  our  citizens  whose  fortunes,  rivaling  the  wealth  of  the 
■most  favored  in  anti-democratic  n  itions,  are  not  the  natural  growth  of  a  steady^  plain  and 
industrious  republic. 

now   IT    EFFECTS   THE   FARMER. 

Oar  farmers  too,  and  those  engaged  directly  and  indirectly  in  supplying  the 
products  of  agriculture,  see  that  day  by  day,  and  as  ofttn  as  the  daily  wants  of 
their  households  recur,  they  are  forced  to  pay  excessive  and  needless  taxation,  while 


CLEVELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF.  81 

their  products  struggle  in  foreign  markets  with  the  competition  of  nations,  which  by- 
allowing  a  freer  exchange  of  productions  than  we  permit,  enable  thtir  people  to 
sell  for  prices  which  distress  the  American  farmer.  *  *  *  A  sentiment  prevails 
that  the  leading-strings  useful  to  a  nation  in  its  infancy,  may  well  be,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, discarded  in  the  present  stage  of  American  ingenuity,  courage  and  fearless  self- 
reliance.  And  for  the  privilege  of  indulging  this  sentiment  with  true  American  en- 
thusiasm, our  citizens  are  quite  willing  to  forego  an  idle  surplus  in  the  public 
Treasury. 

And  all  the  people  know  that  the  average  rate  of  Federal  taxation  upon  imports 
is,  to-day, in  time  of  peace,  but  little  less,  while  upon  some  articles  of  necessary  con- 
sumption it  is  actually  more,  than  was  imposed  by  the  grievous  burden  willingly 
borne,  at  a  time  when  the  Government  needed  millions  to  maintain  by  war  the  safety 
and  integrity  of  the  Union. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Government  to  collect  the  principal  part  of  its 
revenues  by  a  tax  upon  imports ;  and  no  change  in  this  policy  is  desirable.  But  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  constrains  our  people  to  demand  that,  by  a  revision  of 
our  revenue  laws,  the  receipts  of  the  Government  shall  be  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sary expense  of  its  economical  administration  ;  and  this  demand  should  be  recog- 
nized and  obeyed  by  the  people's  representatives  in  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
Government. 

"  In  readjusting  the  burdens  of  Federal  taxation,  a  sound  public  policy  requires 
that  such  of  our  citizens  as  have  built  up  large  and  important  industri^  under 
present  conditions  should  not  be  suddenly,  and  to  their  injury,  depriv&i  of  advantages 
to  which  they  have  adapted  tTieir  business;  but  if  tne  public  good  requires  ity  they 
should  be  content  with  sw-h  connderation  as  shall  deal  fairly  and  cautvmsly  with 
their  interests,  while  tlie  just  demand  of  tlie  people  for  relief  from  needless  taxation 
is  honestly  answend. 

"  A  reasonable  and  timely  submission  to  such  a  demand  should  certainly  be 
possible  without  disastrous  shock  to  any  interest ;  and  a  cheerful  concession  some- 
times averts  abrupt  and  heedless  action,  often  the  outgrowth  of  impatience  and 
delayed  justice. 

PROTECTING   THE   INTERESTS  OF   LABOR 

"Due  regard  should  also  be  accorded,  in  any  proposed  readjustment,  to  the 
INTERESTS  OF  Ameuican  LABOR  SO  FAR  AS  THEY  ARE  INVOLVED,  We  Congrat- 
ulate ourselves  that  there  is  among  us  no  laboring  class,  fixed  within  unyielding 
bounds  and  doomed  under  all  conditions  to  the  inexorable  fate  of  daily  toil.  We 
recognize  in  labor  a  chitf  factor  in  the  weal'h  of  the  Republic  ;  and  we  treat  those 
wlw  ham  it  in  their  kseping  as  citizms  entitled  to  the  most  careful  regard  and 
thoughtful  attention.  This  regard  and  attention  should  be  awarded  them,  not  only 
because  labor  is  the  capital  of  our  workingmen,  justly  entitled  to  its  share  of 
Government  favor,  but  for  the  further  and  not  less  important  reason  that  the  labor- 
ing man,  surrounded  by  his  family  in  his  humble  home,  as  a  consumer  is  vitally 
interested  in  all  that  cheapens  the  cost  of  living  and  enables  him  to  bring  within 
his  domestic  circle  additional  comforts  and  advantages. 

This  relation  of  the  workingman  to  the  revenue  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  man 
ner  in  which  it  palpably  influences  the  question  of  wages,  should  not  be  forgotten 
in  the  justifiable  prominence  given  to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the  supply  and 


32  CLEVELAND  ON   THE  TARIFF, 

■protection  of  well-paid  la^or.  And  these  coyisiderations  suggest  such  an  arrangement 
■of  government  revenues  as  shall  reduce  the  expense  of  living,  while  it  does  not  curtail  tJie 
opportunity  for  work  iwr  reduce  the  compensation  of  American  labor,  and  injuriously 
•affect  its  condition  and  tlie  dignified  place  it  Jiolds  in  tlie  estimation  of  our  people. 

But  our  farmers  and  agriculturists— those  who  from  the  soil  produce  the 
things  consumed  by  ail— are  perhaps  more  directly  and  plainly  concerned  than  any 
other  of  our  citizens,  in  a  just  and  careful  system  of  Federal  taxation.  Those 
actually  engaged  in  and  more  remotely  connected  with  tliis  kind  of  work,  number 
nearly  one-half  of  our  population.  None  labor  harder  or  more  continuously  than 
they.  No  enactments  limit  their  hours  of  toil,  and  no  interposition  of  the  Gov- 
ernment enhances  to  any  great  extent  the  value  of  their  products.  And  yet  for 
many  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  which  the  most  scrupulous  economy 
•enables  them  to  brin^  into  their  homes,  and  for  their  implements  of  husbandry, 
they  are  obliged  to  pay  a  price  largely  increased  by  an  unnatural  profit  which, 
by  the  action  of  the  Government,  is  given  to  the  more  favored  manufacturer. 

"I  recommend  that,  keeping  in  view  all  these  considerations,  the  increasing  and 
unnecessary  surplus  of  national  income  annually  accumulating,  be  released  to  the 
people,  by  an  amendment  to  our  revenue  laws  which  shall  cheapen  the  price  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  and  give  freer  entrance  to  such  imported  materials  as  by  Ameri- 
can labor  may  be  manufactured  into  marketable  commodities. 

"Nothing  can  be  accomplished,  however,  in  the  direction  of  tliis  much-needed 
reform,  unless  the  subject  is  approached  in  a  patriotic  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  interests 
<of  the  entire  country  and  with  a  willingness  to  yield  something  for  tfie  public  good." 

VI. 
THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER,  1887, 

DEVOTED  ENTIRELY  TO  A  PRESENTATION  OF  THE  TARIFF  QUESTION  AND    THE 
NECESSITY  FOR  REDUCTION  OF  RATES 

To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States : 

You  are  confronted  at  the  threshold  of  your  legislative  duties  with  a  condition 
of  the  national  finances  which  imperatively  demands  immediate  and  careful  con- 
sideration. 

The  amount  of  money  annually  exacted,  through  the  operation  of  present  laws, 
from  the  industries  and  necessities  of  the  people,  largely  exceeds  the  sum  necessary 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  Government. 

When  we  consider  that  the  theory  of  our  institutions  guarantees  to  every  citizen 
the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  fruits  of  his  industry  and  enterprise,  with  only  such 
•deduction  as  may  be  his  share  towards  the  careful  and  economical  maintenance  of 
the  Government  w^hich  protects  him,  it  is  plain  that  the  exaction  of  more  than  this 
is  indefensible  extortion,  and  a  culpable  betrayal  of  American  fairness  and  justice. 
This  wrong  inflicted  upon  those  who  bear  the  burden  of  national  taxation,  like 
other  wrongs,  multiplies  a  brood  of  evil  consequences.  The  public  treasury,  which 
should  only  exist  as  a  conduit  conveying  the  people's  tribute  to  its  legitimate  ob- 
jects of  expenditure,  becomes  a  hoarding-place  for  money  needlessly  withdrawn 
from  trade  and  the  people's  use,  thus  crippling  our  national  energies,  suspending 
our  country's  development,  preventing  investment  in  productive  enterprise,  threat* 
ening  financial  disturbance,  and  inviting  schemes  of  public  plunder. 


CLEVELAND  ON   THE   TAlilFF  83 

This  condition  of  our  treasury  is  not  altogether  new  ;  and  it  has  more  than  once 
ofhite  been  submitted  to  the  people's  representatives  in  the  Congress,  who  alone  can 
apply  a  remedy.  And  yet,  the  situation  still  continues,  with  aggravated  incidents, 
luoie  than  ever  presaging  financial  convulsion  and  wide-spread  disaster. 

It  will  not  do  to  neglect  this  situation  because  its  dangers  are  not  now  palpably 
imminent  and  apparent.  They  exist  none  the  less  certainly,  and  await  the  unfor- 
fieen  and  unexpected  occasion  when  suddenly  they  will  be  precipitated  upon  us. 


THE   SURPLUS  AND  THE   SINKING  FUND. 

On  the  80th  day  of  June,  1885,  the  excess  of  revenues  over  public  expenditures 
a^ter  complying  with  the  annual  requirement  of  the  sinking-fund  act,  was 
$17,859,735.84;  during  the  year  ended  June  30th,  1836,  such  excess  amounted  to 
$49,405,545.20;  and  during  the  year  ended  June  30th,  1887,  it  reached  the  sum  of 
$55,567,849.54. 

The  annual  contributions  to  the  sinking-fund  during  the  three  years  above 
specified,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  $138,058,320.94,  and  deducted  from  the 
surplus  as  stated,  were  made  by  calling  in  for  that  purpose  outstanding  three  per 
cent,  bonds  of  the  Government.  During  the  six  months  prior  to  June  30th,  1887, 
the  surplus  revenue  had  grown  so  large  by  repeated  accummulations,  and  it  was 
feared  that  the  withdrawal  of  tliis  great  sum  of  money  needed  by  the  people,  would 
so  afiect  the  business  of  the  country,  the  sum  of  $79,864,100  of  such  surplus 
was  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  three  per  cent, 
bonds  still  outstanding,  and  which  were  then  payable  at  the  option  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  precarious  condition  of  financial  affairs  among  the  people  still  needing 
relief,  immediately  after  the  30th  day  of  June,  1887,  the  remainder  of  the  three  per 
cent,  bonds  then  outstanding,  amounting  with  principal  and  interest  to  the  sum  of 
$18,877,500,  were  called  in  and  applied  to  the  sinking-fund  contribution  for  the 
current  fiscal  year.  Notwithstanding  these  operations  of  the  Treasury  Department 
representations  of  distress  in  business  circles  not  only  continued  but  increased,  and 
absolute  peril  seemed  at  hand.  In  these  circumstances  the  contribution  to  the 
sinking  fund  for  the  current  fiscal  year  was  at  once  completed  by  the  expenditure 
of  $27,684,283.55  in  the  purchase  of  Government  bonds  not  yet  due  bearing  four 
and  four  and  a-half  per  cent  interest,  the  premium  paid  thereon  averaging  about 
twenty-four  per  cent,  for  the  former  and  eight  per  cent,  for  the  latter.  In  addition 
to  this  the  interest  accruing  during  the  current  year  upon  the  outstanding  bonded 
indebtedness  of  the  Government  was  to  some  extent  anticipated,  and  banks  selected 
as  depositories  of  public  money  were  permitted  to  somewhat  increase  their 
deposits. 

While  the  expedients  thus  employed,  to  release  to  the  people  the  money  lying 
idle  in  the  Treasury,  served  to  avert  immediate  danger,  our  surplus  revenues  have 
continued  to  accumulate,  the  excess  for  the  present  year  amounting  on  the  1st  day 
of  December  to  $55,258,701.19,  and  estimated  to  reach  the  sum  of  $113,000,000  on 
the  30th  of  June  next,  at  which  date  it  is  expected  that  this  sum,  added  to  prior 
accumulations,  will  swell  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  to  $140,000,000. 

There  seems  to  be  no  assurance  that,  with  such  a  withdraw^al  from  use  of  the 
people's  circulating  medium,  our  business  community  may  not  in  the  near  future  be 
subjected  to  the  same  distress  which  was  quite  lately  produced  from  the  same  cause. 


84  CLEVELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

And  while  the  functions  of  our  National  Treasury  should  be  few  and  simple,  and 
while  its  best  condition  would  be  reached,  I  believe,  by  its  entire  disconnection  with 
private  business  interests,  yet  when,  by  a  perversion  of  its  purposes,  it  idly  hold* 
money  uselessly  subtracted  from  the  channels  of  trade,  there  seems  to  be  reason  for 
the  claim  that  some  legitimate  means  should  be  devised  by  the  Government  to  restore 
in  an  emergency,  without  waste  or  extravagance,  such  money  to  its  place  among 
the  people. 

NO  EXECUTIVE  WAY  OF  GETTING  RELIEF. 

If  such  an  emergency  arises  there  now  exists  no  clear  and  undoubted  executive 
power  of  relief.  Heretofore  the  redemption  of  three  per  cent,  bonds,  which  were 
payable  at  the  option  of  the  Government,  has  afforded  a  means  for  the  disburse- 
ment of  the  excess  of  our  revenues;  but  these  bonds  have  all  been  retired,  and  there 
are  no  bonds  outstanding  the  payment  of  which  we  have  the  right  to  insist  upon. 
The  contribution  to  the  sinking  fund  which  furnishes  the  occasion  lor  expenditure 
in  the  purchase  of  bonds  has  been  already  made  for  the  current  year,  so  that  there 
is  no  outlet  in  that  direction. 

In  the  present  state  of  legislation  the  only  pretense  of  any  existing  executive 
pow(  r,  to  restore  at  this  time,  any  part  of  our  surplus  revenues  to  the  people  by  its 
expenditure,  consists  in  the  supposition  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may 
enter  the  market  and  purchase  the  bonds  of  the  Government  not  yet  due,  at  a  rate 
of  premium  to  be  agreed  upon.  The  only  provision  of  law  from  which  such  a  power 
could  be  derived  is  found  in  an  appropriation  bill  passed  a  number  of  years  ago, 
and  it  is  subject  to  the  suspicion  that  it  was  intended  as  temporary  and  limited  in 
its  application,  instead  of  conferring  a  continuing  discretion  and  authority.  No 
condition  ought  to  exist  which  would  justify  the  gnint  of  power  to  a  single  official, 
upon  hisjudgment  of  its  necessity,  to  withhold  from  or  release  to  the  business  of 
the  people,  in  an  unusual  manner,  money  held  in  the  Treasury,  and  thus  affect,  at 
his  will,  the  financial  situation  of  the  country;  and  if  it  is  deemed  wise  to  lodge  in 
the  Secretary  ot  the  Treasury  the  authority  in  the  present  juncture  to  purchase 
bonds,  it  should  be  plainly  vested,  and  provided  as  far  as  possible,  with  such  checks 
and  limitations  as  will  define  this  official's  right  and  discretion,  and  at  the  same 
time  relieve  him  from  undue  responsibility. 

In  considering  the  question  of  purchasing  bonds  as  a  means  of  restoring  to  cir- 
culation the  surplus  money  accumulating  in  the  Treasury,  ic  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  premiums  must  of  coarse  be  paid  upon  such  purchase,  that  there  may 
be  a  large  part  of  these  bonds  held  as  investments  which  cannot  be  purchased  at 
any  price,  and  that  combinations  among  holders  who  are  willing  to  sell  may  unrea- 
sonably enhance  the  cost  of  such  bonds  to  the  Government. 

It  has  been  suggestei  that  the  present  bonded  debt  might  be  refunded  at  a  less 
rate  of  interest,  and  the  difference  between  the  old  and  new  security  paid  in  cash, 
thus  finding  use  for  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury.  The  success  of  this  plan,  it  is  ap- 
parent, must  depend  upon  the  volition  of  the  holders  of  the  present  bonds ;  and  it 
la  not  entirely  certain  that  the  inducement  which  must  be  offered  them  would  re- 
sult in  more  financial  benefit  to  the  Government  than  the  purchase  of  bonds,  while 
the  latter  proposition  would  reduce  the  principal  of  the  debt  by  actual  payment, 
instead  of  extending  it. 

The  proposition  to  deposit  the  money  held  by  the  Government  in  banks  through- 
out the  country,  for  use  by  the  people,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  exceedingly  objectionable 


CLEVELAND  ON   THE  TARIFF,  35 

in  principle,  as  establishing  too  close  a  relationship  between  the  operations  of  the 
Government  Treasury  and  the  business  of  the  country,  and  too  extensive  a  cotn- 
mingling  of  their  money,  thus  fostering  an  unnatural  reliance  iu  private  business 
upon  public  funds.  If  this  scheme  should  be  adopted  it  should  only  be  done  as  a 
temporary  expedient  to  meet  an  urgent  necessity.  Legislative  and  executive  effort 
should  generally  be  in  the  opposite  direction  and  should  have  a  tendency  to  divorce, 
as  much  and  as  fast  as  can  safely  be  done,  the  Treasury  Department  from  private 
enterprise. 

EXTRAVAGANT  APPROPRIATIONS  NOT  TO  BE  THOUGHT  OP. 

Of  course  it  is  not  expected  that  unnecessary  and  extravagant  appropriations  will 
be  made  f  r  the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  accumulation  of  an  excess  of  revenue. 
Such  expenditure,  beside  the  demoralization  of  all  just  conceptions  of  public  duty 
which  it  entails,  stimulates  a  habit  of  reckless  improvidence  not  in  the  least  con- 
sistent with  the  mission  of  our  people  or  the  high  and  beneficent  purposes  of  our 
Government. 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  thus  bring  to  the  knowledge  of  my  countrymen,  as 
well  as  to  the  attention  of  their  representatives  charged  with  the  responsibility  of 
legislative  relief,  the  gravity  of  our  financial  situation.  The  failure  of  the  Congress 
heretofore  to  provide  against  the  dangers  which  it  was  quite  evident  the  very  nature 
of  the  difflculty  must  necessarily  produce,  caused  a  condition  of  financial  distress 
and  apprehension  since  your  last  adjournment,  which  taxed  to  the  utmost  all  the 
authority  and  expedients  within  executive  control ;  and  these  appear  now  to  be  ex- 
hausted. If  disaster  results  from  the  continued  inaction  of  Congress,  the  responsi- 
bility must  rest  where  it  belongs. 

Though  the  situation  thus  far  considered  is  fraught  with  danger  which  should 
be  fully  realized,  and  though  it  presents  features  of  wrong  to  the  people  as  well  as 
peril  to  the  country,  it  is  but  a  result  growing  out  of  a  perfectly  palpable  and  ap  • 
parent  cauee,  constantly  reproducing  the  same  alarming  circumstances — a  con- 
gested national  treasury  and  a  depleted  monetary  condition  in  the  business  of  the 
country.  It  need  hardly  be  stated  that  while  the  present  situation  demands  a 
remedy,  we  can  only  be  saved  from  a  like  predicament  in  the  future  by  the  removal 
of  its  cause. 

HOW   THIS  DANGEROUS  SURPLUS  IS   RAISED. 

Our  scheme  of  taxation,  by  means  of  which  this  needless  surplus  is  taken  from 
the  people  and  put  into  the  public  treasury,  consists  of  a  tariff  or  duty  levied  upon 
importations  from  abroad,  and  internal-revenue  taxes  levied  upon  the  consumption 
of  tobacco  and  spirituous  and  malt  liquors.  It  must  be  conceded  that  none  of  the 
things  subjected  to  internal-revenue  taxation  are,  strictly  speaking,  necessaries ;  there 
appears  to  be  no  just  complaint  of  this  taxation  by  the  consumers  of  these  articles, 
and  there  seems  to  be  nothing  so  well  able  to  bear  the  burden  without  hardship  to 
any  portion  of  the  people. 

But  our  present  tariff  laws,  the  vicious,  inequitable,  and  illogical  source  of 
unnecessary  taxation,  ought  to  be  at  once  revised  and  amended.  These  laws,  as 
their  primary  and  plain  effect,  raise  the  price  to  consumers  of  all  articles  imported 
and  subject  to  duty,  by  precisely  the  sum  paid  for  such  duties.  Thus  the  amount 
of  the  duty  measures  the  tax  paid  by  those  who  purchase  for  use  these  imported 
3 


36  CLEVELAND   ON   THE   TARIFF. 

articles.  Many  of  these  things,  however,  are  raised  or  manufactured  in  our  own 
couutr}',  and  the  duties  now  levied  upon  foreign  goods  and  products  are  called 
protection  to  these  home  manufactures,  because  they  render  it  possible  for  those  of 
our  people  who  are  manufacturers,  to  make  these  taxed  articles  and  sell  them  for  a 
price  equal  to  that  demanded  for  the  imported  g^»ods  tliat  have  paid  customs 
duty.  So  it  happens  that  while  comparatively  a  few  use  the  imported  articles, 
millions  of  our  p.  ople,  who  never  use  and  never  saw  any  of  the  foreign  products, 
purchase  and  use  things  of  the  same  kind  made  in  this  country,  and  pay  therefor 
nearly  or  quite  the  sajie  enhanced  price  which  the  duty  adds  to  the  imported 
articles.  Those  who  buy  imparts  pay  the  duty  charged  thereon  into  the  public 
treasury,  but  the  great  majority  of  our  citizens,  who  buy  domestic  articles  of  the 
same  class,  pay  a  sum  at  least  approximately  equal  to  this  duty  to  the  home  manu- 
facturer. This  reference  to  the  operation  of  our  tariff  laws  is  not  made  by  way  of  in- 
struction, but  in  order  that  we  may  be  constantly  reminded  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  impose  a  burden  upon  those  who  consume  domestic  products  as  well  as  those 
who  consume  imported  articles,  and  thus  create  a  tax  upon  all  our  people. 

CUSTOMS    REVENUE   MUST   REMAIN. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  entirely  relieve  the  country  of  this  taxation.  It  must  be  ex- 
tensively continued  as  the  source  of  the  Government's  income ;  and  in  a  readjust- 
ment of  our  tariff  the  interests  of  American  labor  engaged  in  manufacture  should 
be  carefully  considered,  as  well  as  the  preservation  of  our  manufacturers.  It  may 
be  called  protection,  or  by  any  other  name,  but  relief  from  the  hardships  and 
dangers  of  our  present  tariff  laws,  should  be  devised  with  especial  precaution 
against  imperiling  the  existence  of  our  manufacturing  interests.  But  this  existence 
should  notmean  a  condition  which,  without  regard  to  the  public  welfare  or  a  national 
exigency,  must  always  insure  the  realization  ot  immense  profits  instead  of  mod- 
erately profitable  returns.  As  the  volume  and  diversity  of  our  national  activities 
increase,  new  recruits  are  added  to  those  who  desire  a  continuation  of  the  advan- 
tages which  they  conceive  the  present  system  of  tariff  taxation  directly  affords 
them.  So  stubbornly  have  all  efforts  to  reform  the  present  condition  been  resisted 
by  those  of  our  fellow  citizens  thus  engaged,  that  they  can  hardly  complain  of  the 
suspicion,  entertained  to  a  certain  extent,  that  there  exists  an  organized  combina- 
tion all  along  the  line  to  maintain  their  advantage. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  centennial  celebrations,  and  with  becoming  pride  we  re- 
joice in  American  skill  and  ingenuity,  in  American  energy  and  enterprise,  and  in 
the  wonderful  natural  advantages  and  resources  developed  by  a  century's  national 
growth.  Yet  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  justify  a  scheme  which  permits  a  tax  to 
be  laid  upon  every  consumer  in  the  land  for  the  benefit  of  our  manufacturers,  quite 
beyond  a  reasonable  demand  for  governmental  regard,  it  suits  the  purposes  of  advo- 
cacy to  call  our  manufactures  infant  industries,  still  needing  the  highest  and  great- 
est degree  of  favor  and  fostering  care  that  can  be  wrung  from  Federal  legislation. 

It  is  also  said  that  the  increase  in  the  price  of  domestic  manufactures  resulting 
from  the  present  tariff  is  necessary  in  order  that  higher  wages  may  be  paid  to  our 
workingmen  employed  in  manufactories,  than  are  paid  for  what  is  called  the  pauper 
labor  of  Europe.  All  will  acknowledge  the  force  of  an  argument  which  involves 
the  welfare  and  liberal  compensation  of  our  laboring  people.  Our  labor  is  honor- 
able in  the  eyes  of  every  American  citizen ;  and  as  it  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our 


CLEVELAND   ON    THE   TARIFF.  37 

development  aud  progress,  it  is  entitled,  without  affectation  or  hypocrisy,  to  the  ut- 
most regard.  The  standard  of  our  laborers'  life  siiould  not  be  measured  by  that  of 
any  other  country  less  favored,  and  they  are  entitled  to  their  full  share  of  all  our 
advantages. 

HOW   OUR   INDUSTRIES   ARE   DIVIDED. 

By  the  last  census  it  is  made  to  app'^ar  that  of  the  17,392,099  of  our  population 
engaged  in  all  kinds  of  industries,  7,070,493  are  employed  in  agriculture,  4,074,2;j8 
in  professional  and  personal  service  (2,934,876  of  whom  are  domestic  servants  and 
laborers),  while  1,810,256  are  employed  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  3,837,112 
are  classed  as  employed  in  manufacturing  and  mining. 

For  present  purposes,  however,  the  last  number  given  should  be  considerably 
reduced.  Without  attempting  to  enumerate  all,  it  will  be  conceded  that  there  should 
be  deducted  from  those  which  it  includes  375,143  carpenters  and  joiners,  285,401  mil- 
liners, dressmakers  and  seamstresses,  172,726  blacksmiths,  133,756  tailors  and  tailor- 
esses,  102,473  masons,  76,241  butchers,  41,309  bakers,  22,083  plasterers,  and  4,891 
engaged  in  manufacturing  agricultural  implements,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
1,214,023,  leaving  2,623,089  persons  employed  in  such  manufacturing  industries  as 
are  claimed  to  be  benefited  by  a  high  tariff. 

To  these  the  appeal  is  made  to  save  their  employment  and  maintain  their  wages 
by  resisting  a  change.  There  should  be  no  disposition  to  answer  such  suggestions 
by  the  allegation  that  they  are  in  a  minority  among  those  who  labor,  and  therefore 
should  forego  an  advantage,  in  the  interest  of  low  prices  for  the  majority;  their 
compensation,  as  it  may  be  affected  by  the  operation  of  tariff  laws,  should,  at  all 
times,  be  scrupulously  kept  in  view;  aud  yet,  with  slight  reflection,  they  will  not 
overlck  the  fact  that  they  are  consumers  with  the  rest;  that  they,  too,  have  their 
own  wants  and  those  of  their  families  to  supply  from  their  earnings,  and  that  the 
price  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  as  well  as  the  amount  of  their  wages,  will  regulate 
the  measure  of  their  welfare  and  comfort. 

PROMOTE  THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  WORKINGMAN. 

But  the  reduction  of  taxation  demanded  should  be  so  measured  as  not  to  neces- 
sitate or  justify  either  the  loss  of  employment  by  the  working  man,  nor  the  lessening 
of  his  wages;  and  the  profits  still  remaining  to  the  manufacturer,  after  a  necessary 
readjustment,  should  furnish  no  excuse  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of  his  em- 
ployes, either  in  their  opportunity  to  work  or  in  the  diminution  of  their  compensa- 
tion. Nor  can  the  worker  in  manufactures  fail  to  understand  that  while  a  high 
tariff  is  claimed  to  be  necessary  to  allow  the  payment  of  remunerative  wages,  it  cer- 
tainly results  in  a  very  large  increase  in  the  price  of  nearly  all  sorts  of  manufactures, 
which,  in  almost  countless  forms,  he  needs  for  the  use  of  himself  and  his  family.  He 
receives  at  the  desk  of  his  employer  his  wages,  and  perhaps  before  he  reaches  his 
home  is  obliged,  in  a  purchase  for  family  use  of  an  article  which  embraces  his  own 
labor,  to  return  in  the  payment  of  the  increase  in  price  which  the  tariff  permits,  the 
hard-earned  compensation  of  many  days  of  toil. 

The  farmer  and  the  agriculturist  who  manufacture  nothing,  but  who  pay  the  in- 
creased price  which  the  tariff  imposes,  upon  every  agricultural  implement,  upon 
all  he  we«rs  and  upon  all  he  uses  and  owns,  except  the  increase  of  his  flocks 
and  herds  and  such  things  as  his  husbandry  produces  from  the  soil,  is  invited  to 


38  CLEVELAND  ON   THE  TARIFF. 

aid  in  maintaining  the  present  situation  ;  and  he  is  told  that  a  high  duty  on  im- 
ported wool  is  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  sheep  to  shear,  in  order 
that  the  price  of  their  wool  may  be  increased.  They,  of  course,  are  not  reminded 
that  the  farmer  who  has  no  sheep  is  by  this  scheme  obliged,  in  his  purchases  of 
clothing  and  woolen  goods,  to  pay  a  tribute  to  his  fellow  farmer  as  well  as  to  the 
manufacturer  and  merchant ;  nor  is  any  mention  made  of  the  fact  that  the  sheep- 
owners  themst  Ives  and  their  households,  must  wear  clothing  and  use  other  arti- 
cles manufactured  from  the  wool  they  sell  at  tariff  prices,  and  thus  as  consumers 
must  return  their  share  of  this  increased  price  to  the  tradesman. 

THE   SMALL  WOOL    GROWING    INTEREST. 

I  think  it  may  be  fairly  assumed  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  sheep  owned  by 
the  farmers  throughout  the  country  are  found  in  small  flocks  numbering  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty.  The  duty  on  the  grade  of  imported  wool  which  these  sheep 
yield  is  ten  cents  each  pound  if  of  the  value  of  thirty  cents  or  less,  and  twelve 
cents  if  of  the  value  of  more  than  thirty  cents.  If  the  liberal  estimate  of  six  pounds 
be  allowed  for  each  fleece,  the  duty  thereon  would  be  sixty  or  seventy-two  cents, 
and  this  may  be  taken  as  the  utmost  enhancement  of  its  price  to  the  farmer  by 
reason  of  this  duty.  Eighteen  dollars  would  thus  represent  the  increased  price  of 
the  wool  from  twenty-five  sheep  and  thirty-six  dollars  that  from  the  wool  of  fifty 
sheep ;  and  at  present  values  this  addition  would  amount  to  about  one  third  of  its 
price.  If  upon  its  sale  the  farmer  receives  this  or  a  less  tariff  profit,  the  wool  leaves 
his  hands  charged  with  precisely  that  sum,  which  in  all  its  changes  will  adhere  to 
it,  until  it  reaches  the  consumer.  When  manufactured  into  cloth  and  other  goods 
and  material  for  use,  its  cost  is  not  only  increased  to  the  extent  of  the  farmer's  tariff 
profit,  but  a  further  sum  has  been  added  for  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturer 
under  the  operation  of  other  tariff  laws.  In  the  mean  time  the  day  arrives  when 
the  farmer  finds  it  necessary  to  purchase  woolen  goods  and  material  to  clothe  him- 
self and  family  for  the  winter.  When  he  faces  the  tradesman  for  that  purpose  he 
discovers  that  he  is  obliged  not  only  to  return  in  the  way  of  increased  prices,  his  tariff 
profit  on  the  wool  he  sold,  and  which  then  perhaps  lies  before  him  in  manufac- 
tured form,  but  that  he  must  add  a  considerable  sum  thereto  to  meet  a  further  in- 
crease in  cost  caused  by  a  tariff  duty  on  the  manufacture.  Thus  in  the  end  he  is 
aroused  to  the  fact  that  he  has  paid  upon  a  moderate  purchase,  as  a  result  of  the 
tariff  scheme,  which,  when  he  sold  his  wool  seemed  so  profitable,  an  increase  in 
price  more  than  sufficient  to  sweep  away  all  the  tariff  profit  he  received  upon  the 
wool  he  produced  and  sold. 

When  the  number  of  farmers  engaged  in  wool-raising  is  compared  with  all  the 
farmers  in  the  country,  and  the  small  proportion  they  bear  to  our  population  is 
considered  ;  when  h  is  made  apparent  that,  in  the  case  of  a  large  part  of  those 
who  own  sheep,  the  benefit  of  the  present  tariff  on  wool  is  illusory;  and,  above 
all,  when  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  increase  of  the  cost  of  living  caused  by 
such  tariff,  becomes  a  burden  upon  those  with  moderate  means  and  the  poor,  the 
employed  and  unemployed,  the  sick  and  well,  and  the  young  and  old,  and  that 
it  constitutes  a  tax  whicb,  with  relentless  grasp,  is  fastened  upon  the  clothing  of 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  land,  reasons  are  suggested  why  the  removal 
or  reduction  of  this  duty  should  be  included  in  a  revision  of  our  tariff  laws. 


CLEVELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF.  39 


WHO  PAYS  THE   INCREASED   PRICE. 


In  speaking  of  the  increased  cost  to  the  consumer  of  our  home  manufactures* 
resulting  from  a  duty  laid  upon  imported  articles  of  the  same  description,  the  fact 
is  not  overlooked  that  competition  among  our  domestic  producers  sometimes  has 
the  effect  of  keeping  the  price  of  their  products  below  the  highest  limit  allowtd 
by  such  duty.  But  it  is  notorious  that  this  competition  is  too  often  strangled  by 
combinations  quite  prevalent  at  this  time,  and  frequently  called  trusts,  which  have 
for  their  object  the  regulation  of  the  supply  and  price  of  commodities  made 
and  sold  by  members  of  the  combination.  The  people  can  hardly  hope  for  any 
consideration  in  the  operation  of  these  selfish  schemes. 

If,  however,  in  the  absence  of  such  combination,  a  healthy  and  free  competition 
reduces  the  price  of  any  particular  dutiable  article  of  home  production,  below  the 
limit  which  it  might  otherwise  reach  under  our  tariff  laws,  and  if,  with  such 
reduced  price,  its  manufacture  continues  to  thrive,  it  is  entirely  evident  that  one 
thing  has  been  discovered  which  should  be  careluUy  scrutinized  in  an  effort  to 
reduce  taxation. 

The  necessity  of  combination  to  maintain  the  price  of  any  commodity  to  the 
tariff  point,  furnishes  proof  that  some  one  is  willing  to  accept  lower  prices  for  such 
commodity,  and  that  such  prices  are  remunerative;  and  lower  prices  produced  by 
competition  prove  the  same  thing.  Thus  where  either  of  these  conditions  exist,  a 
case  would  seem  to  be  presented  for  an  easy  reduction  of  taxation. 

The  considerations  which  have  been  presented  touching  our  tariff  laws  are 
intended  only  to  enforce  an  earnest  recommendation  that  the  surplus  revenues  of  the 
Government  be  prevented  by  the  reduction  of  our  customs  duties,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  emphasize  a  suggestion  that  in  accomplishing  this  purpose,  we  may  dis- 
charge a  double  dut}'-  to  our  people  by  granting  to  them  a  measure  of  relief  from  tariff 
taxation  in  quarters  where  it  is  most  needed  and  from  sources  where  it  can  be  most 
fairly  and  justly  accorded. 

THE   INTEREST  OF  HOME  MANUFACTURER. 

Nor  can  the  presentation  made  of  such  considerations  be,  with  any  degree 
of  fairness,  regarded  as  evidence  of  unfriendliness  toward  our  manufacturing  inte- 
rests, or  of  any  lack  of  appreciation  of  their  value  and  importance. 

These  interests  constitute  a  leading  and  most  substantial  element  of  our  na- 
tional greatness  and  furnish  the  proud  proof  of  our  country's  progress.  But  if  in 
the  emergency  that  presses  upon  us  our  manufacturers  are  asked  to  surrender 
something  for  the  public  good  and  to  avert  disaster,  their  patriotism,  as  well  as  a 
grateful  recognition  of  advantages  already  afforded,  should  lead  them  to  willing 
co-operation.  No  demand  is  made  that  they  shall  forego  all  the  benefits  of  gov- 
ernmental regard ;  but  they  cannot  fail  to  be  admonished  of  their  duty,  as  well  as 
their  enlightened  self-interest  and  safety,  when  they  are  reminded  of  the  fact  that 
financial  panic  and  collapse,  to  which  the  present  condition  tends,  afford  no  greater 
shelter  or  protection  to  our  manufactures  than  to  our  other  important  enterprises. 
Opportunity  for  eafe,  careful  and  deliberate  reform  is  now  offered ;  and  none  of 
us  should  be  unmindful  of  a  time  when  an  abused  and  irritated  people,  heedless  of 
those  who  have  resisted  timely  and  reasonable  relief,  may  insist  upon  a  radical 
and  sweeping  rectification  of  their  wrongs. 


40  CLEVELAND  ON  THE   TARIFF 

The  difficulty  attending  a  wise  and  fair  revision  of  our  tariff  laws  is  not 
underestimated.  It  will  require  on  the  part  of  the  Congress  great  labor  and  care, 
and  especially  a  broad  and  national  contemplation  of  tt  e  subject,  and  a  patriotic 
disregard  of  Buch  local  and  selfish  claims  as  are  unreasonable  and  reckless  of  the 
"welfare  of  the  entire  country. 

Under  our  present  laws  more  than  four  thousand  articles  are  subject  to  duty. 
Many  of  these  do  not  in  any  way  compete  with  our  own  manufactures,  and  many 
are  hardly  worth  attention  as  subjects  of  revenue.  A  considerable  reduction  can 
be  made  in  the  aggregate  by  adding  them  to  the  free  list.  The  taxation  of  luxuries 
presents  no  features  of  hardship ;  but  the  necessaries  of  life  used  and  consumed  by 
all  the  people,  the  duty  upon  which  adds  to  the  cost  of  living  in  every  home,  should 
be  greatly  cheapened. 

RETENTION  OF  TAX  ON   RAW  MATERIALS. 

The  radical  reduction  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  rr  v  material  used  in  manu- 
factures, or  its  free  importation,  is  of  course  an  impo'.Lant  factor  in  any  effort  to 
reduce  the  price  of  these  necessaries ;  it  would  not  only  relieve  them  from  the 
increased  cost  caused  by  the  tariff  on  such  material,  but  the  manufactured  product 
being  thus  cheapened,  that  part  of  the  tariff  now  laid  upon  such  product,  as  a 
compensation  to  our  manufacturers  for  the  present  price  of  raw  material,  could  be 
accordingly  modified.  Such  reduction,  or  free  importation,  would  serve  beside  to 
largely  reduce  the  revenue.  It  is  not  apparent  how  such  a  change  can  have  any 
injurious  effect  upon  our  manufacturers.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  appeal  to  give 
them  a  better  chance  in  foreign  markets  with  the  manufacturers  of  other  countries, 
who  cheapen  their  wares  by  free  material.  Thus  our  people  might  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  extending  their  sales  beyond  ttie  limits  of  home  consumption — saving 
them  from  the  depression,  interruption  in  business  and  loss  caused  by  a  glutted 
domestic  market,  and  affording  their  employes  more  certain  and  steady  labor,  with 
its  resulting  quiet  and  contentment. 

HIGHER   THAN   PARTISANSHIP. 

The  question  tnus  imperatively  presented  for  solution  should  be  approached  in 
a  spirit  higher  than  partisanship  and  considered  in  the  light  of  that  regard  for  patri- 
otic duty  wliich  should  characterize  the  action  of  those  intrusted  with  the  weal  of 
a  confiding  people.  But  the  obligation  to  declared  party  policy  and  principle  is  not 
wanting  to  urge  prompt  and  effective  action.  Both  of  the  great  political  parties 
now  represented  in  the  Government  have,  by  repeated  and  authoritative  declara- 
tions, condemned  the  condition  of  our  laws  which  permit  the  collection  from  the 
people  of  unnecessary  revenue,  and  have,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  promised  its 
correction ;  and  neither  as  citizens  or  partisans  are  our  countrymen  in  a  mood  to 
condone  the  deliberate  violation  of  these  pledges 

Our  progress  toward  a  wise  conclusion  will  not  be  improved  by  dwelling  upon 
the  theories  of  protection  and  free  trade.  This  savors  too  much  of  bandying  epi, 
thets.  It  is  a  co?i(Z«Ywi  which  confronts  us— not  a  theory.  Relief  from  this  condi^ 
tion  may  involve  a  slight  reduction  of  the  advantages  which  we  award  our  homf 
productions,  but  the  entire  withdrawal  of  such  advantages  should  not  be  con. 
templated.    The  question  of  free  trade  is  absolutely  irrelevant;  and  the  persistent 


CLEVELAND   OX   THE    TARIFF.  41" 

claim  made  in  certain  quarters,  that  all  efforts  to  relieve  the  people  from  unjust  and 
unnecessary  taxation  are  echemes  of  so  called  free  traders,  is  mischievous  and  far 
removed  from  any  consideration  for  the  public  good. 

THE  PLAIN  DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

The  simple  and  plain  duty  which  we  owe  the  people  is  to  reduce  taxation  to 
the  necessary  expenses  of  an  economical  operation  of  the  Government,  and  to  re- 
store to  the  business  of  the  country  the  money  which  we  hold  in  the  Treasury 
through  the  perversien  of  Governmental  powers.  These  things  can  and  should  be 
done  with  safety  to  all  our  industries,  without  danger  to  the  opportunity  for  remuner- 
ative labor  which  our  workingmen  need,  and  with  benefit  to  them  and  all  our  peo- 
ple, by  cheapening  their  means  of  subsistence  and  increasing  the  measure  of  their 
comforts.  *  *  *  But  I  am  so  much  impressed  with  the  paramount  importance 
of  the  subject  to  which  this  communication  has  thus  far  been  devoted,  that  I  shall 
forego  the  addition  of  any  other  topic,  and  only  urge  upon  your  immediate  consid- 
eration the  "  state  of  the  Union  "  as  shown  in  the  present  condition  of  our  treasury 
and  our  general  fiscal  situation,  upon  which  every  element  of  our  safety  and  pros- 
perity depends. 

Washington,  December  6, 1887.  GROVET?  CLEVELAND. 


vn. 

LETTER  TO  TAMMANY  HALL  CELEBRATION. 

The  President  wrote  the  following  letter  in  reply  to  the  invitation  to  be  present 
Lt  the  celebration  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the  4th  of  July,  1888 : 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  June  29,  1888. 
The  Hon,  James  A.  Flacky  Grand  Sachem: 

Dear  Sir:  I  regret  that  I  am  obliged  to  decline  the  courteous  invitation  which 
I  have  received  to  attend  the  celebration  b}''  the  Tammany  Society  of  the  birthday 
of  our  republic  on  the  fourth  day  of  July  next.  The  zeal  and  enthusiasm  with 
which  your  society  celebratts  this  day  afford  proof  of  its  steadfast  patriotism  as  well 
as  its  care  for  all  that  pertains  to  the  advantage  and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

I  cannot  doubt  that  the  renewal  of  a  'Move  and  devotion  to  a  pure  Jefiersonian 
Democratic  form  of  Government,"  w^hich  you  contemplate,  will  suggest  the  inquiry 
whether  the  people  are  receiving  all  the  benefits  which  are  due  them  under  such  a 
form  of  Government.  These  benefits  are  not  fully  enjoyed  w^hen  our  citizens  are 
unnecessarily  burdened,  and  their  earnings  and  incomes  are  uselessly  diminished 
under  the  pretext  of  Governmental  support. 

Our  Government  belongs  to  the  people.  They  have  decreed  its  purpose  ;  and  it  is 
their  clear  right  to  demand  that  its  cost  shall  be  limited  by  frugality,  and  that  its 
burden  of  expense  shall  be  carefully  limited  by  its  actual  needs.  And  yet  a  useless 
and  dangerous  surplus  in  the  National  Treasury  tells  no  other  tale  but  extortion  on 
the  part  of  the  Government,  and  a  perversion  of  the  people's  intention.  In  the 
midst  of  our  impetuous  enterprise  and  blind  confidence  in  our  destiny,  it  is  time  to 
pause  and  study  our  condition.  It  is  no  sooner  appreciated  than  the  conviction 
must  follow  that  the  tribute  exacted  from  the  people  should  be  diminished. 


43  CLEVELAND  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

The  theories  which  cloud  the  subject,  misleading  honest  men,  and  the  appeals 
to  selfish  interests  which  deceive  the  undersianding,  make  the  reform,  which  should 
be  easy,  a  difl3cult  task.  Although  those  who  propose  a  remedy  for  present  evils 
have  always  been  the  friends  of  American  labor,  and  though  they  declare  their 
purpose  to  further  its  interests  in  all  their  efforts,  yet  tliose  who  oppose  reform . 
attempt  to  disturb  our  workiugmen  by  the  cry  that  their  wages  and  their  employ- 
ment are  threatened. 

They  advocate  a  system  which  benefits  certain  classes  of  our  citizens  at  the  ex- 
pense of  every  householder  in  the  land— a  system  which  breeds  discontent,  because 
it  permits  the  duplication  of  wealth  without  corresponding  additional  recompense 
to  labor,  which  prevents  the  opportunity  to  work  by  stifling  production  and  limit- 
ing the  area  of  our  markets,  and  which  enhances  the  cost  of  living  beyond  the 
laborers'  hard-earned  wages. 

The  attempt  is  made  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  people  from  the  evils  of  such 
a  scheme  of  taxation,  by  branding  those  who  seek  to  correct  these  evils  as  free- 
traders, and  enemies  of  our  workingmen  and  our  industrial  enterprises.  This  is  so 
far  from  the  truth  that  there  should  be  no  chance  for  such  deception  to  succeed. 

It  behooves  the  American  people,  while  they  rejoice  in  the  anniversary  of  the 
day  when  their  free  Government  was  declared,  to  also  reason  together  and  de- 
termine that  they  will  not  be  deprived  of  the  blessings  and  the«benefits  which  their 
Government  should  afford.  Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


1 


SPEECHES,  LETTERS  Md  MESSAGES 


OF 


GROVKR    CLKVBLAND, 


President  of  the  United  States, 


1881-1888. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS  AND  MESSAGES. 

FIRST    IMPORTANT    VETO    AS    MAYOR: 

A     STINGING    KEBUKE     TO     EXTRAVAGANCE     IN    THE    EXPENDITURE    OF     PUBLIC 
MONET  CHARACTERISTIC   OF  THE   MAN. 

Buffalo,  June  26, 1883. 

I  return  without  my  approval  the  resolution  of  your  honorable  body,  passed  at 
its  last  meeting,  awarding  the  contracts  for  cleaning  the  paved  streets  and  alleys  of 

the  city  for  the  ensuing  five  years  to at  his  bid  of  four  hundred  and  twenty- two 

thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  bid  thus  accepted  by  your  honorable  body  is  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  higher  than  that  of  another  perfectly  responsible  party  for  the 
same  work;  and  a  worse  and  more  suspicious  feature  in  this  transaction  is  that  the 

bid  now  accepted  is  fifty  thousand  dollars  more  than  that  made  by himself 

within  a  very  few  weeks,  openly  and  publicly  to  your  honorable  body,  for  perform- 
ing precisely  the  same  services.  This  latter  circumstance  is  to  my  mind  the  mani- 
festation on  the  part  of  the  contractor  of  a  reliance  upon  the  forbearance  and  gen- 
erosity of  your  honorable  body,  which  would  be  more  creditable  if  it  were  less 
expensive  to  the  taxpayers. 

I  am  not  aware  that  any  excuse  is  offered  for  the  acceptance  of  this  proposal, 
thus  increased,  except  the  very  flimsy  one  that  the  lower  bidders  cannot  afford  to  do 
the  work  for  the  sums  they  name. 

This  extreme  tenderness  and  consideration  for  those  who  desire  to  contract  with 
the  city,  and  this  touching  and  paternal  solicitude  lest  they  should  be  improvidently 
led  into  a  bad  bargain  is,  I  am  sure,  an  exception  to  general  business  rules,  and 
seems  to  have  no  place  in  this  selfish,  sordid  world,  except  as  found  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  municipal  affairs. 

The  charter  of  your  city  requires  that  the  Mayor,  when  he  disapproves  any 
resolution  of  your  honorable  body,  shall  return  the  same  with  his  objections. 

This  is  a  time  for  plain  speech,  and  my  objection  to  the  action  of  your  honorable 
body  now  under  consideration  shall  be  plainly  stated.  I  withhold  my  assent  from 
the  same,  because  I  regard  it  as  the  culmination  of  a  most  barefaced,  impudent  and 
shameless  scheme  to  betray  the  interests  of  the  people  and  to  worse  than  squander 
the  public  money. 


I 


46  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

I  will  not  be  misunderstood  in  this  matter.  There  are  those  whose  votes  were 
given  for  this  resolution  whom  I  cannot  and  will  not  euspect  of  a  willful  neglect  of 
the  interests  they  are  sworn  to  protect ;  but  it  has  been  fully  demonstrated  that 
there  are  influences,  both  in  and  about  your  honorable  body,  which  it  behooves 
every  honest  man  to  watch  and  avoid  with  the  greatest  care. 

When  cool  judgment  rales  the  hour,  the  people  will,  I  hope  and  believe,  have 
no  reason  to  complain  of  the  action  of  your  honorable  body.  But  clumsy  appeals 
to  prejudice  or  passion,  insinuations,  with  a  kind  of  low,  cheap  cunning,  as  to  the 
motives  and  purposes  of  others,  and  the  mock  heroism  of  brazen  eflrontery  which 
openly  declares  that  a  wholesome  public  sentiment  is  to  be  set  at  naught,  some- 
times deceives  and  leads  honest  men  to  aid  in  the  consummation  of  schemes  which, 
if  exposed,  they  would  look  upon  with  abhorrence. 

If  the  scandal  in  connection  with  this  street  cleaning  contract,  which  has  so 
aroused  our  citizens,  shall  cause  them  to  select  and  wa-.ch  with  more  care  those  to 
whom  they  intrust  their  interests,  and  if  it  serves  to  make  all  of  us  who  are  charged 
with  official  duties  more  careful  in  their  performance,  it  will  not  be  an  unmitigated 
evil. 

We  are  fast  gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of  public  stewardship.  There  is  no 
middle  ground.  Those  who  are  not  for  the  people  either  in  or  out  of  your  honor- 
able body  are  against  them  and  should  be  treated  accordingly. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND, 
Mayor, 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESSES. 
I. 

A.S    GOVERNOR     OF  NEW    YORK,    IN  THE     SENATE     CHAMBER    AT    ALBANY,     JANU- 
ARY   1st,  1883. 

Governor  Cornell  :  I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  your  pleasant  words  and  kind 
wishes  for  my  success.  You  speak  in  full  view  of  labors  that  are  past  and  duty  well 
performed,  and  no  doubt  you  generously  suppose  that  what  you  have  safely  en- 
countered and  overcome  another  may  not  fear  to  me§t. 

But  I  cannot  be  unmindful  of  the  diffleulties  that  beset  the  path  upon  which  I 
enter,  and  I  shall  be  quite  content  if,  when  the  end  is  reached,  I  may,  like  you, look 
back  upon  an  official  career  honorable  to  myself  and  useful  to  the  people  of  the 
State. 

I  cannot  forbear  at  this  time  to  also  express  my  appreciation  of  the  hearty 
kindness  and  consideration  with  which  you  have  at  other  times  sought  to  make 
easier  my  perlormance  of  oflScial  duty. 

Fellow ■  Citizens :  You  have  assembled  to-day  to  witness  the  retirement  of  an 
officer  tried  and  trusted,  froin  the  highest  place  in  the  State,  and  the  assumption 
of  its  duties  by  one  yet  to  be  tried.  This  ceremony,  simple  and  unostentatious,  as 
becomes  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  is  yet  of  vast  importance  to  you  and  all  the 
people  of  this  great  c  miinonwealth.  The  interests  now  transferred  to  new  hands 
are  yours;  and  the  duties  here  newly  assumed  should  be  performed  for  your  bene- 


Cleveland's  speeches,  lettebs,  etc.  47 

fit  and  your  good.  This  yea  have  the  right  to  demand  and  enforce  by  the  means 
placed  in  your  hands,  which  you  well  know  how  to  use ;  and  if  the  public  servant 
should  always  know  that  he  is  jealously  watched  by  the  people,  he  surely  would  be 
none  the  less  faithful  to  his  trust. 

This  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  citizen,  and  an  active  interest  and  participation 
in  political  concerns,  are  the  safeguards  of  his  rights ;  but  sluggish  indifference  to 
political  privileges  invites  the  machinations  of  those  who  wait  to  betray  the  people's 
trust.  Thus  when  the  conduct  of  public  aflfairs  receives  your  attention,  you  not  only 
perform  your  duty  as  citizens,  but  protect  your  own  best  interest.  While  this  is 
true,  and  while  those  whom  you  put  in  place  should  be  held  to  strict  account,  their 
opportunity  for  usefulness  should  not  be  impaired,  nor  their  efforts  for  good  thwarted 
by  unfounded  and  querulous  complaint  and  cavil. 

Let  us  together,  but  in  our  different  places,  take  part  in  the  regulation  and 
administration  of  the  governiiient  of  our  State,  and  thus  become  not  only  the  keep- 
ers of  our  own  interests,  but  contiibutors  to  the  progress  and  prosperity  which  will 
await  us. 

I  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  my  fellow -citizens 
have  called  me  with  a  profound  sense  of  responsibility  ;  but  my  hope  is  in  the  guid- 
ance of  a  kind  Providence,  which  I  believe  will  aid  an  honest  design  and  the  for- 
bearance of  a  just  people,  which,  I  trust,  will  recognize  a  patriotic  endeavor. 


II. 

AS    ^PRESIDENT  OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.    DELIVERED    AT    THE    EAST    FRONT    OP 
THE   CAPITOL,  IN    WASHINGTON,   MARCH  4,   1885. 

Fellow  ■Citizens:  In  the  presence  of  this  vast  assemblage  of  my  countrymen  I 
am  about  to  supplement  and  seal  by  the  oath  which  I  shall  take  the  manifestation 
of  the  will  of  a  great  and  free  people.  In  the  exercise  of  their  power  and  right  of 
self-government  they  have  committed  to  one  of  their  fellow-citizens  a  supreme  and 
sacred  trust ;  and  he  here  consecrates  himself  to  their  service. 

This  impressive  ceremony  adds  little  to  the  solemn  sense  of  responsibility  with 
which  I  contemplate  the  duty  I  owe  to  all  the  people  of  the  land.  Nothing  can 
relieve  me  from  anxiety  lest  by  any  act  of  mine  their  interests  may  suffer,  and 
nothing  is  needed  to  strengthen  my  resolution  to  engage  every  faculty  and  effort  in 
the  promotion  of  their  welfare. 

Amid  the  din  of  party  strife  the  people's  choice  was  made ;  but  its  at4;erwJant 
circumstances  have  demonstrated  anew  the  strength  and  safety  of  a  governwiwet  by 
the  people.  In  each  succeeding  year  it  more  clearly  appeai-s  that  our  democratic 
principle  needs  no  apology,  and  that  in  its  fearless  and  faithful  application  is  to  be 
found  the  surest  guarantee  of  good  government. 

But  the  best  results  in  the  operation  of  a  government,  wherein  every  citizen 
has  a  share,  largely  depend  upon  a  proper  limitation  of  purely  partisan  zeal  and 
effort,  and  a  correct  appreciation  of  the  time  when  the  heat  of  the  partisan  should 
be  merged  in  the  patriotism  of  the  citizen. 

To-day  the  executive  branch  of  the  government  is  transferred  to  new  keeping. 
But  this  is  still  the  government  of  all  the  people,  and  it  should  be  none  the  less  an 


48  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

object  of  their  affcctiouate  solicitude.  At  this  hour  the  animosities  of  political 
strife,  the  bitterness  of  partisan  defeat,  aud  the  exultation  of  partisan  triumph 
should  be  supplanted  by  an  ungrudging  acquiescence  in  the  popular  will,  and  a 
sober,  conscientious  concern  for  the  general  weal.  Moreover,  if,  from  this  hour,  we 
cheerfully  and  honestly  abandon  all  sectional  prejudice  and  distrust,  and  determine, 
with  manly  confidence  in  one  another,  to  work  out  harmoniously  the  achievements 
of  our  national  destiny,  we  shall  deserve  to  realize  all  the  benefits  which  our  happy 
form  of  government  can  bestow. 

On  this  auspicious  occasion  we  may  well  renew  the  pledge  of  our  devotion  to 
the  Constitution,  which,  launched  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic  and  consecrated 
by  their  prayers  and  patriotic  devotion,  has  for  almost  a  century  borne  the  hopes 
and  the  aspirations  of  a  great  people  through  prosperity  and  peace,  and  through 
the  shock  of  foreign  conflicts  and  the  perils  of  domestic  strife  and  vicissitudes. 

By  the  Father  of  his  Country  our  Constitution  was  commended  for  adoption 
as  **  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity  and  mutual  concession."  In  that  same  spirit  it 
should  be  administered,  in  order  to  promote  the  lasting  welfare  of  the  country,  and 
to  secure  the  full  measure  of  its  priceless  benefits  to  us  and  to  those  who  will  suc- 
ceed to  the  blessings  of  our  national  life.  The  large  variety  of  diverse  and  com- 
peting interests  subject  to  Federal  control,  persistently  seeking  the  recognition  of 
their  claims,  need  give  us  no  fear  that  "  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number," 
will  fail  to  be  accomplished  if  in  the  halls  of  national  legislation  that  spirit  of 
amity  and  mutual  concession  shall  prevail  in  which  the  Constitution  had  its  birth. 
If  this  involves  the  surrender  or  postponement  of  private  interests  and  the  aban- 
donment of  local  advantages,  compensation  will  be  found  in  the  assurance  that 
thus  the  common  interest  is  subserved  and  the  general  welfare  advanced. 

In  the  discharge  of  my  official  duty  I  shall  endeavor  to  be  guided  by  a  just 
and  unrestrained  construction  of  the  Constitution,  a  careful  observance  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  powers  granted  to  the  Federal  Government  and  those  reserved 
to  the  State  or  to  the  people,  and  by  a  cautious  appreciation  of  those  functions 
which,  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  have  been  especially  assigned  to  the  execu- 
tive branch  of  the  Government. 

But  he  who  takes  the  oath  to-day  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  only  assumes  the  solemn  obligation  which  every  patri- 
otic citizen,  on  the  farm,  in  the  workshop,  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade,  and  every- 
where, should  share  with  him.  The  Constitution  which  prescribes  his  oath,  my 
countrymen,  is  yours ;  the  Government  you  have  chosen  him  to  admiuister  for  a 
time  is  yours ;  the  suffrage  which  executes  the  will  of  freemen  is  yours ;  the  laws 
and  the  entire  scheme  of  our  civil  rule,  from  the  town  meeting  to  the  State  capitals 
and  the  National  Capital,  is  yours.  Your  every  voter,  as  surely  as  your  Chief 
Magistrate,  under  the  same  high  sanction,  though  in  a  different  sphere,  exercises  a 
public  trust.  Nor  is  this  all.  Every  citizen  owes  to  the  country  a  vigilant  watch 
and  close  scrutiny  of  its  public  servants,  and  a  liiir  and  reasonable  estimate  of  their 
fidelity  and  usefulness.  Thus  is  the  people's  will  impressed  upon  the  whole  frame- 
work of  our  civil  polity— municipal.  State,  and  Federal — and  this  is  the  price  of 
our  liberty  and  the  inspiration  of  our  faith  in  the  Republic. 

It  is  the  duty  of  those  serving  the  people  in  public  place  to  closely  limit  public 
expenditures  to  the  actual  needs  of  the  Government  economically  administered, 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  49 

because  this  bounds  the  right  of  the  Government  to  exact  tribute  from  the  earn- 
ings of  labor  or  the  property  of  the  citizen,  and  because  public  extravagance  begets 
extravagance  among  the  people.  We  should  never  be  ashamed  of  the  simplicity 
and  prudential  economies  which  are  best  suited  to  the  operation  of  a  republican 
form  of  government  and  most  compatible  with  the  mission  of  the  American  people. 
Those  who  are  selected  for  a  limited  time  to  manage  public  affairs  are  still  of  the 
people,  and  may  do  much  by  their  example  to  encourage,  consistently  with  the 
dignity  of  their  official  functions,  that  plain  way  of  life  which  among  their  fellow- 
citizens  aids  integrity  and  promotes  thrift  and  prosperity. 

The  genius  of  our  institutions,  the  needs  of  our  people  in  their  home  life,  and 
the  attention  which  is  demanded  for  the  settlement  and  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  our  vast  territory,  dictate  the  scrupulous  avoidance  of  any  departure 
from  that  foreign  policy  commended  by  the  history,  the  traditions,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  our  Republic.  It  is  the  policy  of  independence,  favored  by  our  position 
and  defended  by  our  known  love  of  justice  and  by  our  power.  It  is  the  policy  of 
peace  suitable  to  our  interests.  It  is  the  policy  of  neutrality,  rejecting  any  share  in 
foreign  broils  and  ambitions  upon  other  continents,  and  repelling  their  intrusion 
here.  It  is  the  policy  of  Monroe  and  of  Washington  and  Jefferson — "  Peace,  com- 
merce, and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations ;  entangling  alliance  with  none." 

A  due  regard  for  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  all  the  people  demand  that 
our  finances  shall  be  established  upon  such  a  sound  and  sensible  basis  as  shall 
secure  the  safety  and  confidence  of  business  interests  and  make  the  wage  of  labor 
sure  and  steady;  and  that  our  system  of  revenue  shall  be  so  adjusted  as  to  relieve 
the  people  of  unnecessary  taxation,  having  a  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  capital 
invested  and  workiugmen  employed  in  American  industries,  and  preventing  the 
accumu'ation  of  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury  to  tempt  extravagance  and  waste. 

Care  for  the  property  of  the  nation  and  for  the  needs  of  future  settlers  requires 
that  the  public  domain  should  be  protected  from  purloining  schemes  and  unlawful 
occupation. 

The  conscience  of  the  people  demands  that  the  Indians  within  our  boundaries 
shall  be  fairly  and  honestly  treated  as  wards  of  the  Government,  and  their 
education  and  civilization  promoted,  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate  citizenship ;  and 
that  polygamy  in  the  Territories,  destructive  of  the  family  relation  and  offensive 
to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized  world,  shall  be  repressed. 

The  laws  should  be  rigidly  enforced  which  prohibit  the  immigration  of  a  servile 
class  to  compete  with  American  labor,  with  no  intention  of  acquiring  citizenship, 
and  bringing  with  them  and  retaining  habits  and  customs  repugnant  to  our 
civilization. 

The  people  demand  reform  in  the  administration  of  the  Government  and 
the  application  of  business  principles  to  public  affairs.  As  a  means  to  this  end 
civil  service  reform  should  be  in  good  faith  enforced.  Our  citizens  have  the  right 
to  protection  from  the  incompetency  of  public  employes  who  hold  their  places 
solely  as  the  reward  of  partisan  service  and  from  the  corrupting  influence  of  those 
who  promise  and  the  vicious  methods  of  those  who  expect  such  rewards.  And 
those  who  worthily  seek  public  employment  have  the  right  to  insist  that  merit  and 
competency  shall  be  recognized  instead  of  party  subserviency  or  the  surrender  of 
honest  political  belief. 


60  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

In  the  administration  of  a  government  pledged  to  do  equal  and  exact  justice 
to  all  men  there  should  be  no  pretext  for  anxiety  touching  the  protection  of  the 
freedmen  in  their  rights,  or  their  security  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges 
under  the  Constitution  and  its  amendments.  All  discussion  as  to  their  fitness  for 
the  place  accorded  to  them  as  American  citizens  is  idle  and  unprofitable,  except  as 
it  suggests  the  necessity  for  their  improvement.  The  fact  that  they  are  citizens 
entitles  them  to  al:  the  rights  due  to  that  relation  and  charges  them  with  all  its 
duties,  obligations,  and  responsibilities. 

These  topics,  and  the  constant  and  ever-varying  wants  of  an  active  and  enter- 
prising population,  may  well  receive  the  attention  and  the  patriotic  endeavor  of 
all  who  make  and  execute  the  Federal  law.  Our  duties  are  practical,  and  call 
for  industrious  application,  an  intelligent  perception  of  the  claims  of  public  office, 
and,  above  all,  a  firm  determination,  by  united  action,  to  secure  to  all  the  people 
of  the  land  the  full  benefits  of  the  best  form  of  government  ever  vouchsafed  to 
man.  And  let  us  not  trust  to  human  efi'ort  alone;  but  humbly  acknowledging  the 
power  and  goodness  of  Almighty  God,  who  presides  over  the  destiny  of  nations,  and 
who  has  at  all  times  been  revealed  in  our  country's  history,  let  us  invoke  His  aid 
and  His  blessing  upon  our  labors. 


POLITICAL  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES. 
L 

ADDRESS  ACCEPTING    NOMINATION  FOR   MAYOR   OF  BUFFALO,  1881. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  I  am  informed  that  you  have  bestowed 
upon  me  the  nomination  for  the  office  of  Mayor.  *  *  *  I  hoped  that  your 
choice  might  fall  upon  some  other  and  more  worthy  member  of  the  city  Democracy, 
for  personal  and  private  considerations  have  made  the  question  of  acceptance  on  my 
part  a  difficult  one. 

But  because  lam  a  Democrat  and  because  I  think  no  one  has  a  right  at  this  time 
of  all  others  to  consult  his  own  inclinations  as  against  the  call  of  his  party  and 
fellow-citizens,  and  hoping  that  I  may  be  of  use  to  you  in  your  efforts  to  inaugurate 
a  better  rale  of  municipal  afi'airs,  I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  to  me.    *    *    * 

I  am  assured  that  the  result  of  the  campaign  upon  which  we  enter  to-day  will 
demonstrate  that  the  citizens  of  Buffalo  will  not  tolerate  the  man  or  the  party  who 
has  been  unfaithful  to  public  trusts.  I  say  these  things  to  a  convention  of  Demo- 
crats, because  I  know  that  the  grand  old  party  is  honest,  and  they  cannot  be  unwel- 
come to  you.  Let  us  then  in  all  sincerity  promise  the  people  an  improvement  in  our 
municipal  afi'airs;  and  if  the  opportunity  is  ofi'ered  to  us,  as  it  surely  will  be,  let  us 
faithfully  keep  that  promise. 

By  this  means,  and  by  this  means  alone,  can  our  success  rest  upon  a  firm 
foundation  and  our  party  ascendency  be  permanently  assured.  Our  opponents  will 
wage  a  biiter  and  determined  warfare;  but  with  united  and  hearty  eflbrt  we  shall 
achieve  a  victory  for  our  entire  ticket.  And  at  this  day,  and  with  my  record  before 
you,  I  trust  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  pledge  to  you  my  most  earnest  endeavors  to 


CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC.  51 

bring  about  this  result;  and  if  elected  to  the  position  for  which  you  have  nominated 
me,  I  shall  do  my  whole  duty  t(  the  party;  but  none  the  less,  I  hope,  to  the  citizens 
of  Buffalo. 

II. 

liETTEB   ACCEPTING   NOMINATION  AS  GOVERNOR. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  October  7, 1883. 

Dear  Sir: — I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  informing  me  of 
my  nomination  for  Governor  by  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  lately  held  at  the 
city  of  Syracuse. 

I  accept  the  nomination  thus  tendered  to  me,  and  trust  that,  while  I  am  grate- 
fully sensible  of  the  honor  conferred,  I  am  also  properly  impressed  with  the  respon- 
sibilities which  it  invites. 

The  platform  of  principles  adopted  by  the  convention  meets  with  my  hearty 
approval.  The  doctrines  therein  enunciated  are  so  distinctly  and  explicitly  stated 
that  their  amplification  seems  scarcely  necessary.  If  elected  to  the  office  for  which 
I  have  been  nominated,  I  shall  endeavor  to  impress  them  upon  my  administration 
and  make  them  the  policy  of  the  State. 

Our  citizens  for  the  most  part  attach  themselves  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  great 
political  parties ;  and  under  ordinary  circumstances  they  support  the  nominees  of 
the  party  to  which  they  profess  fealty. 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  under  such  circumstances  the  primary  election  or  cau- 
cus should  be  surrounded  by  such  safeguards  as  will  secure  absolutely  free  and  un- 
controlled action.  Here  the  people  themselves  are  supposed  to  speak ;  here  they 
put  their  hands  to  the  machinery  of  government,  and  in  this  place  should  be  found 
the  manifestations  of  the  popular  will. 

When  by  fraud,  intimidation  or  any  other  questionable  practice  the  voice  of 
the  people  is  here  smothered,  a  direct  blow  is  aimed  at  a  most  precious  right, 
and  one  which  the  law  should  be  swift  to  protect. 

If  the  primary  election  is  uncontaminated  and  fairly  conducted,  those  there 
chosen  to  represent  the  people  will  go  forth  with  the  impress  of  the  peoples'  will 
upon  them,  and  the  benefits  and  purposes  of  a  truly  representative  government  will 
be  attained. 

Public  officers  are  the  servants  and  agents  of  the  people  to  execute  laws  which 
the  people  have  made,  and  within  the  limits  of  a  constitution  which  they  have  e»- 
tablished. 

Hence  the  interference  of  officials  of  any  degree,  and  whether  state  or  federal, 
for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  or  controlling  the  popular  wish,  should  not  be  tolerated. 

Subordinates  in  public  place  should  be  selected  and  retained  for  their  efficiency, 
and  not  because  they  may  be  used  to  accomplish  partisan  ends.  The  people  have  a 
right  to  demand,  here  as  in  cases  of  private  employment,  that  their  money  be  paid 
to  those  who  will  render  the  best  service  in  return,  and  that  the  appointment  to  and 
tenure  of  such  places  should  depend  upon  ability  and  merit.  If  ihe  clerks  and  as- 
sistants in  public  departments  were  paid  the  same  compensation  and  required  to  do 
the  same  amount  of  work  as  those  employed  in  prudently  conducted  private 
establishments,  the  anxiety  to  hold  these  public  places  would  be  much  •diminished, 
and,  it  seems  to  me,  the  cause  of  civil  service  reform  materially  aided. 
4 


52  CLEVELAND  S   SPEECHES,   LETTKKS,  ETC. 

The  system  of  levying  assessments  for  partisan  purposes  on  those  holding  office 
or  place  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  Through  tlie  thin  disguise  of  volun- 
tary contributions,  this  is  seen  to  be  naked  extortion,  reducing  the  compensation 
which  should  be  honestly  earned  and  swelUng  a  fund  used  to  debauch  the  people  and 
defeat  the  popular  will. 

lam  unalterably  opposed  to  the  interference  by  the  Legislature  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  municipalities.  I  believe  in  the  intelligence  of  the  people  when  left  to  an 
honest  freedom  in  their  choice,  and  that  when  the  citizens  of  any  section  of  the 
State  have  determined  upon  the  details  of  a  local  government,  they  should  be  left  in 
the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  same.  The  doctrine  of  home  rule,  as  I  understand 
it,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  republican  institutions,  and  cannot  be  too  strongly  io- 
aisted  upon. 

Corporations  are  created  by  the  law  for  certain  defined  purposes,  and  are  re- 
stricted in  their  operations  by  specific  limitations.  Acting  within  their  legitimate 
sphere  they  should  be  protected;  but  when  by  combination  or  by  the  exercise  of  un- 
warranted power,  they  oppress  the  people,  the  same  authority  which  created  should 
restrain  them  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  citizen.  The  law  lately  passed  for  the 
purpose  of  adjusting  the  relations  between  the  people  and  corporations,  should  be 
executed  in  good  faith,  with  an  honest  design  to  effectuate  its  objects  and  with  a  due 
regard  for  the  interest  involved. 

The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our  population.  They  should 
be  protected  in  their  efforts  peaceably  to  assert  their  rights  when  endangered  by 
aggregated  capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should  recognize  the  care  of  the 
State  for  honest  toil,  and  be  framed  with  a  view  of  improving  the  condition  of  the 
workingman. 

We  have  so  lately  had  a  demonstration  of  the  value  of  our  citizen  soldiery  in 
time  of  peril,  that  it  seems  to  me  no  argument  is  necessary  to  prove  that  it  should 
be  maintained  in  a  state  of  efficiency,  so  that  its  usefulness  shall  not  be  impaired. 

Certain  amendments  to  the  constitution  of  our  State,  involving  the  manage- 
ment of  our  canals,  are  to  be  passed  upon  at  the  coming  election.  This  subject 
affects  divers  interests,  and  of  course  gives  rise  to  opposite  opinions.  It  is  in  the 
handaof  the  sovereign  people  for  final  settlement;  and  as  the  question  is  thus  re- 
moved from  State  legislation,  any  statement  of  my  opinion  in  regard  to  it,  at  this 
time,  would,  I  think,  be  out  of  place.  I  am  confident  that  the  people  will  intelli- 
gently examine  the  merits  of  the  subject,  and  determine  wheie  the  preponderance 
of  interest  lies. 

The  expenditure  of  money  to  influence  the  action  of  the  people  at  the  polls, 
or  to  secure  legislation,  is  calculated  to  excite  the  gravest  concern.  When  this 
pernicious  agency  is  successfully  employed,  a  representative  form  of  government 
becomes  a  sham,  and  laws  passed  under  its  baleful  influence  cease  to  protect,  but 
are  made  the  means  by  which  the  rights  of  the  people  are  sacrificed,  and  the  public 
treasury  despoiled.  It  is  useless  and  foolish  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this 
evil  exists  among  us,  and  the  party  which  leads  in  an  honest  effort  to  return  to 
better  and  purer  methods  will  receive  the  confidence  of  our  citizens  and  secure 
their  support.  It  is  willful  blindness  not  to  see  that  the  people,  care  but  little  for 
party  obligations,  which  they  are  invoked  to  countenance  and  sustain  fraudulent 
and  corrupt  practices.  And  it  is  well  for  our  country  and  for  the  purification  of 
politics  that  the  people,  at  times  fully  roused  to  danger,  remind  theii*  leaders  that 


CLEVELAND'S   SPEECHES,  LETTiatS,   ETC.  53 

party  methods  should  be  something  more  than  a  means  used  to  answer  the  purposes 
of  those  who  protit  by  political  occupation. 

The  importance  of  wise  statesmanship  in  the  management  of  public  affairs 
cannot,  I  thiult,  be  overestimated.  I  am  convinced,  however,  that  the  perplexities 
and  the  mystery  often  surrounding  the  administration  of  State  concerns  grow,  in  a 
great  measure,  out  of  an  attempt  to  serve  partisan  ends  rather  than  the  welfare  of 
the  citizen. 

We  may,  I  think,  reduce  to  quite  sunple  elements  the  duty  which  public  ser- 
vants owe,  by  constantly  bearing  in  mind  that  they  are  put  in  place  to  protect  the 
rights  of  the  people,  to  answer  their  needs  as  they  arise,  and  to  expend,  for  their 
benefit,  the  money  drawn  from  them  by  taxation. 

I  am  profoundly  conscious  that  the  management  of  th  e  divers  interests  of  a 
great  State  is  not  an  easy  matter,  but  I  believe  ,if  undertaken  in  the  proper  spirit, 
all  its  real  difficulties  will  yield  to  watchfulness  and  care. 

Yours  respectfully.  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


III. 

BERENADE    SPEECH    IN    ALBANY,    JULY    10,   1884,    AFTER    NOMINATION 
FOR   PRESIDENT. 

Fellow-Citizens — I  cannot  but  be  gratified  with  this  kindly  greeting.  I  find 
that  I  am  fast  reaching  the  point  where  I  shall  count  the  people  of  Albany  not 
merely  as  fellow-citizens,  but  as  townsmen  and  neignbors. 

On  this  occasion,  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  you  pay  no  compliment  to  a  citi- 
zen, and  present  no  personal  tribute,  but  that  you  have  come  to  demonstrate  your 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  a  cause  in  which  you  are  heartily  enlisted. 

The  American  people  are  about  to  exercise,  in  its  highest  sense,  their  power  of 
right  and  sovereignty.  They  are  to  call  in  review  before  them  their  public  serv- 
ants and  the  representatives  of  political  parties,  and  demand  of  them  an  account  of 
their  stewardship. 

Parties  may  be  so  long  in  power,  and  may  become  so  arrogant  and  careless  of 
the  interests  of  the  people  as  to  grow  heedless  of  their  responsibility  to  their  masters. 
But  the  time  comes,  as  certainly  as  death,  when  the  people  weigh  them  in  the  bal- 
ance. 

The  issues  to  be  adjudicated  by  the  nation's  great  assize  are  made  up  and  are 
about  to  be  submitted. 

We  believe  that  the  people  are  not  receiving  at  the  hands  of  the  party,  which^ 
for  nearly  twenty-four  years  has  directed  the  atiairs  of  the  nation,  the  full  benefits 
to  which  they  are  entitled — of  a  pure,  jULt  and  economical  rule — and  we  believe  that 
the  ascendency  of  genuine  Democratic  principles  will  insure  a  better  government, 
and  greater  happiness  and  prosperity  to  all  the  people. 

To  reach  the  sober  thought  of  the  nation,  and  to  dislodge  an  enemy  intrenched 
behind  spoils  and  patronage,  involve  a  struggle,  which,  if  we  under-estimate,  we 
invite  defeat.  I  am  profoundly  impressed  with  the  responsibility  of  the  part  as- 
signed to  me  in  this  contest.  My  heart,  1  know,  is  in  the  cause,  and  I  pledge  you 
that  no  efibrt  of  mine  shall  be  wanting  to  secure  the  victory  which  I  believe  to  be 
within  the  achievement  of  the  Democratic  hosts. 


54  cleyeland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

Let  US,  then,  enter  upon  the  campaign,  now  fairly  opened,  each  one  appreciat- 
ing well  the  part  he  has  to  perform,  ready,  with  solid  front,  to  do  battle  for  better 
government,  confidently,  courageously,  always  honorably,  and  with  a  firm  reliance 
upon  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  American  people. 


IV 

response  to  notification  ok  nomination  at  ALBANY,  JULY  39,  1884. 

Mr.  Clmirman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee  : 

Your  formal  announcement  does  not,  of  course,  convey  to  me  the  first  informa- 
tion of  the  result  of  the  convention,  lately  held  by  the  Democracy  of  the  nation. 

And  yet  when,  as  I  listen  to  your  message,  I  see  about  me  representatives  from 
all  parts  of  the  land,  of  the  great  party  which,  claiming  to  be  the  party  of  the  peo- 
ple, asks  them  to  entrust  to  it  the  administration  of  their  government,  and  when  I 
consider,  under  the  influence  of  the  stern  reality  which  present  surroundings 
create,  that  I  have  been  chosen  to  represent  the  plans,  purposes  and  the  policy  of 
the  Democratic  party,  I  am  profoundly  impressed  by  the  solemnity  of  the  ocoasion 
and  by  the  responsibility  of  my  position. 

Though  I  gratefully  appreciate  it,  I  do  not  at  this  moment  congratulate  myself 
upon  the  distinguished  honor  which  has  been  conferred  upon  me,  because  my  mind 
is  full  of  an  anxious  desire  to  perform  well  the  part  which  has  been  asssigned 
to  me. 

Nor  do  I  at  this  moment  forget  that  the  rights  and  interests  of  more  than  fifty 
millions  of  my  fellow  citizens  are  involved  in  our  efforts  to  gain  Democratic 
supremacy.  This  reflection  presents  to  my  mind  the  consideration  which,  more 
thanallotlers,  gives  to  the  action  of  my  party  in  convention  assembled,  its  most 
sober  and  serious  aspect. 

The  party  and  its  representatives  which  ask  to  be  entrusted  at  the  hands  of  the 
people,  with  the  keeping  of  all  that  concerns  their  welfare  and  their  safety,  should 
only  ask  it  with  the  full  appreciation  of  the  trust,  and  with  a  firm  resolve   to  ad- ' 
minister  it  faitL  fully  and  well. 

1  mn,  a  Democrat  because  I  believe  that  this  truth  lies  at  the  foundation  of  true 
Democracy.  I  have  kept  the  faith  because  I  believe  if  rightly  and  fairly  administered 
and  applied,  Democratic  doctrines  and  measures  will  insure  the  Jiappiness,  contentment 
and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

If,  in  the  contest  upon  which  we  now  enter,  we  steadfastly  hold  to  the  under- 
lying principles  of  our  party  creed,  and  at  all  times  keep  in  view  the  people's  good, 
we  shall  be  strong,  because  we  are  true  to  ourselves,  and  because  the  plain  and  in- 
dependent voters  of  the  land  will  seek,  by  their  suflrages,  to  compass  their  release 
from  party  tyranny  where  their  should  be  submission  to  the  popular  will,  and  their 
protection  from  party  corruption  where  there  should  be  devotion  to  the  people's 
interests. 

These  thoughts  lend  a  consecration  to  our  cause ;  and  we  go  forth,  not  merely 
to  gain  a  partisan  advantage,  but  pledged  to  give  to  those  who  trust  us  the  utmost 
benefit  of  a  pure  and  honest  administration  of  national  affairs. 

No  higher  purpose  or  motive  can  stimulate  us  to  supreme  eflbrt,  or  urge  us  to 
continuous  and  earnest  labor  and  effective  party  organization.    Let  us  not  fail  in 


cle^-elakd's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  55 

this,  and  we  may  confidently  hope  to  reap  the  full  reward  of  patriotic  services  well 
performed. 

I  have  thus  called  to  mind  some  simple  truths ;  and  trite  though  they  are,  it 
seems  to  me  we  do  well  to  dwell  upon  them  at  this  time. 

•  1  shall  soon,  I  hope,  signify  m  the  usual  manner  my  acceptance  of  the  nomi- 
nation which  has  been  tendered  to  me.  In  the  meantime,  I  gladly  greet  you  all  as 
co-workers  in  a  noble  cause. 


V. 

LETTER  OP  ACCEPTANCE  AS  PRESIDENT. 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  August  18,  1884. 
Gentlemen:  I  have  received  your  communication,  dated  July  28,  1884,  in- 
forming me  of  my  nomination  to  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  by 
the  National  Democratic  Convention,  lately  assembled  at  Chicago.  I  accept  the 
nomination  with  a  grateful  appreciation  of  the  supreme  honor  conferred  and  a 
solemn  sense  of  the  responsibility  which,  in  its  acceptance,  I  assume.  I  have  care- 
fully OOnsluereu  Hit;  platiurui  5,««>pt3d  HJ  ia-i  vJC-iiVi-Jitivii  nuu  Hiji-j.ta.iiy'  SipprOVe  the 

same.  So  plain  a  statement  of  Democratic  faith,  and  upon  the  principles  which 
that  party  appeals  to  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  needs  no  supplement  or 
explanation. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  office  of  President  is  essentially  executive  in 
its  nature.  The  laws  enacted  by  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government  the 
Chief  Executive  is  bound  faithfully  to  enforce.  And  when  the  wisdom  of  the 
political  party  which  selects  one  of  its  members  as  a  nominee  for  that  office  has 
outlined  its  policy  and  declared  its  principles,  it  seems  to  me  that  nothing  in  the 
character  of  the  office  or  the  necessities  of  the  case  requires  more  from  the 
candidate  accepting  such  nomination  than  the  suggestion  of  certain  w^ell-known 
truths  so  absolutely  vital  to  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  nation  that  they  cannot 
be  too  often  recalled  or  too  seriously  enforced. 

We  proudly  call  ours  a  government  by  the  people.  It  is  not  such  when  a 
class  is  tolerated  which  arrogates  to  itself  the  management  of  public  affairs, 
seeking  to  control  the  people  instead  of  representing  them.  Parties  are  the 
necessary  outgrowth  of  our  institutions  ;  but  a  government  is  not  by  the  people 
when  one  party  fastens  its  control  upon  the  country  and  perpetuates  its  power 
by  cajoling  and  betraying  the  people  instead  of  serving  them.  A  government  is 
not  by  the  people  when  a  result  which  should  represent  the  intelligent  will  of 
free  and  thinking  men  is  or  can  be  determined  by  the  shameless  corruption  of 
their  suffrages. 

When  an  election  to  office  shall  be  the  selection  by  the  voters  of  one  of 
their  number  to  assume  for  a  time  a  public  trust  instead  of  his  dedication  to 
the  profession  of  politics ;  when  the  holders  of  the  ballot,  quickened  by  a  sense  of 
duty,  sliall  avenge  truth  betrayed  and  pledges  broken,  and  when  the  suffrage  shall 
be  altogether  free  and  uncorrupted,  the  full  realization  of  a  government  by  the 
people  will  be  at  hand.  And  of  the  means  to  this  end  not  one  would,  in 
my  judgni'^nt,  be  more  effective  than  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  dis- 
qualifying the  President  from  re  election.'   When  we  consider  the  patronage  of 


56  Cleveland's  SPEECHES,  letters,  etc. 

this  great  office,  the  allurements  of  power,  the  temptation  to  retain  public  place 
once  gained,  and,  more  than  all,  the  avfiikbility  a  party  finds  in  an  incumbent 
whom  a  horde  of  office-holders,  with  a  zeal  born  of  benefits  received  and  fostered 
by  the  hope  of  favors  yet  to  come,  stand  ready  to  aid  with  money  and  trained 
political  serT'ice,  we  recognize  in  the  eligibility  of  the  President  for  re-election  a 
most  serious  danger  to  that  calm,  deliberate,  and  intelligent  political  action 
which  must  characterize  a  government  by  the  people. 

A  true  American  sentiment  recognizes  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  fact 
that  honor  lies  in  honest  toil.  Contented  labor  is  an  element  of  national  pros- 
perity. Ability  to  work  constitutes  the  capital  and  the  wage  of  labor  the  income  of 
a  vast  number  of  our  population,  and  this  interest  should  be  jealously  protected. 
Our  workingmen  are  not  asking  unreasonable  indulgence,  but  as  intelligent 
and  manly  citizens  they  seek  the  same  consideration  which  those  demand  who 
have  other  interests  at  stake.  They  should  receive  their  full  share  of  the  care 
and  attention  of  those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws,  to  the  end  that  the 
wants  and  needs  of  the  employers  and  employed  shall  alike  be  subserved  and 
tbe  prosperity  of  the  country,  the  common  heritage  of  both,  be  advanced.  As 
related  to  this  subject,  while  we  should  not  discourage  the  immigration  of  those  who 
come  to  acknowledge  allegiance  to  our  government  and  add  to  our  citizen  popula- 
tion, yet  as  a  means  of  protection  to  our  workingmen  a  different  rule  should 
prevail  concerning  those  who,  if  they  come  or  are  brought  to  our  land,  do  not 
intend  to  becom.e  Americans,  but  will  injuriously  compete  with  those  justly  entitled 
to  our  field  of  labor. 

In  a  letter  accepting  the  nominal ioii  to  the  office  of  Governor,  nearly  two 
years  ago,  I  made  the  following  statement,  to  which  I  have  steadily  adhered : 

"The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our  population.  They 
should  be  protected  in  their  efforts  peaceably  to  assert  their  rights  when  en- 
dangered by  aggregated  capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should  recognize 
the  care  of  the  State  for  honest  toil,  and  be  framed  with  a  view  of  improving  the 
condition  of  the  workingman." 

A  proper  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  workingman  being  inseparably  connected 
with  the  integrity  of  our  institutions,  none  of  our  citizens  are  more  interested  than 
they  in  guarding  against  any  corrupting  influences  which  seek  to  pervert  the  benefi- 
cent purposes  of  our  government,  and  none  should  be  more  watchful  of  the  artful 
machinations  of  those  who  allure  them  to  self-inflicted  injury. 

In  a  free  country  the  curtailment  of  the  absolute  rights  of  the  individual  should 
only  be  such  as  is  essential  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the  community.  The 
limit  between  the  proper  subjects  of  governmental  control  and  those  which  can  be 
more  fittingly  left  to  the  moral  sense  and  self-imposed  restraint  of  the  citizen  should 
be  carefully  kept  in  view.  Thus  laws  unnecessarily  interfering  with  the  habits  and 
customs  of  any  of  our  people  which  are  not  offensive  to  the  moral  sentiments  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  which  are  consistent  with  good  citizenship  and  the  public  wel- 
fare, are  unwise  and  vexatious. 

The  commerce  of  a  nation,  to  a  great  extent,  determines  its  supremacy.  Cheap 
and  easy  transoortation  should  therefore  be  liberally  fostered.  Within  the  limits  of 
the  Constitution,  the  general  Government  should  so  improve  and  protect  its  natural 
waterways  as  will  enable  the  producers  of  the  country  to  reach  a  profitable  market. 

The  people  pay  the  wages  of  the  public  employes,  and  they  are  entitled  to  the 
fair  and  honest  work  which  the  money  thus  paid  should  command.    It  is  the  duty 


CLEVELAND  S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC.  57 

of  those  intrusted  with  the  management  of  their  affairs  to  see  that  such  public  ser- 
vice is  forthcoming.  The  selection  and  retention  of  subordinates  in  Government 
employment  should  depend  upon  their  ascertained  fitness  and  the  value  of  their 
work,  and  they  should  be  neither  expected  nor  allowed  to  do  questionable  party 
service.  The  interests  of  the  people  will  be  better  protected;  the  estimate  of  public 
labor  and  duty  will  be  immensely  improved ;  public  employment  will  be  open  to  all 
who  can  demonstrate  their  fitness  to  enter  it;  the  unseemly  scramble  for  place  under 
Government,  with  the  consequent  importunity  which  embitters  official  life,  will 
cease,  and  the  public  departments  will  not  be  filled  with  those  who  conceive  it  to  be 
their  first  duty  to  aid  the  party  to  which  they  owe  their  places,  instead  of  rendering 
patient  and  honest  return  to  the  people. 

I  believe  that  the  public  temper  is  such  that  the  voters  of  the  land  are  prepared 
to  support  the  party  which  gives  the  best  promise  of  administering  the  government 
in  the  honest,  simple  and  plain  manner  which  is  cons'stent  with  its  character  and 
purposes.  They  have  learned  that  mystery  and  concealment  in  the  management  of 
their  affairs  cover  tricks  and  betrayal.  The  statesmanship  they  require  consists  in 
honesty  and  frugality,  a  prompt  response  to  the  needs  of  the  people  as  they  arise, 
and  a  vigilant  protection  of  all  their  varied  interests.  If  I  should  be  called  to  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation  by  the  suffraires  of  my  fellow  citizens,  I  will  assume 
the  duties  of  that  high  office  with  a  solemn  determination  to  dedicate  every  effort  to 
the  country's  good,  and  with  an  humble  reliance  upon  the  favor  and  support  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  who,  I  believe,  will  always  bless  honest  human  endeavor  in  the 
conscientious  discharge  of  public  duty. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


LETTERS  AND  ADDRESSES  TO  RELIGIOUS  BODIES. 

I. 

ADDRESS    AT    THE   LAYING    OF  THE  CORNER-STONE    OP  THE  Y.    M.    C.   A.  BUILDING 
IN  BUFFALO,  SEPTEMBER  7,  1882. 

ladies  and  Gevtlfmen :16esiTeto  expre95ihe  sincere  pleasure  and  gratification 
I  experience  in  joining  with  you  in  the  exercises  of  this  afternoon.  An  event  is 
here  marked  which  I  deem  a  most  important  one,  and  one  well  worthy  of  the  at- 
tention of  all  good  ci-izens.  We  this  day  bring  into  a  prominent  place  an  institu- 
tion which  it  seems  to  me  cannot  fail  to  impress  itself  upon  our  future  with  the  best 
results. 

Perhaps  a  majority  of  our  citizens  have  heard  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association;  and  perchance  the  name  has  suggested  in  an  indefinite  way  certain 
efforts  to  do  good  and  to  aid  generally  in  the  spread  of  religious  teaching.  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  however,  that  a  comparatively  small  part  of  oar  community  have  really 
known  the  full  extent  of  the  work  of  this  Association ;  and  many  have  thought  of 
it  as  an  institution  well  enough  in  its  way — a  proper  enough  outlet  for  a  super- 
abundance of  religious  enthusiasm — doing,  of  course,  no  harm,  and  perhaps  very 
little  good.  Some  have  aided  it  by  their  contributions  from  a  sense  of  Christian 
duty,  but  more  have  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 


58  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

We  have  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of  regarding  institutions  of  this  kind  as  en- 
tirely disconnected  from  any  considerations  of  municipal  growth  or  prosperity,  and 
have  too  often  considered  splendid  structures,  active  trade,  increasing  commerce, 
and  growing  manufactures  as  the  only  things  worthy  of  our  caie  as  public  spirited 
citizens.  A  moment's  reflection  reminds  us  that  this  is  wrong.  The  citizen  is  a 
better  business  man  if  he  is  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  surely  business  is  not  the 
less  prosperous  and  successful  if  conducted  on  Christian  principles.  This  is  an 
extremely  practical,  and  perhaps  not  a  very  elevated,  view  to  take  of  the  purposes 
and  benefits  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  But  I  assert  that  if  it  did 
no  more  than  to  impress  some  religious  priuoples  upon  the  business  of  our  city,  it 
would  be  worthy  of  generous  support.  And  when  we  consider  the  difiference,  as  a 
member  of  the  community,  between  the  young  men  who,  under  the  influence  of 
such  an  association,  has  learned  his  duty  to  his  fellows  and  to  the  State,  and  that 
one,  w^ho,  subject  to  no  moral  restraint,  yields  to  temptation  and  thus  becomes 
vicious  and  criminal,  the  importance  of  an  institution  in  our  midbt  which  leads  our 
youth  and  young  men  in  the  way  of  morality  and  good  citizenship,  must  be  freely 
admitted. 

I  have  thus  only  referred  to  this  association  as  in  some  manner  connected  with 
our  substantial  prosperity.  There  is  a  higher  theme  connected  with  this  subject 
which  touches  the  welfare,  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  the  objects  of  its  care.  Upon 
this  I  will  not  dwell.  I  cannot,  however,  pass  on  without  invoking  the  fullest 
measure  of  honor  and  consideration  due  to  the  self  sacrificing  and  disinterested 
eflbrts  of  the  men — and  women,  too — who  have  labored  amid  trials  and  discourage- 
ments to  firmly  plant  this  Association  in  our  midst  upon  sure  foundation.  We  all 
hope  and  expect  that  our  city  has  entered  upon  a  course  of  unprecedented  prosper- 
ity and  gi'owth.  But  to  my  mind  not  all  the  signs  about  us  point  more  surely  to 
real  greatness  than  the  event  which  we  here  celebrate. 

Good  and  pure  government  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  wealth  and  progress  of 
every  community. 

As  the  chief  executive  of  this  proud  city,  I  congratulate  all  my  fellow-citizens 
that  to  dsLf  we  lay  the  foundation  stone  of  an  edifice  which  shall  be  a  beautiful 
adornment,  and,  what  is  more  important,  shall  inclose  within  its  walls  such  earnest 
Christian  endeavors  as  must  make  easier  all  our  efforts  to  administer,  safely  and 
honestly,  a  good  municipal  government.  I  commend  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  to  the  cheerful  and  generous  support  of  every  citizen,  and  trust  that 
long  after  the  men  who  have  wrought  so  well  in  establishing  these  foundations 
shall  have  surrendered  lives  well  spent,  this  building  shall  stand  a  monument 
of  well  directed,  pious  labor,  to  shed  its  benign  influence  on  generations  yet  to 
come. 

II 

RECEPTION  TO  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  January  36, 1887. 
John  I.  Rogers. 

My  Dear  Sir — I  have  received  from  you,  as  one  of  the  Committee  of  the  Catho- 
lic Club  of  Philadelphia,  an  invitation  to  attend  a  banquet,  to  be  given  by  the  Club, 
on  Tuesday  evening,  February  8th,  in  honor  of  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons. 
The  thoughtfulness  which  prompted  this  invitation  is  gratefully  appreciated;  and  I 


CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,   LETTERS,  ETC.  59 

regret  that  my  public  duties  here  will  prevent  its  acceptance.  I  should  be  glad  to 
join  in  the  contemplated  expression  of  respect  to  be  tendered  to  the  distinguished 
head  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  whose  personal  acquaintance  I 
very  much  enjoy,  and  who  is  so  worthily  entitled  to  the  esteem  of  all  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

I  thank  you  for  the  admirable  letter  which  accompanied  my  invitation,  ia 
which  you  announce  as  one  of  the  doctrines  of  your  Club  "that  a  good  and  ex- 
emplary Catholic  must  ex  necessitate  rei  be  a  good  and  exemplary  citizen,"  and  that 
"the  teachings  of  both  liuman  and  Divme  law  thus  merging  in  the  one  word,  duty, 
form  the  only  union  of  Church  and  State  that  a  civil  and  religious  government 
can  recognize." 

I  know  you  will  permit  me,  as  a  Protestant,  to  supplement  this  noble  senti- 
ment by  the  expression  of  my  conviction  that  the  same  influence  and  result  follow 
a  sincere  and  consistent  devotion  to  the  teachings  of  every  religious  creed  which  is 
based  upon  Divine  sanction. 

A  wholesome  religit)us  faith  thus  inures  to  the  perpetuity,  the  safety  and  the 
prosperity  of  our  Republic,  by  exacting  the  due  observance  of  civd  law,  the  preser- 
vation of  public  order  and  a  proper  regard  for  the  rights  of  all ;  and  thus  are  its 
adherents  better  fitted  for  good  citizenship  and  confirmed  in  a  sure  and  steadfast 
patriotism.  It  seems  to  me,  too,  that  the  conception  of  duty  to  the  State  which  is 
derived  from  religious  precept  involves  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  which  is 
of  the  greatest  value  in  the  operation  of  the  government  by  the  people.  It  will  be 
a  fortunate  day  for  our  country  when  every  citizen  feels  that  he  has  an  ever  present 
duty  to  perform  to  the  State  which  he  cannot  escape  from  or  neglect  without  being 
false  to  his  religious  as  well  as  his  civil  allegiance. 

Wishing  for  your  Club  the  utmost  success  in  its  efforts  to  bring  about  this  re- 
sult, I  am  yours  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

m. 

LAYTXa  THE  Y.  M.  C.  A.  BUILDING  CORNER-STONE,  KANSAS  CITY,  MO.,  OCTORER  13,  1887. 

In  the  busy  activities  of  our  daily  life  we  are  apt  to  neglect  instrumentalities 
which  are  quietly  bdt  effectually  doing  most  important  service  in  molding  our  na- 
tional character.  Among  these,  and  challenging  but  little  notice  compared  with 
their  valuable  results,  are  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  scattered  through- 
out our  country.  All  will  admit  the  supreme  importance  of  that  honesty  and  fixed 
principle  which  rests  upon  Christian  motives  and  purposes,  and  all  will  acknowl- 
edge the  sad  and  increasing  temptations  which  beset  our  young  men  and  lure  them 
to  their  distruction. 

To  save  these  young  men,  often  times  deprived  of  the  restraints  of  home,  from 
degradation  and  ruin,  and  to  fit  them  for  usefulness  and  honor,  these  associations 
have  entered  the  field  of  Christian  effort  and  are  pushing  their  noble  work.  When 
it  is  considered  that  the  subject  of  their  efforts  are  to  be  the  active  men  for  good  or 
evil  in  the  next  generation,  mere  worldly  prudence  dictates  that  these  associations 
should  be  aided  and  encouraged. 

Their  increase  and  flourishing  condition  reflect  the  highest  honor  upon  the  good 
men  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  this  wock,  and  demonstrate  that  the  American 


60  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

people  are  not  entirely  lacking  in  appreciation  of  its  vaUie.  Twenty  years  asro,  but 
one  of  these  associations  owned  a  building,  and  that  was  valued  at  only  $11 ,000.  To- 
day more  than  one  hundred  such  buildings,  valued  at  more  than  $5,000,000,  beautify 
the  different  cities  of  our  land  and  beckon  our  young  men  to  lives  of  usefulness. 

I\m  especially  pleased  to  be  able  to  participate  to-day  in  laying  the  corner-stone 
of  another  of  these  edifices  in  this  acti-^e  and  growing  city  ;  and  I  trust  that  the  en- 
couragement given  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  located  here  may  be 
commensurate  with  its  assured  usefulness,  and  in  keeping  with  the  generosity  and 
intelligence  which  characterize  the  people  of  Kansas  City 


IV. 

TO   THE  EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE,  DECEMBER,  1887. 

Mr.  President — I  am  glad  to  meet  so  large  a  delegation  from  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  of  the  United  States.  I  understand  the  purpose  of  this  Alliance  to  be  the 
application  of  Christian  rules  of  conduct  to  the  problems  and  exigencies  of  social 
and  political  life. 

Such  a  movement  cannot  fail  to  produce  the  most  valuable  results.  All  must 
admit  that  the  reception  of  the  teachings  of  Christianity  rcEults  in  the  purest  patri- 
otism, in  the  most  scrupulous  fidelity  to  public  trust,  and  in  the  best  type  of  citizen- 
ship. Those  who  manage  the  affairs  of  government  are  by  this  means  reminded 
that  the  law  of  God  demands  that  they  should  be  courageously  true  to  the  interests 
of  the  people,  and  that  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  will  require  of  them  a  strict  ac- 
count of  their  stewardship.  The  people,  too,  are  thus  taught  that  their  happiness 
and  welfare  will  be  best  promoted  by  a  conscientious  regard  for  the  interest  of  a 
common  brotherhood,  and  that  the  success  of  a  government  by  the  people  depends 
upon  the  morality,  the  justice  and  the  honesty  of  the  people. 

I  am  especially  pleased  to  know  that  your  efforts  are  not  cramped  and  limited 
by  denominational  lines,  and  that  your  credentials  are  found  in  a  broad  Christian 
fellowship.  Manifestly,  if  you  seek  to  teach  your  countrymen  toleration  you  your- 
selves must  be  tolerant ;  if  you  would  teach  them  liberality  for  the  opinions  of  each 
other  you  yourselves  must  be  liberal ;  and  if  you  would  teach  them  unselfish  patri- 
otism you  yourselves  must  be  unselfish  and  patriotic.  There  is  enough  of  work  in 
the  field  you  have  entered,  to  enlist  the  hearty  co-operation  of  all  who  believe  in  the 
value  and  efficacy  of  Christian  teaching  and  practice. 

Your  noble  mission,  if  undertaken  in  a  broad  and  generous  spirit,  will  surely 
arrest  the  attention  and  respectful  consideration  of  your  fellow-citizens;  and  your 
endeavors,  consecrated  by  benevolence  and  patriotic  love,  must  exert  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  enlightenment  and  improvement  of  our  people,  in  illustrating  the 
strength  and  stability  of  our  institutions,  and  in  advancing  the  prosperity  and  great- 
ness of  our  beloved  land. 

V. 

REMARKS    BEFORE    THE  NORTHERN  AND   SOUTHERN  PRE8BYERIAN  ASSEMBLIES 
AT   PHILADELPHIA,  MAY   23,  1888. 

I  am  very  much  gratified  by  the  opportunity  here  affoided  me  to  meet  the  rep-., 
resentatives  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


V      X«^4#-j 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  61 

Surely  a  man  never  should  lose  his  interest  in  the  Tvelfare  of  the  Church  in 
which  he  was  reared;  and  yet  I  will  not  find  fault  with  any  of  you  who  deem  it  a 
sad  confession  made  when  I  acknowledge  that  I  must  recall  the  days  now  long  past 
to  find  my  closest  relation  to  the  grand  and  noble  denomination  which  you  repre- 
sent. I  say  this  because  those  of  us  who  inherit  fealty  to  our  Church  as  I  did  begin 
early  to  learn  those  things  which  make  us  Presbyterians  all  the  days  of  our  lives; 
and  thus  it  is  that  the  rigors  of  our  early  teaching,  by  which  we  are  grounded  in 
our  lasting  allegiance,  are  especially  vivid,  and  perhaps  the  best  remembered.  The 
attendance  upon  church  service  three  times  each  Sunday  and  upon  Sabbath  school 
during  the  noon  intermission  may  be  irksome  enough  to  a  boy  of  ten  or  twelve  years 
of  age  to  be  well  fixed  in  his  memory;  but  I  have  never  known  a  man  who  regretted 
these  things  in  the  years  of  his  maturity.  The  shorter  catechism,  though  thoroughly 
studied  and  learned,  was  not,  perhaps,  at  the  time  perfectly  understood,  and  yet  in 
the  stern  labors  and  duties  of  after  life  those  are  not  apt  to  be  the  worst  citizens  who 
were  early  taught  "  what  is  the  chief  end  of  man." 

Speaking  of  these  things  and  in  the  presence  of  those  here  assembled,  the  most 
tender  thoughts  crowd  upon  my  mind — all  connected  with  Presbyterianism  and  its 
teacjhings.  There  are  present  with  me  now  memories  of  a  kind  and  affectionate 
father,  consecrated  to  the  cause,  and  called  to  his  rest  and  his  reward  in  the  midday 
of  his  usefulness ;  a  saored  recollection  of  the  prayers  and  pious  love  of  a  sainted 
mother,  and  a  family  circle  hallowed  and  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  Presby- 
terianism. 

I  certainly  cannot  but  express  the  wish  and  hope  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
will  always  be  at  the  front  in  every  movement  which  promises  the  temporal  as  well 
as  the  spiritual  advancement  of  mankind.  In  the  turmoil  and  the  bustle  of  every- 
day life  few  men  are  foolish  enough  to  ignore  the  practical  value  to  our  people  and 
our  country  of  the  church  organizations  established  among  us  and  the  advantage 
of  Christian  example  and  teachings. 

The  field  is  vast  and  the  work  sufficient  to  engage  the  efiTorts  of  every  sect  and 
denomination ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Church  which  is  most  tolerant 
and  conservative,  without  loss  of  spiritual  strength,  will  soonest  find  the  way  to 
the  hearts  and  affections  of  the  people.  "While  we  may  be  pardoned  for  insisting 
that  our  denomination  is  the  best,  we  may,  I  think,  safely  concede  much  that  is 
good  to  all  other  Churches  that  seek  to  make  men  better. 

I  am  here  to  greet  the  delegates  of  two  General  Assemblies  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  One  is  called  "North"  and  the  other  "South."  The  subject  is  too  deep 
and  intricate  for  me,  but  I  cannot  help  wondering  why  this  should  be.  These 
words,  so  far  as  they  denote  separation  and  estrangement,  should  be  obsolete.  In 
the  counsels  of  the  nation  and  in  the  business  of  the  country  they  no  longer  mean 
reproach  and  antagonism.  Even  the  soldiers  who  fought  for  the  North  and  for  the 
South  are  restored  to  fraternity  and  unity.  This  fraternity  and  unity  is  taught  and 
enjoined  by  our  Cnurch.  When  shall  she  herself  be  united  with  all  the  added 
strength  and  usefulness  that  harmony  and  union  ensure  ? 


CLKVfiLAND'a  SPEBCHKS,  LKTTKBS,  ETa 


THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS  AS  PRESIDENT. 
I. 

ANNUAL  PROCLAMATION,  1885. 

The  American  people  have  always  abundant  cause  to  be  thankful  to  Almighty 
God,  whose  watchful  care  and  guiding  hand  have  been  manifested  in  every  stage  of 
their  national  life— guarding  and  protecting  them  in  time  of  peril,  and  safely  lead- 
ing them  in  the  hour  of  darkness  aud  of  danger. 

It  is  fitting  aud  proper  that  a  nation  thus  favored,  should  on  one  day  in  every 
year,  for  that  purpose  especially  appointed,  publicly  acknowledge  the  goodness  of 
God,  and  return  thanks  to  Him  for  all  His  gracious  gifts. 

Therefore  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  do 
hereby  desiguate  aud  set  apart  Thursday,  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  November,  instant, 
as  a  day  of  public  Thanksgiving  and  prayer ;  and  do  invoke  the  observance  of  the 
same  by  all  the  people  of  the  land. 

On  that  day  let  all  secular  business  be  suspended  ;  and  let  the  people  assemble 
in  their  usual  places  of  worship,  and  with  prayer  and  songs  of  praise,  devoutly 
testify  their  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift  for  all  that  He  has 
done  for  us  in  the  year  that  has  passed ;  for  oar  preservation  as  a  united  nation  and 
for  our  deliverance  from  the  shock  and  danger  of  political  convulsion;  for  the  blessings 
of  peace  and  for  our  safety  and  quiet  while  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  have  agitated 
and  afflicted  other  nations  of  the  earth ;  for  our  security  against  the  scourge  of 
pestilence,  which  in  other  lands  has  claimed  its  dead  by  thousands  and  filled  the 
streets  with  mourners ;  for  plenteous  crops  which  reward  the  labor  of  the  husband- 
man and  increase  our  nation's  wealth,  aud  for  the  contentment  throughout  our 
borders  w^hich  follows  in  the  train  of  prosperity  and  abundance. 

And  let  there  also  be  on  the  day  thus  set  apart,  a  reunion  of  families,  sanctified 
and  chastened  by  tender  memories  and  associations;  and  let  the  social  intercourse 
of  friends,  with  pleasant  reminiscence  renew  the  ties  of  afiection  and  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  kindly  feeling. 

And  let  us  by  no  means  forget  while  we  give  thanks  and  enjoy  the  comforts 
which  have  crowned  our  lives,  that  truly  grateful  hearts  are  inclined  to  deeds  of 
charity  ;  and  that  a  kind  and  thoughtful  remembrance  of  the  poor,  will  double  the 
pleasures  of  our  condition,  and  render  our  praise  and  thanksgiving  more  acceptable 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 

Done  at  the  City  of  "Washington,  this  second  day  of  November, one 
fL.  S.]  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty- five,  and  of  the  Independence 

of  the  UniieJ  States,  the  one  hundred  and  tenth. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

By  the  President. 

T.  F.  Bayard,  Secretary  of  State. 


CLEVELAND'S  BPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC.  63 

II. 

ANNUAL  PROCLAMATION,    1886. 

It  has  long  been  the  custom  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  on  a  day  in  each 
year  especially  set  apart  for  that  purpose  by  their  Chief  Executive,  to  acknowledge 
the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God.  and  to  invoke  His  continued  care  and  protection. 

In  observance  of  such  custom,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United 
States,  do  hereby  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday,  the  25th  day  of  November 
instant,  to  be  observed  and  kept  as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer. 

On  that  day  let  all  our  people  forego  their  accustomed  employments,  and  as- 
semble in  their  usual  places  of  worship,  to  give  thanks  to  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
for  onr  continued  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  a  free  government,  for  a  renewal  of 
business  prosperity  throughout  our  land,  for  the  return  which  has  rewarded  the 
labor  of  those  who  till  the  soil,  and  for  our  progress  as  a  people  in  all  that  makes  a 
nation  great. 

And  while  we  "ontemplate  the  infinite  power  of  God  in  earthquake,  flood  and 
storm,  let  the  grateful  hearts  of  those  who  have  been  shielded  from  harm  through 
His  meicy,  be  turned  in  sympathy  and  kindness  toward  those  who  have  suffered 
through  His  visitations. 

Let  us  also  in  the  midst  of  our  thanksgiving  remember  the  poor  and  needy  with 
cheerful  gifts  and  alms,  so  that  our  service  may,  by  deeds  of  charity,  be  made 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the 
United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  first  day  of  November,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand   eight  hundred  and  eighty-six, 
[Seal]  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America  the 

one  hundred  and  eleventh. 


By  the  President. 

T.  F.  Bayard,  Secretary  of  State. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


m. 

ANNUAL  PROCLAMATION,  1887. 

The  goodness  and  the  mercy  of  God  which  have  followed  the  American  people 
during  all  the  days  of  the  past  year  claim  their  grateful  recognition  and  humble 
acknowledgment.  By  His  omnipotent  power  He  has  protected  us  from  w^ar  and  pesti- 
lence, and  from  every  national  calamity;  by  His  gracious  favor  the  earth  has  yielded 
a  generous  return  to  the  labor  of  the  husbandman,  and  every  path  of  honest  toil 
has  led  to  comfort  and  contentment;  by  His  loving  kindness  the  hearts  of  our  people 
have  been  replenished  with  fraternal  sentiment  and  patriotic  endeavor,  and  by  His 
unerring  guidance  we  have  been  directed  in  the  way  of  national  prosperity. 

To  the  end  that  we  may,  with  one  accord,  testify  our  gratitude  for  all  these 
blessings,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  designate 
and  set  apart  Thursday,  the  twenty- fourth  day  of  November  next,  as  a  day  of 
thanksgiving  and  prayer,  to  be  observed  by  all  the  people  ol  the  land. 


64  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

On  that  day  let  all  secular  work  and  employment  be  suspended,  and  let  our 
people  assemble  in  their  accustomed  places  of  worship  and  with  prayer  and  songs  of 
praise  give  thanks  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  all  that  He  has  done  for  us,  while  we 
humbly  implore  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  and  a  continuance  of  His  mercy. 

Let  families  and  kindred  be  reunited  on  <">iat  day,  and  let  their  hearts,  filled  with 
kindly  cheer  and  aflFectionate  reminiscence,  be  lurned  in  thankfulness  to  the  source 
of  all  their  pleasures  and  the  Giver  of  all  that  makes  the  day  glad  and  joyous. 

And  in  the  midst  of  our  worship  and  our  happiness  let  us  remember  the  poor, 
the  needy  and  the  unfortunate,  and  by  our  gifts  of  charity  and  ready  benevolence 
let  us  increase  the  number  of  those  who  with  grateful  hearts  shall  join  in  our 
thanksgiving. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  set  my  hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States 
to  be  hereunto  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  twenty-fifth  day  of  October, 
[Seal.]  in   the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 

eighty-seven,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the 
one  hundred  and  twelfth. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

By  the  President. 

T.  F.  Bayard,  Secretary  of  State. 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATIONS 

I. 

At    THE    OSWEGATCHIE    PAIR,    OGDENSBURG,    N.    Y.,  OCTOBER    5,     1833. 

Ladies  AND  Gentlemen  : — When  I  received  the  invitation  of  the  president  of 
this  fair  to  be  with  you  to-day,  I  could  hardly  see  my  way  to  accept,  because  I  find 
that  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  I  have  been  called  are  of  such  a  nature  that  I 
can  scarcely  do  all  that  crowds  upon  me  with  quite  constant  attention.    *        * 

Broad  fields,  well  tilled,  not  only  secure  comfort  and  an  income  to  the  farmer, 
but  build  up  the  commerce  of  the  State  and  easily  supply  the  wants  of  the  popula- 
tion. None  of  these  things  result  except  by  labor.  This  is  the  magic  wand  whose 
touch  creates  wealth  and  a  great  State.  So  all  of  us  who  work  are,  in  our  several 
ways,  engaged  in  building  to  a  higher  reach  and  nobler  proportions  the  fabric  of  a 
proud  commonwealth.  Those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws,  join  with  those  who 
toil  from  day  to  day  with  their  hands  in  their  several  occupations,  all  alike  engaged 
in  building  up  and  protecting  the  State. 

The  institution  of  fairs  such  as  this  must,  it  seems  to  me,  have  a  wholesome  and 
beneficial  eflect.  In  addition  to  the  competition  engendered,  which  spurs  to  more 
eflbrt  and  better  methods,  the  opportunity  is  afforded  to  profit  by  the  experience  of 
others.  The  State  has  shown  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  experiment  in  agri- 
culture, by  establishing  and  maintaining,  at  considerable  expense,  a  farm  for  the 
express  purpose  of  devising  and  proving  the  value  of  new  plans  and  operations  in 
farming.     The  results  are  freely  offered  to  all;   and  thus  the  farmer  may  gain  a 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  65 

knowledge  of  methods  which  will  render  his  labor  more  profitable  without  the  risk 
of  io^s  ill  the  time  which  he  himself  might  spend  in  experiment.  I  liave  no  doubt 
that  thesoilof  tlie  State  of  New  York  is  tilled  well  and  intelligently.  And  still  I 
suppose  much  of  our  farming  might  be  improved  by  a  closer  regard  to  successful 
experiment,  and  by  learning  the  lessons  of  approved  scieuce  as  applied  to  agricul- 
ture. I  do  not  fear,  however,  that  the  farmers  of  New  York  will  stop  short  of  the 
highest  excellence.     The  people  of  this  State  are  not  given  to  that. 

While  I,  in  this  manner,  urge  you  to  claim  from  the  soil  all  it  has  to  yield,  by 
the  aid  of  intelligent  efforts  in  its  cultivation,  I  cannot  refrain  from  reminding  you 
that,  as  citizens,  you  have  something  else  to  do.  You  have  the  responsibility  of 
citizenship  upon  you,  and  you  should  see  to  it  that  you  do  your  duty  to  the  State, 
not  only  by  increasing  its  wealth  by  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  soil, 
but  by  an  intelligent  selection  of  those  who  shall  act  for  you  in  the  enactment  and 
execution  of  your  laws.  Weeds  and  thistles,  if  allowed  in  your  fields,  defeat  your 
toil  and  efforts.  So  abuses  in  the  administration  of  your  government  lead  to  the 
dishonor  of  your  State,  choke  and  thwart  the  wishes  of  the  people  and  waste  their 
substance. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  a  farm  or  business  never  does  better  than  when  it  is 
managed  by  its  owner. 

So  it  is  with  your  government.  It  accomplishes  its  purposes  and  operates  well 
only  when  it  is  managed  by  the  people  and  for  the  people.  It  was  designed  and 
constructed  to  be  used  in  just  this  way.  None  of  you  would  attempt  to  turn  the 
soil  of  a  field  without  putting  a  strong  hand  on  the  plow.  A  plow  was  constructed 
to  be  thus  operated,  and  it  can  do  its  work  in  no  other  way.  The  machinery  of  the 
government  will  not  do  its  work  unless  the  strong,  steady  hands  of  the  people  are 
put  upon  it.  This  is  not  done  when  the  people  say  that  politics  is  a  disgraceful 
game,  and  should  be  left  untouched  by  those  having  private  concerns  and  business 
which  engages  their  attention.  This  neglect  serves  to  give  over  the  most  important 
interests  to  those  who  care  but  little  for  their  protection,  and  who  are  willing  to 
betray  their  trust  for  their  own  advantage. 

Manifestly,  in  this  matter,  the  people  can  only  act  through  agents  of  their  selec- 
tion. But  that  selection  should  be  freely  and  intelligently  made  by  the  careful  ex- 
ercise of  their  suffrages. 

I  have  said  this  duty  should  not  be  neglected.  A  careless  or  mistaken  per- 
formance may  be  as  fatal  as  neglect. 

All  cannot  personally  know  the  applicants  for  oflSce ;  but  by  careful  inquiry 
their  characters  for  fair  dealing  and  honesty,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have 
fulfilled  the  ordinary  duties  of  life,  may  be  discovered  as  well  as  the  ability  they 
have  sho^vn  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs.  Do  their  neighbors  and  those 
who  know  them  well  trust  them,  and  are  they  willing  to  put  in  their  hands  im- 
portant interests  ?  Are  their  personal  habits  and  their  personal  and  private  rela- 
tions good,  and  pure  and  clean  ? 

I  believe  that  in  the  selection  of  those  who  shall  act  for  the  people  in  the 
government  no  better  rule  can  be  adopted  than  the  one  suggested  by  these  inquiries. 

If  they  are  answered  satisfactorily,  the  people  will  probably  conclude  that  they 
have  found  the  men  they  wish  to  put  in  public  places,  even  though  they  lack  a 
knowledge  of  the  arts  and  wiles  which  tricksters  used  to  deceive  and  mislead. 


66  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

Be  diligent  then  in  your  business,  and  willing  and  anxious  to  improve  and 
expand  it.  This  you  owe  to  yourselves,  to  your  families,  and  to  the  public.  Be 
also  diligent  and  careful  in  the  performance  of  your  political  duty.  This  you  owe 
none  the  less  to  yourselves  and  to  the  State. 

With  every  obligation  thus  discharged,  your  welfare  and  prosperity  will  be 
secured,  and  you  may  congratulate  yourselves  upon  the  honorable  part  you  bear 
in  the  support  and  maintenance  of  a  free  and  beneficent  government. 


n. 

AT  THE  AGRICULTURAL  FAIR,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  OCTOBER  12,  1886. 

Fellow  Citizb:ns  op  Virginia  :  While  I  Ibank  you  most  sincerely  for  your 
kind  reception  and  recognize  in  its  heartiness  the  hospitality  for  which  the  peo- 
ple of  Virginia  have  always  been  distinguished,  I  am  fully  aware  that  your  dem- 
onstration of  welcome  is  tendered  not  to  an  individual,  but  to  an  incumbent  of 
an  office  which  crowns  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, the  mother  of  Presidents,  seven  of  whose  sons  have  filled  that  high  office,  to- 
day greets  a  President  who  for  the  first  time  meets  Virginians  upon  Virginia  soil. 

I  congratulate  myself  that  my  first  introduction  to  the  people  of  Virginia  oc- 
curs at  a  tmie  when  they  are  surrounded  by  the  exhibits  of  the  productiveness  and 
prosperity  of  their  State.  Whatever  there  may  be  in  honor  in  her  history,  and 
however  much  of  pride  there  may  be  in  her  traditions,  her  true  greatness  is  here 
exemplified.  In  our  sisterhood  of  States  the  leading  and  most  commanding  place 
must  be  gained  and  kept  by  that  commonwealth  which,  by  the  labor  and  intelligence 
of  her  citizens,  can  produce  the  most  of  those  things  which  meet  the  necessities 
and  desires  of  mankind. 

But  the  full  advantage  of  that  which  may  be  yielded  to  a  State  by  the  toil 
and  ingenuity  of  her  people  is  not  measured  alone  by  the  money  value  of  the  pro- 
ducts. The  efforts  and  the  struggles  of  her  farmei's  and  her  artisans  not  only  create 
new  values  in  the  field  of  agriculture  and  in  the  arts  and  manufactures,  but  they 
at  the  same  time  produce  rugged,  self  reliant  and  independent  men,  and  cultivate 
that  product  which,  more  than  all  others,  ennobles  a  State — a  patriotic,  earnest 
American  citizenship. 

This  will  flourish  in  every  part  of  the  American  domain.  Neither  drouth  nor 
rain  can  injure  it,  for  it  takes  root  in  true  hearts,  enriched  by  love  of  country. 
There  are  no  new  varieties  in  this  production.  It  must  be  the  same  wherever  seen, 
and  its  quality  is  neither  sound  nor  genuine  unless  it  grows  to  deck  and  beautify  an 
entire  and  united  nation,  nor  unless  it  supports  and  sustains  the  institutions  and 
the  Government  founded  to  protect  American  liberty  and  happiness. 

The  present  Administration  of  the  Government  is  pledged  to  return  for  such  hus- 
bandry not  only  promises,  but  actual  tenders  of  fairness  and  justice,  with  equal 
protection  and  a  full  participation  in  national  achievements.  If  in  the  past  we  have 
been  estranged  and  the  cultivation  of  American  citizenship  has  been  interrupted, 
your  enthusiastic  welcome  of  today  demonstrates  that  there  is  an  end  to  such  es- 
trangement, and  that  the  time  of  suspicion  and  fear  is  succeeded  by  an  era  of  faith 
and  confidence. 

In  such  a  kindly  atmosphere  and  beneath  such  cheering  skies  I  greet  the  people 
of  Virginia  as  co- laborers  in  the  field  where  grows  the  love  of  our  united  country. 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  67 

God  grant  that  in  the  years  to  come  Virginia — the  old  Dominion,  the  mother  of 
Presidents,  she  who  looked  oq  the  nation  at  its  birth— may  not  only  increase  her 
trophies  of  growth  in  agriculture  and  manufactures,  but  that  she  may  be  among  the 
first  of  all  the  States  in  the  cultivation  of  true  American  citizenship. 

III. 

AT  THE  commercial  EXCHANGE,  PHILADELPHIA,  SEPTEMBER   16,  1887. 

I  am  glad  I  have  an  opportunity  to  meet  so  large  a  representation  of  the  busi- 
ness men  of  Philadelphia.  It  is  well  that  we  should  not  entirely  forget  in  the  midst 
ofour  centennial  jubilee  that  the  aim  and  purpose  of  good  government  tend,  after 
all,  to  the  advancement  of  the  material  interests  of  the  people  and  the  increase  of 
their  trade  and  commerce.  The  thought  has  sometimes  occurred  to  me  that  in  the 
hurry  and  rush  of  business  there  might  well  be  infused  a  little  more  patriotism 
than  we  are  wont  to  see,  and  a  little  more  recognition  of  the  fact  that  a  wholesome 
political  sentiment  is  closely  related  not  only  to  the  general  good,  but  to  the  general 
success  of  business.  Of  course  our  citizens  engaged  in  business  are  quick  to  see  the 
bearing  of  any  policy  which  the  Government  may  adopt,  as  it  affects  their  personal 
success  and  their  accumulation.  But  I  would  like  to  see  that  broad  and  patriotic 
sentiment  among  them  which  can  see  beyond  their  peculiar  personal  interests,  and 
which  can  recognize  that  the  advancement  of  the  entire  country  is  an  object  for 
which  they  may  well  strive,  even  sometimes  to  the  diminution  of  their  constantly- 
increasing  profits. 

Must  we  always  look  for  the  political  opinions  of  our  business  men  precisely 
where  they  suppose  their  immediate  pecuniary  advantage  is  found  ?  I  know  how 
vain  it  is  to  hope  lor  the  eradication  of  a  selfish  motive  in  all  the  affairs  of  life ;  but  I 
am  reminded  that  we  celebrate  to-day  the  triumph  of  patriotism  over  selfishness. 
Will  anyone  say  that  the  concessions  of  the  Constitution  were  not  well  made,  or 
that  we  are  not  to-day  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  resulting  from  a  due 
regard  for  all  the  conflicting  interests  represented  by  the  different  States  which  were 
united  a  hundred  years  ago  ? 

I  believe  the  complete  benefits  promised  to  the  people  by  our  form  of  govern- 
ment can  only  be  secured  by  an  exercise  of  the  same  spirit  of  toleration  for  each 
other's  rights  and  interests  in  which  it  had  its  birth.  This  spirit  will  prevail  when 
the  business  men  of  the  country  cultivate  political  thought ;  when  they  cease  to 
eschew  participation  in  political  action, and  when  such  thought  and  action  are  guided 
by  better  motives  than  purely  selfish  and  exclusive  benefit. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  there  is  no  place  in  the  country  where  such  a  condi- 
tion can  be  so  properly  and  successfully  maintained  as  here,  among  the  enlight- 
ened and  enterprising  business  men  of  Philadelphia. 

IV. 

BEFORE  THE  MILWAUKEE  MERCHANTS  ASSOCIATION,   OCTOBER  7,  1887. 

I  feel  like  thanking  you  for  remembering  on  this  occasion  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  for  I  am  sure  you  but  intend  a  respectful  recognition  of  the  dignity 
and  importance  of  the  high  office  I,  for  the  time  being,  hold  in  trust  for  you  and  for 
the  American  people. 
5 


68  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

It  is  a  high  office  because  it  represents  the  sovereignty  of  a  free  and  mighty  peo- 
ple. It  is  jfull  of  solemn  responsibility  and  duty,  because  it  embodies  in  a  greater 
degree  than  any  other  office  on  earth  the  suffrage  and  the  trust  of  such  a  people.  As 
an  American  citizen,  chosen  from  the  mass  of  his  fellow-countrymen  to  assume  for 
a  time  this  responsibility  and  this  duty,  I  acknowledge  with  patriotic  satisfaction 
your  tribute  to  the  office  which  belongs  to  us  all. 

And  because  it  belongs  to  all  the  people  the  obligation  is  manifest  on  their  part  to 
maintain  a  constant  and  continuous  watchfulness  and  interest  concerning  its  care 
and  operation.  Their  duty  is  not  entirely  done  when  they  have  exercised  their 
suffrage  and  indicated  their  choice  of  the  incumbent.  Nor  is  their  duty  performed 
by  settling  down  to  bitter,  malignant  and  senseless  abuse  of  all  that  is  done  or 
attempted  to  be  done  by  the  incumbent  selected.  The  acts  of  an  administration  should 
not  be  approved  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  for  no  better  reason  than  that  it  repre- 
sents a  political  party ;  but  more  unpatriotic  than  all  others  are  those  who,  having 
neither  party  discontent  nor  fair  ground  of  criticism  to  excuse  or  justify  their  con- 
duct, rail  because  of  personal  disappointment ;  who  misrepresent  for  sensational  pur- 
poses, and  who  profess  to  see  swift  destruction  in  the  rejection  of  their  plans  of  gov- 
ernmental management. 

After  all  we  need  have  no  fear  that  the  American  people  will  permit  this  high 
office  of  president  to  suffer.  There  is  a  patriotic  sentiment  abroad  which,  in  the 
midst  of  all  party  feeling  and  of  party  disappointment,  will  assert  itself  and  will 
insist  that  the  office  which  stands  for  the  people's  will  shall,  in  all  its  vigor,  minister 
to  their  prosperity  and  welfare. 

V. 

new  york  gbaiviber  of  commerce. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C,  Nov.  4, 18^7. 
Messrs.  Henry  HentZy  Charles  Watrous  and  others.  Committee  : 

Gentlemen — I  have  received  your  invitations  to  attend  the  annual  banquet  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York  on  the  evening  of  the  15th 
instant.  It  would  certainly  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  present  on  that  occasion 
and  meet  those  who,  to  a  great  extent,  have  in  charge  the  important  business 
interests  represented  in  your  association.  I  am  sure,  too,  that  I  should  derive  profit 
as  well  as  pleasure  from  such  a  meeting.  |f 

Those  charged  by  the  people  with  the  management  of  their  government  can- 
not fail  to  enhance  their  usefulness  by  a  familiarity  with  business  conditions  and 
intimacy  with  business  men,  since  good  government  has  no  more  important  mission 
than  the  stimulation  and  protection  of  the  activities  of  the  country. 

This  relation  between  governments  and  business  suggests  the  thought  that  the 
members  of  such  associations  as  yours  owe  to  themselves  and  to  all  the  people  of 
the  land  a  thoughtful  discharge  of  their  political  obligations,  guided  by  their  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  affairs  to  the  end  that  there  may  be  impressed  upon  the  admin- 
istration of  our  government  a  business  character  and  tendency  free  from  the  diver- 
sion of  passion,  and  unmoved  by  sudden  gusts  of  excitement. 

But  the  most  wholesome  purpose  of  their  political  action  will  not  be  accom- 
plished by  an  insistance  upon  their  exclusive  claims  and  selfish  benefits,  regardless 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  69 

of  the  welfare  of  the  people  at  large.  Inter-dependence  is  so  fully  an  element  in 
our  national  existence  that  a  patriotic  and  generous  heed  to  the  general  good  sense 
will  best  subserve  every  particular  interest. 

I  regret  that  my  official  duties  and  engagements  prevent  the  acceptance  of 
your  courteous  invitation,  and,  expressing  the  hope  that  the  banquet  may  be  a 
most  enjoyable  and  interesting  occasion  to  those  present, 

I  am,  very  truly,  yours, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

VI. 

*' though    the    people     support     the    'GOVERNMENT,    THE    GOVERNMENT    CAN- 
NOT  SUPPORT   THE   PEOPLE." 

To  THE  House  of  Representatives  : 

I  return  without  my  approval  House  bill  number  ten  thousand  two  hundred 
and  three,  entitled  "An  act  to  enable  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  to  make  a 
special  distribution  of  seeds  in  the  drought -stricken  counties  of  Texas,  and  making 
an  appropriation  therefor." 

It  is  represented  that  a  long-continued  and  extensive  drought  has  existed  in 
certain  portions  of  the  State  of  Texas,  resulting  in  a  failure  of  crops  and  consequent 
distress  and  destitution. 

Though  there  has  been  some  difference  in  statements  concerning  the  extent  of 
the  people's  needs  in  the  localities  thus  affected,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 
there  has  existed  a  condition  calling  for  relief;  and  I  am  willing  to  believe  that, 
notwithstanding  the  aid  already  furnished,  a  donation  of  seed-grain  to  the  farmers 
located  in  this  region,  to  enable  tnem  to  put  in  new  crops,  would  serve  to  avert  a 
continuance  or  return  of  an  unfortunate  blight. 

And  yet  I  feel  obliged  to  withhold  my  approval  of  the  plan  as  proposed  by  this 
bill,  to  indulge  a  benevolent  and  charitalle  sentiment  through  the  appropriation  of 
public  funds  for  that  purpose. 

lean  find  no  warrant  for  such  an  appropriation  in  the  Constitution ;  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  power  and  duty  of  the  General  Government  ought  to  be 
extended  to  the  relief  of  individual  suffering  which  is  in  no  manner  properly 
related  to  the  public  service  or  benefit.  A  prevalent  tendency  to  disregard  the 
limited  mission  of  this  power  and  duty  should,  I  think,  be  steadfastly  resisted,  to  the 
«nd  that  the  lesson  should  be  constantly  enforced  that  though  the  people  support 
the  Government,  the  Government  should  not  support  the  people. 

The  friendliness  and  charity  of  our  countrymen  can  always  be  relied  upon  to  relieve 
their  fellow-citizens  in  misfortune.  This  has  been  repeatedly  and  quite  lately  demonstrated. 
Federal  aid  in  such  cases  encourages  the  expectation  of  paternal  care  on  tlie  part  of 
the  Government  and  weakens  the  sturdiness  of  our  national  character,  while  it  prevents 
the  indulgence  among  our  people  of  that  kindly  sentiment  and  conduct  which  strengtJien 
tlie  bonds  of  a  common  brotlierhood. 

It  is  within  my  personal  knowledge  that  individual  aid  has  to  some  extent 
already  been  extended  to  the  sufferers  mentioned  in  this  bill.  The  failure  of  the 
proposed  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  additional  to  meet  their  remaining 
wants  will  not  necessarily  result  in  continued  distress  if  the  emergency  is  fully  made 
known  to  the  people  of  the  country. 


70  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

It  is  here  suggested  that  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  is  annually  directed 
to  expend  a  large  sura  of  money  for  the  purchase,  propagation  and  distribution  of 
seeds  and  other  things  of  this  description,  two-thirds  of  which  are  upon  therequest 
of  Senators,  Representatives  and  Delegates  in  Congress,  supplied  to  them  for  dis- 
txibution  among  their  constituents. 

The  appropriation  of  the  current  year  for  this  purpose  is  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  it  will  probably  be  no  less  in  the  appropriation  for  the  ensuing  year. 
I  understand  that  a  large  quantity  of  grain  is  furnished  for  such  distribution,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  this  free  apportionment  among  their  neighbors  is  a  privilege  which 
may  be  waived  by  our  Senators  and  Representatives. 

If  sufficient  of  them  should  request  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  to  send 
their  shares  of  the  grain  thus  allowed  them  to  the  suffering  farmers  of  Texas,  they 
might  be  enabled  to  sow  their  crops,  the  constituents  for  whom  in  theory  this  grain 
is  intended  could  well  bear  the  temporary  deprivation,  and  the  donors  would  expe- 
rience the  satisfaction  attending  deeds  of  charity. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
Executive  Mansion, 

Washington^  February  16, 1887. 


BEFORE  PATRIOTIC  MEETINGS  AND  SOCIETIES. 


IN   PRESENTING    THE    LECTURER,  REV.  FATHER    SHEEHY,  AT   ST.  STEPHEN'S  HALL, 
BUFFALO,  DECEMBER  5, 1881. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen— I  desire  to  acknowledge  the  honor  you  have  con- 
ferred upon  me  by  this  call  to  the  chair.  My  greatest  regret  is  that  I  know  '^o  little 
of  the  conditions  that  have  given  birth  to  the  Land  League.  I  know  in  a  general 
way  that  it  is  designed  to  secure  to  Ireland  those  just  and  natural  righte  to  which 
Irishmen  are  entitled.  I  understand,  also,  thnt  these  are  to  be  obtained  by  peaceful 
measures  and  without  doing  violence  to  any  just  law  of  the  land.  This  should  meet 
with  the  support  and  countenance  of  every  man  who  enjoys  the  privilege  of  Ameri- 
can citizenship  and  lives  under  American  laws.  Our  sympathy  is  drawn  out  by  a 
bond  of  common  manhood.  "We  are  here  to-night  to  welcome  an  apostle  of  this 
cause,  one  who  can,  from  personal  experience,  recount  the  scenes  of  that  troubled 
isle ;  who  can  tell  us  the  risks  that  are  taken  and  the  pains  that  are  suffered  by  those 
who  lead  the  van  in  this  great  movement.  I  congratulate  you  upon  having  Father 
Sheehy  with  you  to-night,  and  I  will  not  delay  the  pleasure  of  his  presentation  to 
you. 

IL 

ADDRESS  IN  ST.  JAMES's  HALL,  BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  WHEN  PRESIDING  AT  A  MASS 
MEETING  TO  PROTEST  AGAINST  THE  TREATMENT  OP  AMERICAN  CITIZENS 
IMPRISONED  ABROAD,  APRIL  9,  1882. 

Fellow  Citizens — This  is  the  formal  mode  of  address  on  occasions  of  this 
kind,  but  I  think  we  seldom  realize  fully  its  meaning  or  how  valuable  a  thing  it  is 
to  be  a  citizen. 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  71 

Prom  the  earliest  civilization  to  be  a  citizen  has  been  to  be  a  free  man,  endowed 
with  certain  privileges  and  advantages,  and  entitled  to  the  full  protection  of  the  State. 
The  defense  and  protection  of  personal  rights  of  its  citizens  has  always  been  the 
paramount  and  most  important  duty  of  a  free,  enlightened  government. 

And  perhaps  no  government  has  this  sacred  trust  more  in  its  keeping  than  this 
— the  best  and  freest  of  them  all ;  for  here  the  people  who  are  to  be  protected  are 
the  source  of  those  powers  which  they  delegate  upon  the  express  compact  that  the 
citizen  shall  be  protected.  For  this  purpose  we  chose  those  who  for  the  time  being 
shall  manage  the  machinery  which  we  have  set  up  for  our  defense  and  safety. 

And  this  protection  adheres  to  us  in  all  lands  and  places  as  an  incident  of  citi- 
zenship. Let  but  the  weight  of  a  sacrilegious  hand  be  put  upon  this  sacred  thing, 
and  a  great,  strong  government  springs  to  its  feet  to  avenge  the  wrong.  Thus  it  is 
that  the  native  born  American  citizen  enjoys  his  birthright.  But  when,  in  the  west- 
ward march  of  empire,  this  nation  was  founded  and  took  root,  we  beckoned  to  the 
old  world,  and  invited  hither  its  immigration,  and  provided  a  mode  by  which  those 
who  sought  a  home  among  us  might  become  our  fellow-citizens.  They  came  by 
thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands ;  they  came  and 

Hewed  the  dark  old  woods  away, 
And  gave  the  virgin  fields  to  day  ; 

they  came  with  strong  sinews  and  brawny  arms  to  aid  in  the  growth  and  progress 
of  a  new  country;  they  came  and  upon  our  altars  laid  their  fealty  and  submission; 
they  came  to  our  temples  of  justice  and  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath  renounced 
all  allegiance  to  every  other  State,  potentate  and  sovereignty,  and  surrendered  to  us 
all  the  ^luty  pertaining  to  such  allegiance.  We  have  accepted  their  fealty  and  in- 
vited them  to  surrender  the  protection  of  their  native  land. 

And  what  should  be  given  them  in  return  ?  Manifestly,  good  faith  and  every 
dictate  of  honor  demand,  that  we  give  them  the  same  liberty  and  protection  here 
and  elsewhere  which  we  vouchsafe  to  our  native-born  citizens.  And  that  this  liaa 
been  accorded  to  them  is  the  crowning  glory  of  American  institutions. 

It  needed  not  the  statute,  which  is  now  the  law  of  the  land,  declaring  that  "  all 
naturalized  citizens  while  in  foreign  lands  are  entitled  to  and  shall  receive  from 
this  government  the  same  protection  of  perious  and  property  which  is  accorded  to 
native-born  citizens,"  to  voice  the  policy  of  our  nation. 

In  all  lands  where  the  semblance  of  liberty  is  preserved,  the  right  of  a  person 
arrested  to  a  speedy  accusation  and  trial  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a  fundamental  law,  as  it 
is  a  rule  of  civilization. 

At  any  rate,  we  hold  it  to  be  so,  and  this  is  one  of  the  rights  which  we  under- 
take to  guarantee  to  any  native-born  or  naturalized  citizen  of  ours,  whether  he  be 
imprisoned  by  order  of  the  czar  of  Russia  or  unier  the  pretext  of  a  law  admin- 
istered for  the  benefit  of  the  landed  aristocracy  of  England. 

We  do  not  claim  to  make  laws  for  other  countries,  but  we  do  insist  that  what- 
ever those  laws  may  be  they  shall,  in  the  interests  of  human  freedom  and  the  rights 
of  mankind,  so  far  as  they  involve  the  liberty  of  our  citizens,  be  speedily  admin- 
istered. We  have  a  right  to  say,  and  do  say,  that  mere  suspicion  without  exami- 
nation or  trial,  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  long  imprisonment  of  a  citizen  of 
America.  Other  nations  may  permit  their  citizens  to  be  thus  imprisoned.  Oars 
will  not.    And  this  in  effect  has  been  solemnly  declared  by  statute.. 


73  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

We  have  met  here  to-night  to  consider  this  subject  and  to  inquire  into  the 
cause  and  the  reasons  and  the  justice  of  the  imprisonment  of  certain  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  now  held  in  British  prisons  without  the  semblance  of  a  trial  or  legal  exam- 
ination. Our  law  declares  that  the  government  shall  act  in  such  cases.  But  the 
people  are  the  creators  of  the  government. 

The  undaunted  apostle  of  the  Christian  religion  imprisoned  and  persecuted, 
appealing  centuries  ago  to  the  Roman  law  and  the  rights  of  Roman  citizenship 
boldly  demanded  :  "  Is  it  lawfal  for  you  to  scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman  and 
uncondemned?" 

m. 

AT  THE  ANNUAL  SAENGERFEST  IN  BUFFALO,  JULY  16,  1883. 

I  have  come  to  join  my  fellow-townsmen  and  their  visitors  in  the  exercises 
■which  inaugurate  a  festival  of  music  and  of  song,  and  a  season  of  social 
enjoyments. 

It  may  be  safely  said,  I  think,  that  no  one  who  has  called  this  his  home,  and 
"Who  has  enjoyed  a  residence  in  this  beautiful  city,  and  has  learned  the  kindness  of 
its  people,  ever  forgets  these  things,  or  fails  to  experience  a  satisfaction  in  whatever 
adds  to  the  prestige  of  the  city,  and  tbe  pride  and  enjoyment  of  its  inhabitants. 

And  thus  it  is  that  I  am  here  to  night,  at  my  home,  claiming,  as  an  old  citizen 
of  Buffalo,  my  full  share  of  the  pleasure  which  Buffalonians  appropriate  to  them- 
selves on  this  occasion. 

I  am  gird  that  our  State  has  within  its  borders  a  city  containing  sufficient 
German  enterprise  and  enough  of  the  German  love  of  music,  to  secure  to  itself  the 
honor  and  distinction  of  being  selected  as  the  place  where  this  national  festival  is 
held. 

I  desire  to  feel  free,  to-night,  from  official  responsibilities  and  restraint,  and  ns 
a  private  citizen,  to  join  in  welcoming  our  guests  to  my  home ;  but  I  will  not  for- 
bear, as  the  executive  of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  and  onbehalf  of  all  its  people* 
to  extend  to  those  here  assembled  from  other  States  a  hearty  greeting. 

At  this  moment  the  reflection  is  uppermost  in  my  mind  that  we  owe  much  to 
the  German  element  among  our  people.  Their  thrift  and  industry  have  added 
immensely  to  our  growth  and  prosperity.  The  sad  and  solemn  victims  of  American 
overwork  may  learn  of  them  that  labor  may  be  well  done,  and  at  the  same  time 
recreation  and  social  enjoyment  have  their  place  in  a  busy  life.  They  have  also 
brought  to  us  their  music  and  their  song,  which  have  done  much  to  elevate,  refine 
and  improve,  and  to  demonstrate  that  nature's  language  is  as  sweet  as  when  the 
morning  stars  sang  together. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  music  loving  people  are  not  apt  to  be  a  bad 
people ;  and  it  may  well  be  hoped  that  occasions  like  this  will  tend  to  make  the 
love  and  cultivation  of  music  more  universal  in  our  land. 

We  hear,  sometimes,  of  the  assimilation  of  the  people  of  different  nationalities, 
who  have  made  their  home  upon  American  soil.  As  this  process  goes  on,  let  the 
German's  love  of  music  be  carefully  included  to  the  end  that  the  best  elements  of 
human  nature  may  be  improved  and  cultivated  and  American  life  be  made  more 
joyous  and  happy. 

I  must  not  detain  you  longer ;  better  things  await  you. 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc,  7S 

To  the  stranger  guest,  I  pledge  a  cordial  hospitality  at  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans of  Buffalo.  I  know  the  warmth  of  heart  and  the  kindliness  of  disposition  of 
those  having  you  in  charge,  and  no  other  guaranty  is  needed. 

To  my  fellow  townsmen,  who  have  labored  thus  far  so  faithfully  in  preparation 
for  this  occasion,  I  cannot  forbear  saying  your  most  difficult  and  delicate  work  will 
not  be  done  until  your  guests  depart,  declaring  the  twenty- third  the  most  successful 
and  enjoyable  Saengerfest  upon  the  list,  and  confessing  that  the  most  cordial  and 
hospitable  entertainers  are  the  Germans  of  Buffalo. 

IV. 

AT    THE    DINNER    OP    THE    HIBERNIAN    SOCIETY,   PHILADELPHIA,    SEPTEMBER  17, 

1887— CENTENNIAL    OF    THE    CONSTITUTION. 

I  should  hardly  think  my  participation  in  the  centennial  celebration  was  satis- 
facto/y  if  I  had  not  the  opportunity  of  meeting  the  representatives  of  the  society 
which,  through  its  antiquity  and  associations,  bears  close  relation  to  the  events  of 
the  time  we  commemorate.  That  j'ou  celebrate  this  occasion  is  a  reminder  of  the 
fact,  that  in  the  troublous  and  perilous  days  of  our  country,  those  whose  names 
stood  upon  your  roll  of  membership  nobly  fought  for  the  cause  of  free  government 
and  for  the  homes  which  they  had  found  upon  our  soil. 

No  society  or  corporation,  I  am  sure,  has  in  its  charter  or  its  traditions  and 
history,  a  better  or  more  valuable  certificate  of  its  patriotic  worth  and  character 
than  you  have,  and  which  is  found  in  the  words  of  Washington,  who  in  1782 
declared  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  of  which  this  association  is  the  suc- 
cessor, that  it  '*  has  always  been  noted  for  the  firm  adherence  of  its  members  to  the 
glorious  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged."  These  are  priceless  words,  and  they 
render  most  fitting  the  part  which  the  members  of  the  Hibernian  Society  are  to  day 
assuming. 

I  notice  upon  a  letter  which  I  have  received  from  your  Secretary  that  one  object 
of  your  society  is  stated  to  be  "for  the  relief  of  emigrants  from  Ireland,"  and  this 
leads  me  to  reflect  how  nearly  allied  love  of  country  is  to  a  kindly  humanity,  and 
how  naturally  such  a  benevolent  purpose  of  this  society,  as  the  assistance  and 
relief  of  your  stranger  and  needy  emigrants,  follows  the  patriotism  in  which  it 
had  its  origin. 

Long  may  the  Hibernian  Society  live  and  prosper,  and  long  may  its  benevolent 
and  humane  work  be  prosecuted.  And  when  another  centennial  of  the  Constitution 
is  celebrated,  may  those  who  shall  then  form  its  membership  be  as  fully  inspired 
with  the  patriotism  of  its  history  and  traditions,  and  as  ready  to  join  in  the  general 
felicitation,  as  the  men  I  see  about  me  here. 


74  clkvbland's  speeches,  letters,  etc 


SPEECHES  AT  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATIONS. 
I. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  ORATION  OF  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  AT  THE  250TH  ANNI- 
VERSARY OP  HARVARD  COLLEGE,  NOVEMBER  9,   1886. 

"  Brethren  of  the  Alumni :  It  now  becomes  my  duty  to  welcome  in  your  name  guests 
who  have  come,  some  of  them  so  far,  to  share  our  congratulations  and  hopes  to-day.  I 
cannot  name  them  all  and  give  to  each  his  fitting  phrase.  Thrice  welcome  to  all.  There 
is  one  name  which  it  would  be  indecorous  not  to  make  an  exception  of.  You  aU  know  that 
I  can  mean  only  the  President  of  our  country.  His  presence  is  a  signal  honor  to  us  all ;  to 
us  all,  I  may  say,  a  personal  gratification. 

"  We  have  no  politics  here,  but  the  sons  of  Harvard  all  belong  to  a  party  which  admires 
courage,  strength  of  purpose  and  fidelity  to  duty,  and  which  respects,  wherever  he  be 
found,  the  justum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum,  who  knows  how  to  withstand  the  civium  ardor 
prava  jubentium.  He  has  left  the  helm  of  state  to  be  with  us  here,  and  so  long  as  it  is 
intrusted  to  his  hands  we  are  sure  that,  should  the  storm  come,  he  will  say  with  Seneca's 
pilot :  '  O,  Neptune,  you  may  save  me  if  you  will,  you  may  sink  me  if  you  will,  but  what- 
ever happens  I  shall  keep  my  rudder  true.' " 


PRESIDENT  Cleveland's  address. 
Mr.  President  and  Oentlemen  : 

I  find  myself  to-day  in  a  company  to  which  I  am  much  unused,  and  when  I 
see  the  alumni  of  the  oldest  college  in  the  land  surrounding  in  their  right  of  sonship, 
the  maternal  board  at  which  I  am  but  an  invited  guest,  the  reflection  that  for  me 
there  exists  no  alma  mater  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  of  regret,  which  is  tempered 
only  by  the  cordiality  of  your  welcome  and  your  reassuring  kindness. 

If  the  fact  is  recalled  that  only  twelve  of  my  twenty-one  predecessors  in  office 
had  the  advantage  of  a  collegiate  or  university  education,  a  proof  is  presented  of 
the  democratic  sense  of  our  people,  rather  than  an  argument  against  the  supreme 
value  of  the  best  and  most  liberal  education  in  high  public  positions.  There  cer- 
tainly can  be  no  sufficient  reason  for  any  space  or  distance  between  the  walks  of  a 
most  classical  education  and  the  way  that  leads  to  a  political  place.  Any  disinclina- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  most  learned  and  cultured  of  our  citizens  to  mingle  in  public 
affairs,  and  the  consequent  abandonment  of  political  activity  to  those  who  have 
but  little  regard  for  student  and  scholar  in  politics,  are  not  favorable  conditions 
under  a  government  such  as  ours,  and  if  they  have  existed  to  a  damaging  extent, 
very  recent  events  appear  to  indicate  that  the  education  and  conservatism  of  the 
land  are  to  be  hereafter  more  plainly  heard  in  the  expression  of  the  popular  will. 

Surely  the  splendid  destiny  which  awaits  a  patriotic  effort  in  behalf  of  our 
country  will  be  sooner  reached  if  the  best  of  our  thinkers  and  educated  men  shall 
deem  it  a  solemn  duty  of  citizenship  to  actively  and  practically  engage  in  political 
affairs,  and  if  the  force  and  power  of  their  thought  and  learning  shall  be  willingly 
or  unwillingly  acknowledged  in  party  management. 

If  I  am  to  speak  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  I  desire  to  mention  as 
the  most  pleasant  and  characteristic  feature  of  our  system  of  government  the  near- 
ness of  the  people  to  their  President   and   other   high  officials.    A  close  view 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  75 

afforded  our  citizens  of  the  acts  and  conduct  of  those  to  whom  they  have  intrusted 
their  interests  serves  as  a  regulator  and  check  upon  temptation  and  pressure  in 
office,  and  is  a  constant  reminder  that  diligence  and  faithfulness  are  the  measure  of 
public  duty,  and  such  a  relation  between  President  and  people  ought  to  leave  but 
little  room  in  popular  judgment  and  conscience  for  unjust  and  false  accusations 
and  for  malicious  slanders  invented  for  the  purpose  of  undermining  the  people's 
trust  and  confidence  in  the  administration  of  their  government. 

No  public  officer  should  desire  to  check  the  utmost  freedom  of  criticism  as  to 
all  official  acts,  but  every  right-thinking  man  must  concede  that  the  President  of 
the  United  States  should  not  be  put  beyond  the  protection  which  American  love  of 
fair  play  and  decency  accords  to  every  American  citizen.  This  trait  of  our 
national  character  would  not  encourage,  if  their  extent  and  tendency  were  fully 
appreciated,  the  silly,  mean,  and  cowardly  lies  that  every  day  are  found  in  the 
columns  of  certain  newspapers,  which  violate  every  instmct  of  American  manliness 
and  in  ghoulish  glee  desecrates  every  sacred  relation  of  private  life. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  highest  office  that  the  American  people  can  confer  which 
necessarily  makes  their  President  altogether  selfish,  scheming  and  untrustworthy. 
On  the  contrary,  the  solemn  duties  which  confront  him  tend  to  a  sober  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility;  the  trust  of  the  American  people  and  an  appreciation  of  their  mission 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  make  him  a  patriotic  man,  and  the  tales  of 
distress  "^'hich  reach  him  from  the  humble  and  lowly  and  needy  and  afflicted  in 
every  corner  of  the  land  cannot  fail  to  quicken  within  him  every  kind  impulse  and 
tender  sensibility. 

After  all,  it  comes  to  this :  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  one  and  all  a 
sacred  mission  to  perform,  and  your  President,  not  more  surely  than  any  other 
citizen  who  loves  his  country,  must  assume  part  of  the  responsibility  of  the  demon- 
stration to  the  world  of  the  success  of  popular  government.  No  man  can  hide  his 
talent  in  a  napkin,  and  escape  the  condemnation  which  his  slothfulness  deserves, 
or  evade  the  stern  sentence  which  his  faithlessness  invites. 

Be  assured,  my  friends,  that  the  privilege  of  this  day,  so  full  of  improvement, 
and  the  enjoyments  of  this  hour,  so  full  of  pleasure  and  cheerful  encouragements, 
will  never  be  forgotten ;  and  in  parting  with  you  now  let  me  express  my  earnest 
hope  that  Harvard's  alumni  may  always  honor  the  venerable  institution  which  has 
honored  them,  and  that  no  man  who  forgets  and  neglects  his  duty  to  American 
citizenship  will  find  his  alma  mater  here. 

II 

AT  CLINTON,  NEW   YORK,  JCA  T  13,  1887. 

I  am  by  no  means  certain  of  my  standing  here  among  those  who  celebrate  the 
centennial  of  Clinton's  existence  as  a  village.  My  recollections  of  the  place  reach 
backward  but  about  thirty-six  years,  and  my  residence  here  covered  a  very  brief 
period.  But  th-se  recollections  are  fresh  and  distinct  to-day,  and  pleasant  too, 
though  not  entirely  free  from  sombre  coloring. 

It  was  here  in  the  school,  at  the  foot  of  College  Hill,  that  I  began  my  prepara- 
tion for  college  life  and  enjoyed  the  anticipation  of  a  collegiate  education.  We 
had  two  teachers  in  our  school.     One  became  afterwards  a  judge  in  Chicago,  and 


76  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

the  Other  passed  through  the  legal  profession  to  the  ministry,  and  within  the  last 
two  ytars  was  living  farther  West.  I  read  a  little  Latin  with  two  other  boys  in 
the  class.  I  think  I  floundered  through  four  books  of  the  ^neid.  The  other  boys 
had  nice  large  modern  editions  of  Virgil,  with  big  print  and  plenty  of  notes  to  help 
one  over  the  hard  places.  Mine  was  a  little  old-fashioned  copy  which  my  father 
used  before  me,  with  no  notes,  and  which  was  only  translated  by  hard  knocks.  I 
believe  I  have  forgiven  those  other  boys  for  their  persistent  refusal  to  allow  me  the 
use  of  the  notes  in  their  books.  At  any  rate,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  over- 
taken by  any  dire  retribution,  for  one  of  them  is  now  a  rich  and  prosperous  lawyer 
in  Buffalo,  and  the  other  is  a  professor  in  your  college  and  the  orator  of  to-day's 
celebration.  The  struggles  with  ten  lines  of  Virgil  which  at  first  made  up  my  daily 
task,  are  amusing  as  remembered  now  ;  but  with  them  lam  also  forced  to  remem- 
ber that  instead  of  being  the  beginning  of  the  higher  education  for  which  I  honestly 
1.  (nged,  they  occurred  near  the  end  of  my  school  advantages.  This  suggests  a  dis- 
appointment which  no  lapse  of  time  can  alleviate  and  a  deprivation  I  have  sadly 
felt  with  every  passing  year. 

I  remember  Benoni  Butler  and  his  store.  I  don't  know  whether  he  was  an  habitual 
poet  or  not,  but  I  heard  him  recite  one  poem  of  his  own  manufacture  which 
embodied  an  account  of  a  travel  to  or  from  Clinton  in  the  eariy  days.  I  can  recall 
but  two  lines  of  this  poem,  as  follows : 

"Paris  Hill  next  caine  in  sight; 
And  there  we  tarried  over  night." 

I  remember  the  next-door  neighbors,  Doctors  Bi-sell  and  Scollard — and  good, 
kind  neighbors  they  were,  too — not  your  cross,  crabbed  kind  who  could  not  bear  to 
see  a  boy  about.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  they  drove  very  fine  horses ;  and  for 
that  reason  I  thought  they  must  be  extremely  rich. 

I  don't  know  that  I  should  indulge  further  recollections  that  must  seem  very 
little  like  centennial  history  ;  but  I  want  to  establish  as  well  as  I  can  my  right  to  be 
here.  I  might  speak  of  the  college  faculty,  who  cast  such  a  pleasing  though  sober 
shade  of  dignity  over  the  place,  and  who,  with  other  educated  and  substantial 
citizens,  made  up  the  best  of  social  life.  I  was  a  boy  then,  and  slightly  felt  the 
atmosphere  of  this  condition ;  but,  notwithstanding,  I  believe  I  absorbed  a  lasting 
appreciation  of  the  intelligence  and  refinement  which  made  this  a  delightful 
home. 

I  know  that  you  will  bear  with  me,  my  friends,  if  I  yield  to  the  impulse  which 
the  mention  of  home  creates,  and  speak  of  my  own  home  here,  and  how  through' 
the  memories  which  cluster  about  it  I  may  claim  a  tender  relationship  to  your 
village.  Here  it  was  that  our  family  circle  entire,  parents  and  children,  lived  day 
after  day  in  loving  and  aflfect  oaate  converse;  and  here,  for  the  last  time,  we  met 
around  the  family  altar  and  thanked  God  that  our  household  was  unbroken  by 
death  or  separation.  We  never  met  together  in  any  other  home  after  leaving  this, 
and  Death  followed  closely  our  departure.  And  thus  it  is,  that  as  with  advancing 
years  I  survey  the  havoc  Death  has  made,  and  the  thoughts  of  my  early  home  more 
sacred,  the  remembrance  of  this  pleasant  spot,  so  related,  is  revived  and  chastened. 

I  can  only  add  my  thanks  for  the  privilege  of  being  with  you  to-day,  and  wish 
for  the  village  of  Clinton  in  the  future  a  continuation  and  increase  of  the  blessings 
of  the  past. 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  77 

III. 

response  to  toast,  "the  president  of  the  united  states,"  at  the  centen- 
nial  celebration  of  the  settlement  op  the  village  op  CLINTON,  N.  Y., 

JULY  13,  1887. 

I  am  inclined  to  content  myself  on  this  occasion,  with  an  acknowledgment  on 
behalf  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  of  the  compliment  which  you  have  paid  to 
the  oflSce  which  represents  their  sovereignty.  But  such  an  acknowledgment  sug- 
gests an  idea  which  I  cannot  refrain  from  dwelling  upon  for  a  moment. 

That  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  does  represent  the  sovereignty 
of  sixty  millions  of  free  people,  is  to  my  mind  a  statement  full  of  solemnity ;  for  this 
sovereignty  I  conceive  to  be  the  working  out  or  enforcement  of  the  divine  right  of 
man  to  govern  himself  and  a  manifestation  of  God's  plan  concerning  the  human 
race. 

Though  the  struggles  of  political  parties  to  secure  the  incumbency  of  this  office 
and  the  questionable  methods  sometimes  resorted  to  for  its  possession  may  not  be  in 
keeping  with  this  idea,  and  though  the  deceit  practised  to  mislead  the  people  in 
their  choice,  and  its  too  frequent  influence  on  their  sufl'rage  may  surprise  us,  these 
things  should  never  lead  us  astray  iu  our  estimate  of  this  exalted  position  and  ita 
value  and  dignity. 

And  though  your  fellow-citizen,  who  may  be  chosen  to  perform  for  a  time  the 
duties  of  this  highest  place  should  be  badly  selected,  and  though  the  best  attainable 
results  may  not  be  reached  by  his  administration,  yet  the  exacting  watchfalness  of 
the  people,  freed  from  the  disturbing  turmoil  of  partisan  excitement,  ought  to 
prevent  mischance  to  the  office  which  represents  their  sovereignty,  and  should 
reduce  to  a  minimum  the  danger  of  harm  to  the  State. 

I  by  no  means  underestimate  the  importance  of  the  utmost  care  and  circum- 
spection in  the  selection  of  the  incumbent.  On  the  contrary,  I  believe  tfiere  is  no 
obligation  of  citizenship  that  demands  more  thought  and  conscientious  deliberation 
than  this,  But  I  am  speaking  of  the  citizen's  duty  to  the  office  and  its  selected 
incumbent. 

This  duty  is  only  performed  when,  in  the  interest  of  the  entire  people,  the  full 
exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  Chief  Magistracy  is  insisted  on,  and  when,  for  the 
people's  safety,  a  due  regard  for  the  limitations  placed  upon  the  office  is  exacted. 
These  things  should  be  enforced  by  the  manifestation  of  a  calm  and  enlightened 
public  opinion.  But  this  should  not  be  simulated  by  the  mad  clamor  of  disappointed 
interest,  which,  without  regard  for  the  general  good,  or  allowance  for  the  exercise 
of  official  judgment,  would  degrade  the  office  by  forcing  compliance  with  selfish 
demands. 

If  your  President  should  not  be  of  the  people  and  one  of  your  fellow- citizens, 
he  would  be  utterly  unfit  for  the  position,  incapable  of  understanding  the  people's 
wants  and  careless  of  their  desires.  That  he  is  one  of  the  people  implies  that  he  i» 
subject  to  human  frailty  and  error.  But  he  should  be  permitted  to  claim  but  little 
toleration  for  mistakes ;  the  generosity  of  his  fellow-citizens  should  alone  decree  how 
far  good  intentions  should  excuse  his  shortcomings. 

Watch  well,  then,  this  high  office,  the  most  precioas  possession  of  American 
citizenship.    Demand  for  it  the  most  complete  devotion  on  the  part  of  him  to  whose 


78  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

custody  it  may  be  intrusted,  and  protect  it  not  less  vigilantly  against  unworthy 
assaults  from  without. 

Tiius  will  you  perform  a  sacred  duty  to  yourselves  and  to  those  who  may 
follow  you  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  freest  institutions  which  Heaven  has  ever 
vouchsafed  to  man. 

IV. 

AT    THE  CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION    OF    THE   ADOPTION  OP    THE    CONSTITUTION, 
PHILADELPHIA,  SEPTEMBER   17,  1887. 

I  deem  it  a  very  great  honor  and  pleasure  to  participate  in  these  impressive 
exercises. 

Every  American  citizen  should  on  this  centennial  day  rejoice  in  his  citizen- 
ship. 

He  will  not  find  the  cause  of  his  rejoicing  in  the  antiquity  of  his  country, — for 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  his  stands  with  the  youngest.  He  will  not  find  it 
in  the  glitter  and  the  pomp  that  bedeck  a  monarch  and  dazzle  abject  and  servile 
subjects, — for  in  his  country  the  people  themselves  are  rulers.  He  will  not  find  it 
in  the  story  of  bloody  foreiga  conquests, — for  his  Government  has  been  content  to 
care  for  its  own  domain  and  people. 

He  should  rejoice  because  the  work  of  framing  our  Constitution  was  completed 
one  hundred  years  ago  today,  and  also  because  when  completed  it  established  a 
free  Government.  He  should  rejoice  because  this  Constitution  and  Government 
have  survived  so  long,  and  also  because  they  have  survived  with  so  many  blessings 
and  have  demonstrated  so  fully  the  strength  and  value  of  popular  rule.  He  should 
rejoice  in  the  wondrous  growth  and  achievements  of  the  past  one  hundred  years, 
and  also  in  the  glorious  promise  of  the  Constitution  through  centuries  to  come. 

We  shall  fail  to  be  duly  thankful  for  all  that  was  done  for  us  one  hundred 
years  ago,  unless  we  realize  the  difBculties  of  the  work  then  in  hand,  and  the 
dangers  avoided  in  the  task  of  forming  "  a  more  perfect  union  "  between  disjointed 
and  inharmonious  States,  with  interests  and  opinions  radically  diverse  and  stub- 
bornly maintained. 

The  perplexities  of  the  convention  which  undertook  the  labor  of  preparing  our 
Constitution  are  apparent  in  these  earnest  words  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of 
its  members : 

"  The  small  progress  we  have  made  after  four  or  five  weeks  of  close  attendance 
and  continued  reasonings  with  CHch  other,  our  different  sentiments  on  almost  every 
question — several  of  the  last  producing  as  many  noes  as  yeas— is,  methinks,  a 
melancholy  proof  of  the  imperfection  of  the  human  understanding.  We  indeed 
seem  to  feel  our  own  want  of  political  wisdom,  since  we  have  been  running  at)out 
in  search  of  it.  We  have  gone  back  to  ancient  history  for  models  of  government, 
and  examined  the  different  forms  of  those  republics  which,  having  been  formed  with 
the  seeds  of  their  own  dissolution,  now  no  longer  exist.  In  this  situation  of  this 
Assembly,  groping  as  it  were  in  the  dark  to  find  political  truth,  and  scarce  able  to 
distinguisn  it  when  presented  to  us,  how  has  it  happened,  sir,  that  we  have  not 
heretofore  once  thought  of  humbly  applying  to  the  Father  of  Light  to  illuminate 
our  understandings?' 

And  this  wise  man,  proposing  to  his  fellows  that  the  aid  and  blessing  of  God 
should  be  invoked  in  their  extremity,  declared : 


*         Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  79 

"  I  have  lived,  sir,  a  long  time,  and  the  longer  I  live  the  more  convincing  proofs 
I  Fee  of  the  truth  tbat  God  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men.  And  if  a  sparrow  can 
not  fall  to  the  gnmnd  without  His  notice,  is  it  probable  that  an  empire  can  rise 
without  His  aid  ?  We  have  been  assured,  sir,  in  the  sacred  writings  that  '  except 
the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it'  I  firmly  believe  this; 
and  I  also  believe  that  without  His  concurnng  aid  we  shall  succeed  in  this  political 
building  no  better  than  the  builders  of  Babel.  We  shall  be  divided  by  our  little 
partial,  local  intertstp,  our  projects  will  be  confounded,  and  we  ourselves  shall 
become  a  reproach  and  by- word  down  to  future  ages;  and,  what  is  worse,  mankind 
may  hereafter,  from  this  unfortunate  instance,  despair  of  establishing  governments 
by  human  wisdom  and  leave  it  to  chance,  war,  and  conquest." 

In  the  face  of  all  discouragements,  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  labored  on  for 
four  long,  weary  months,  in  alternate  hope  and  fear,  but  always  with  rugged  resolve, 
never  faltering  in  a  sturdy  endeavor  sanctified  by  a  prophetic  sense  of  the  value  to 
posterity  of  their  success,  and  always  with  unflinching  faith  in  the  principles  which 
make  the  foundation  of  a  government  by  the  people. 

At  last  their  task  was  done.  It  is  related  that  upon  the  back  of  the  chair  occu- 
pied by  Washington  as  the  president  of  the  Convention  a  sun  was  painted,  and  that 
as  the  'delegates  were  signing  the  completed  Constitution  one  of  them  said :  "  I 
have  ^ften  and  often,  in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  in  the  solicitude  of  my  hopes 
and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  behind  the  President  without  being  able  ta 
tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  setting.  But  now  at  length  I  know  that  it  is  a  rising 
and  not  a  setting  sun." 

We  stand  to-day  on  the  spot  where  this  rising  sun  emerged  from  political  night 
and  darkness ;  and  In  its  own  bright  medium  light  we  mark  its  glorious  way. 
Clouds  have  eometimes  obscured  its  rays,  and  dreadful  storms  have  made  us  fear; 
but  God  has  held  it  in  its  course,  and  through  its  life-giving  warmth  has  performed 
His  latest  miracle  in  the  creation  of  this  wondrous  land  and  people. 

As  we  look  down  the  past  century  to  the  origin  of  our  Constitution,  as  we  con- 
template its  trials  and  its  triumphs,  as  we  realize  how  completely  the  principles  upoa 
which  it  is  based  have  met  every  national  peril  and  every  national  need,  how 
devoutly  should  we  confess,  with  Frankhn,  "  God  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men ; " 
and  how  solemn  should  be  the  reflection  that  to  our  hands  is  committed  this  ark  of 
the  people's  covenant,  and  that  ours  is  the  duty  to  shield  it  from  impious  hands. 
We  receive  it  sealed  with  the  tests  of  a  century.  It  has  been  found  sufficient  in  the 
past ;  and  in  all  the  future  years  it  will  be  found  suflBcient  if  the  American  people 
are  true  to  their  sacred  trust. 

Another  centennial  day  will  come,  and  millions  yet  unborn  will  inquire  con- 
cerning our  stewardship  and  the  safety  of  their  Constitution.  God  grant  that  they 
may  find  it  unimpaired ;  and  as  we  rejoice  in  the  patriotism  and  devotion  of  those 
who  lived  a  hundred  years  ago,  so  may  others  who  follow  us  rejoice  in  our  fidelity 
and  in  our  jealous  love  for  constitutional  liberty. 


60  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 


V. 

eesponse   to  the  toast,  "the  president  op  the  united  states,"  at  the 

DINNER  given  BY  THE  HISTORICAL  AND  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES  OP  PHILADEL- 
PHIA, SEPTEMBER,  17,  1887,  DURING  THE  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  OP  THE 
ADOPTION  OP  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

On  such  a  day  as  this,  and  in  the  atmosphere  that  now  surrounds  him,  I  feel  that 
the  President  of  the  United  States  should  be  thoughtfully  modest  and  humble. 
The  great  office  he  occupies  stands  to-day  in  the  presence  of  its  maker ;  and  it  is 
especially  fitting  for  this  servant  of  the  people  and  creature  of  the  Constitution, 
amid  the  impressive  scenes  of  this  centennial  occasion,  by  a  rigid  self-examination 
to  be  assured  concerning  his  loyalty  and  obedience  to  the  law  of  his  existence. 
He  will  find  that  the  rules  prescribed  for  his  guidance  require  for  the  perform- 
ance of  his  duty,  not  the  intellect  or  attainments  which  would  raise  him  far  above 
the  feeling  and  sentiment  of  the  plain  people  of  the  land,  but  rather  such  a  knowl- 
edge of  their  condition,  and  sympathy  with  their  wants  and  needs  as  will  bring 
him  near  to  them.  And  though  he  may  be  almost  appalled  by  the  weight  of  his 
responsibility  and  the  solemnity  of  his  situation,  he  cannot  fail  to  find  comfort  and 
encouragement  in  the  success  of  the  fathers  of  the  Constitution  wrought  from  their 
simple,  patriotic  devotion  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people.  Surely  he  may 
hope  that,  if  reverently  invoked,  the  spirit  which  gave  the  Constitution  life  will  be 
sufficient  for  its  successful  operation  and  the  accomplishment  of  its  beneficial  pur- 
poses. 

Because  they  are  brought  nearest  to  the  events  and  scenes  which  marked  the 
l)irth  of  American  institutions,  the  people  of  Philadelphia  should  of  aM  our  citizens 
be  more  imbued  with  sentiments  of  the  broadest  patriotism.  The  first  Continental 
Congress  and  the  Conetitutional  Convention  met  here,  and  Philadelphia  still  has  in 
her  keeping.  Carpenter's  Hall,  Independence  Hall  and  its  bell,  and  the  grave  of 
Franklin. 

As  I  look  about  me  and  see  here  represented  the  societies  that  express  so 
largely  the  culture  of  Philadelphia,  its  love  of  art,  its  devotion  to  science,  its  regard 
for  the  broadest  knowledge,  and  its  studious  care  for  historical  research — societies 
some  of  which  antedate  the  Constitution— I  feel  that  I  am  in  a  notable  company. 
To  you  is  given  the  duty  of  preserving  and  protecting  for  your  city,  for  all  your 
fellow-countrymen,  and  for  mankind,  the  traditions  and  the  incidents  related  to  the 
establishment  of  the  freest  and  best  government  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  It  is  a 
sacred  trust,  and  as  time  leads  our  Government  further  and  further  from  the  date 
of  its  birth,  may  you  solemnly  remember  that  a  nation  exacts  of  you  that  these 
traditions  and  incidents  shall  never  be  tarnished  nor  neglected,  but  that,  brightly 
burnished,  they  may  always  be  held  aloft,  fastening  the  gaze  of  a  patriotic  people 
and  keeping  alive  their  love  and  reverence  for  the  Constitution. 


CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC.  81 


AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  MONUMENTS  AND  STATUES. 

I. 

UNVEILING   OF  THE  BARTHOLDI  STATUE  AT  NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  28,  1886. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  accept  with  gratitude  from  their  brethren  of 
the  French  Republic  the  grand  and  completed  work  of  nrt  we  here  inaugurate. 

This  token  of  the  aflFection  and  consideration  of  the  people  of  France  demon- 
strates the  kinship  of  republics,  and  conveys  to  us  the  assurance  that  in  our  efforts 
to  commend  to  mankind  the  excellence  of  a  government  resting  upon  popular  will, 
we  still  have  beyond  the  American  continent,  a  steadfast  ally. 

We  are  not  here  to  day  to  bow  before  the  representation  of  a  fierce  and  warlike 
god,  filled  with  wrath  and  vengeance,  but  we  joyously  contemplate  instead,  our  owh 
deity  keeping  watch  and  ward  before  the  open  gates  of  America,  and  greater  than  all 
that  have  been  celebrated  in  ancient  song.  Instead  of  grasping  in  her  hand  thunder- 
bolts of  terror  and  of  death,  she  holds  aloft  the  light  which  illumines  the  way  to 
man's  enfranchisem.ent. 

"We  will  not  forget  that  liberty  has  here  made  her  home;  nor  shall  her  chosen 
altar  be  neglected.  Willing  votaries  will  constantly  keep  alive  its  fires,  and  these 
shall  gleam  upon  the  shores  ot  our  sister  republic  in  the  East.  Reflected  thence 
and  joined  with  answering  rays,  a  stream  of  light  shall  pierce  the  darkness  of  ignor- 
ance and  man's  oppression,  until  liberty  enlightens  the  world. 


II 

UNVEILING    OF    THE    GARFIELD    STATUE    AT    WASHINGTON,    D.  C, 

MAY  13,  1887. 
Fellow  Citizens  : 

In  performance  of  the  duty  assigned  to  me  on  this  occasion,  I  hereby  accept, 
on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  this  completed  and  beautiful  statue. 

Amid  the  interchange  of  fraternal  greetings  between  the  survivors  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland  and  their  former  foes  upon  the  battle-field,  and  while  the  Union 
General  and  the  people's  President  awaited  burial,  the  common  grief  of  these  mag- 
nanimous soldiers  and  mourning  citizens  found  expression  in  the  determination  to 
erect  this  tribute  to  American  greatness ;  and  thus  to  day  in  its  symmetry  and 
beauty,  it  presents  a  sign  of  animosities  forgotten,  an  emblem  of  a  brotherhood 
redeemed,  and  a  token  of  a  nation  restored. 

Monuments  and  statues  multiply  throughout  the  land,  fittingly  illustrative  of 
the  love  and  affection  of  our  grateful  people  and  commemorating  brave  and  patri- 
otic sacrifices  in  war,  fame  in  peaceful  pursuits,  or  honor  in  public  station. 

But  from  this  day  forth,  there  shall  stand  at  our  seat  of  Government  this  statue 
of  a  distinguished  citizen,  who  in  his  life  and  services  combined  all  these  things  and 
more,  which  challenge  admiration  in  American  character — loving  tenderness  in 
every  domestic  relation,  bravery  on  the  field  of  battle,  fame  and  distinction  in  our 
halls  of  legislation,  and  the  highest  honor  and  dignity  in  the  Chief  Magistracy  of 
the  nation. 


83  Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc. 

This  stately  effigy  shall  not  fail  to  teach  every  beholder  that  the  source  of 
American  greatness  is  confined  to  no  condition,  nor  dependent  alone  for  its  growth 
and  development  upon  favorable  surroundings.  The  genius  of  our  national  life 
beckons  to  usefulness  and  honor  those  in  every  sphere,  and  offers  the  highest  prefer- 
ment to  manly  ambition  and  sturdy,  honest  effort  chastened  and  consecrated  by 
patriotic  hopes  and  aspirations.  As  long  as  this  statue  stands,  let  it  be  proudly 
remembered  that  to  every  American  citizen  the  way  is  open  to  fame  and  Btation, 
until  he — 

"  Moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 

Becomes  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  People's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  World's  desire. " 

Nor  can  we  forget  that  it  also  teaches  our  people  a  sad  and  distressing  lesson ; 
and  the  thoughtful  citizen  who  views  its  fair  proportions  cannot  fail  to  recall  the 
tragedy  of  a  death  which  brought  grief  and  mourning  to  every  household  in  the 
land.  But  while  American  citizenship  stands  aghast  and  affrighted  that  murder 
and  assasination  should  lurk  in  the  midst  of  a  free  people  and  strike  down  the  head 
of  their  Government,  a  fearless  search  and  the  discovery  of  the  origin  and  hiding- 
place  of  these  hateful  and  unnatural  things,  should  be  followed  by  a  solemn  resolve 
to  purge  forever  from  our  political  methods  and  from  the  operation  of  our  Govern- 
ment, the  perversions  and  misconceptions  which  give  birth  to  passionate  and  bloody 
thoughts. 

If  from  this  hour  our  admiration  for  the  bravery  and  nobility  of  Americfin 
manhood  and  our  faith  in  the  possibilities  and  opportunities  of  American  citizenship 
be  renewed,  if  our  appreciation  of  the  blessing  of  a  restored  Union  and  love  for  our 
Government  be  strengthened,  and  if  our  watchfulness  against  the  dangers  of  a  mad 
chase  after  partisan  spoils  be  quickened,  the  dedication  of  this  statue  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  will  not  be  in  vain. 


LETTERS  TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS. 


LETTER  written   TO    THE  REUNION  OF   UNION  AND   EX-CONFEDERATE  E0LDIER& 

at  gettysburg,  july  2,  1887. 

Executive  Mansion, 

WasJdngtoji,  June  24, 1887. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  received  your  invitation  to  attend,  as  a  guest  of  the 
Philadelphia  Brigade,  a  re-union  of  ex-Confederate  soldiers  of  Pickett's  Division  who 
survived  their  terrible  charge  at  Gettysburg,  and  those  of  the  Union  Army  still  liv- 
ing, by  whom  it  was  heroically  resisted. 

The  fraternal  meeting  of  these  soldiers  upon  the  battle-field  where  twentv-four 
years  ago,  in  deadly  affray,  they  fiercely  sought  each  other's  lives,  where  they  saw 
their  comrades  fall,  and  where  all  their  thoughts  were  of  vengeance  and  destiuction, 
will  illustrate  the  generous  impulse  of  brave  men  and  their  honest  desire  for  peace 
and  reconciliation. 


CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC.  83" 

The  friendly  assaults  there  to  be  made  will  be  resistless,  because  inspired  by 
American  chivalry ;  and  its  results  will  be  glorious,  because  conquered  hearts  will 
be  its  trophies  of  success.  Thereafter  this  battle  lield  will  be  cons^^crated  by  a 
victory  which  shall  presage  the  end  ol  the  bitterness  of  strife,  the  exposure  of  the 
insinceriiy  which  conceals  hatred  by  professions  of  kindness,  the  condemnation  of 
frenzied  appeals  to  passion  for  unworthy  purposes,  and  the  beating  down  of  all  that 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  destiny  of  our  united  country. 

While  those  who  fought  and  who  have  so  much  to  forgive  lead  in  the  pleasant 
ways  of  peace,  how  wicked  appear  the  traffic  in  sectional  hate  and  the  betrayal  oi 
patriotic  sentiment. 

It  surely  cannot  be  wrong  to  desire  the  settled  quiet  which  lights  for  our  entire 
country  the  path  to  prosperity  and  greatness;  nor  need  the  lessons  of  the  war  be 
forgotten  and  its  results  jeopardized  in  the  wish  for  that  genuine  fraternity  which 
ensures  national  pride  and  glory. 

I  should  be  very  glad  to  accept  your  invitation  and  be  with  you  at  that  interest- 
ing reunion,  but  other  arrangements  already  made  and  niy  official  duties  here  will 
prevent  my  doicg  so. 

Hoping  that  the  occasion  will  be  as  successful  and  useful  as  its  promoters  can 

desire, 

I  am,  yours,  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
Mb.  John  W.  Frazibr, 

Secretary^  die. 

n. 

to  mayor  francis,  op  st.  louis. 

Executive  Mansion,  >' 
Washington,  July  4,  1887.  \ 
Hon.  David  R.  FranciSy  Mayor  and  Chairman. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 
When  I  received  the  extremely  cordial  and  gratifying  invitation  from  the  cit- 
izens of  St.  Louis,  tendered  by  a  number  of  her  representative  men,  to  visit  that 
city  during  the  national  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  I  had 
been  contemplating  for  some  time  the  acceptance  of  an  invitation  from  that  organ- 
ization to  the  same  effect,  and  had  considered  the  pleasure  which  it  would  afford 
me,  if  it  should  be  possible,  to  meet  not  only  members  of  the  Grand  Army,  but  the 
people  of  St.  Louis  and  other  cities  in  the  West  which  the  occasion  would  give  me 
an  opportunity  to  visit.  The  exactions  of  my  public  duties  I  felc  to  be  so  uncertain, 
however,  that,  when  first  confronted  by  the  delegation  of  which  you  were  the  head, 
I  expected  to  do  no  more  at  that  time  than  to  promise  the  consideration  of  the 
double  invitation  tendered  me,  and  express  the  pleasure  it  would  give  me  to  accept 
the  same  thereafter,  if  possible.  But  the  cordiality  and  sincerity  of  your  presenta. 
tion,  reinforced  by  the  heartiness  of  the  good  people  who  surrounded  you,  so 
impressed  me  that  I  could  not  resist  the  teeling  which  prompted  me  to  assure  you  ou 
the  spot  that  I  would  be  with  you  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at  the  time 
designated,  if  nothing  happened  in  the  meantime  to  absolutely  prevent  my  leaving 
Washington. 


84  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC, 

Immediately  upon  the  public  announcement  of  this  conclusion,  expressions 
emanating  from  certain  important  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic» 
and  increasing  in  volume  and  virulence,  constrained  me  to  review  my  acceptance 
of  these  invitations. 

The  expressions  referred  to  go  to  the  extent  of  declaring  that  I  would  be  an 
unwelcome  guest  at  the  time  and  place  of  the  national  encampment.  This  state- 
ment is  based,  as  well  as  I  can  judge,  upon  certain  official  acts  of  mine,  involving 
important  public  interests,  done  under  the  restraints  and  obligations  of  my  oath  of 
office,  which  do  not  appear  to  accord  with  the  wishes  of  some  members  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

I  refuse  to  believe  that  this  organization,  founded  upon  patriotic  ideas,  com- 
posed very  largely  of  men  entitled  to  lasting  honor  and  consideration,  and  whose 
cro  wning  glory  it  should  be  that  they  are  American  citizens  as  well  as  veteran 
soldiers,  deems  it  a  part  of  its  mission  to  compass  any  object  or  purpose  by  attempt- 
ing to  imtimidate  the  executive  or  coerce  those  charged  with  making  and  executing 
the  laws.  And  yet  the  expressions  to  which  I  have  referred  indicate  such  a  preva- 
lence of  unfriendly  feeling  and  such  a  menace  to  an  occasion  which  should  be 
harmonious,  peaceful  and  cordial,  that  they  cannot  be  ignored. 

I  beg  you  to  understand  that  I  am  not  conscious  of  any  act  of  mine  which 
should  make  me  fear  to  meet  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  or  any  other  assem- 
blage of  my  fellow-citizens.  The  account  of  my  official  stewardship  is  always 
ready  for  presentation  to  my  countrymen. 

I  should  not  be  frank  if  I  failed  to  confess,  while  disclaiming  all  resentment, 
that  I  have  been  hurt  by  the  unworthy  and  wanton  attacks  upon  me  growing  out 
-of  this  matter,  and  the  reckless  manner  in  which  my  actions  and  motives  have  been 
misrepresented  both  publicly  and  privately,  for  which,  however,  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  as  a  body,  is  by  no  means  responsible. 

The  threats  of  personal  violence  and  harm  in  case  I  undertook  the  trip  in 
question,  which  scores  of  misguided,  unbalanced  men  under  the  stimulation  of 
excited  feeling  have  made,  are  not  even  considered. 

Rather  than  abandon  my  visit  to  the  West  and  disappoint  your  citizens,  I 
might,  if  I  alone  were  concerned,  submit  to  the  insults  to  which  it  is  quite  openly 
asserted  I  would  be  helplessly  subjected  if  present  at  the  encampment;  but  I  should 
bear  with  me  there  the  people's  highest  office,  the  dignity  of  which  I  must  protect ; 
and  I  believe  that  neither  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  as  an  organization,  nor 
anything  like  a  majority  of  its  members,  would  ever  encourage  any  scandalous 
attacks  upon  it. 

If,  however,  among  the  membership  of  this  body  there  are  some,  as  certainly 
seems  to  be  the  case,  determined  to  denounce  me  and  my  official  acts  at  the  national 
encampment  I  believe  they  should  be  permitted  to  do  so  unrestrained  by  my  pres- 
ence as  a  guest  of  their  organization,  or  as  a  g^8i  of  the  hospitable  city  in  which 
their  meeting  is  held.  <B[k: 

A  number  of  Grand  Army  posts  have  signineaihdr  intention,  I  am  informed, 
to  remain  away  from  the  encampment  incase  I  visit  the  city  at  that  time.  Without 
considering  the  merits  of  such  an  excuse,  I  feel  that  I  ought  not  to  be  the  cause  o^ 
such  non-attendance.  The  time  and  place  of  the  encampment  were  fixed  long  before 
my  invitations  were  received.    Those  desiring  to  participate  in  its  proceedings 


clkyeland'8  speeches,  letters,  etc.  85 

should  be  first  regarded,  and  nothing  should  be  permitted  to  interfere  with  their 
intentions. 

Another  consideration  of  more  importance  than  all  others  remains  to  be  noticed. 
The  fact  was  referred  to  by  you  when  you  verbally  presented  the  invitation  of  the 
citizens  of  St.  Louis,  that  the  coming  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  would  be  the  first  held  in  a  Southern  State.  I  suppose  this  fact  was  men- 
tioned as  a  pleasing  indication  of  the  fraternal  feeling  fast  gaining  ground  through- 
out the  entire  land  and  hailed  by  every  patriotic  citizen  as  an  earnest  that  the 
Union  has  really  and  in  fact  been  saved  in  sentiment  and  spirit  with  all  the  benefits 
it  vouchsafes  to  a  united  people. 

I  canno  t  rid  myself  of  the  belief  that  the  least  discord  on  this  propitious  occa- 
sion might  retard  the  progress  of  the  sentiment  of  the  common  brotherhood  which 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  has  so  good  an  opportunity  to  increase  and  foster. 
I  certainly  ought  not  to  be  the  cause  of  such  discord  in  any  event  or  upon  any 
pretext. 

It  seems  to  me  that  you  and  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis  are  entitled  to  this  unre- 
served statement  of  the  conditions  which  have  constrained  me  to  forego  my  con- 
templated visit,  and  to  withdraw  my  acceptance  of  your  invitation.  My  presence 
in  your  city  at  the  time  you  have  indicated  can  be  of  but  little  moment  compared 
with  the  importance  of  a  cordial  and  harmonious  entertainment  of  your  other 
guests. 

I  assure  you  that  I  abandon  my  plan  without  the  least  personal  feeling,  except 
regret,  constrained  thereto  by  a  sense  of  duty,  actuated  by  a  desire  to  save  any 
embarrassment  to  the  people  of  St.  Louis  or  their  expected  guests,  and  with  a  heart 
full  of  grateful  appreciation  of  the  sincere  and  unaffected  kindness  of  your  citizens  • 

Hoping  the  encampment  may  be  an  occasion  of  much  usefulness  and  that  its 
proceedings  may  illustrate  the  highest  patriotism  of  American  citizenship,  I  am 
yours,  very  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIQ  MEN. 
I. 

THE  CHARACTER  OP  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

ExEcuTivB  Mansion, 
Washington,  D.  C,  January  4, 

To  Hon.  Allen  0.  Thurman,  Chairman^  <Sx. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  receipt  of  an  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  annual  re-union  of  the  Jackson  Club,  of  the  city  of  Columbus,  on 
the  evening  of  the  8th  inst. 

My  official  duties  here  will  prevent  wy  acceptance  of  the  invitation  so  kindly 
tendered,  but  I  beg  to  assure  the  Club  that  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the  re-union, 
which  are  expressed  in  the  note  of  the  committee,  meet  with  my  cordial  and  sincere 
approval. 

I  should  be  most  pleased  to  be  one  of  those  who,  on  that  occasion,  will  con- 
gratulate the  friends  of  good  government  on  the  success  of  the  Democratic  party, 


86  clevelaijd'b  speeches,  lettbks,  etc. 

for  I  believe  that  the  application  of  the  true  and  pure  principles  of  that  political 
faith  must  result  in  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

It  is  also  proposed,  I  learn,  to  consult  together  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
accomplishment  of  "  the  greatest  good  to  our  people  "  can  best  be  aided  and  assisted. 
No  higher  or  more  sacred  mission  was  ever  intrusted  to  a  party  organization,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  it  will  be  honestly  and  faithfully  performed  by  a  close  sympathy 
with  the  people  in  their  wants  and  needs,  by  a  patriotic  endeavor  to  quicken  their 
love  and  devotion  for  American  institutions,  and  by  an  earnest  effort  to  enlarge 
their  apprehensions  and  realizations  of  the  benefits  which  the  wise  and  unselfisli 
administration  of  a  free  government  will  secure  to  them. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

n. 

A  TRIBUTE  TO  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

Executive  Mansion,  i 

Washington,  D.  C,  February  3, 1888.  J 
William  A.  Furey,  Esq.,  CJiairman^  etc. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  acknowledge  with  sincere  thanks  the  invitation  extendecJ 
to  me  on  behalf  of  the  Kings  County  Democratic  Club  to  attend  a  banquet  to  be 
given  in  the  City  of  Brooklyn  on  the  9th  instant,  in  commemoration  of  the  birth- 
day of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

I  indulge  with  the  utmost  pleasure  and  satisfaction  the  belief  that  this  invita- 
tion is  not  a  mere  formal  compliment  tendered  to  me  in  fulfillment  of  customary 
propriety,  but  that  it  is  an  additional  evidence  of  the  genuine  kindness  of  the  people 
and  my  political  friends  of  Brooklyn  and  Kings  County,  which  has  more  than  once 
during  my  public  life  been  heartily  manifested. 

Entertaining  this  belief,  I  know  that  its  expression  will  make  it  unnecessary 
for  me  to  assure  you  that  I  would  gladly  accept  your  invitation  if  it  were  possible. 
I  am  not  only  certain  that  at  your  banquet  I  should  be  among  true  and  stead- 
fast friends,  but  that  the  occasion  and  its  prevailing  spirit  cannot  fail  to  inspire 
every  participant  with  new  strength  and  increased  patriotism  and  courage. 

The  birthday  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  fittingly  celebrated  by  the  Democracy  of 
Kings  County,  for  he  found  there  in  all  his  eflforts  to  reform  the  public  service  and 
to  reinstate  his  party  in  the  confidence  of  the  American  people  firm  and  staunch, 
friends,  never  wavering  in  their  willing  and  effective  support.  Let  these  friends- 
now  remind  all  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  patriotic  and  useful  career  of  their 
honored  and  trusted  leader,  and  let  every  one  professing  his  politicftl  faith  proclaim 
the  value  of  his  teachings.  He  taugiit  the  limitation  of  Federal  power  under  the 
Constitution,  the  absolute  necessity  of  public  economy,  the  safety  of  a  aound  cur- 
rency, honesty  in  public  place,  the  responsibility  of  public  servants  to  the  people, 
care  for  those  who  toil  with  their  hands,  a  proper  limitation  of  corporate  privileges 
and  a  reform  in  the  Civil  Service. 

His  was  true  Democracy.  It  led  him  to  meet  boldly  every  public  issue  as  it 
rose.  With  his  conception  of  political  duty  he  thought  it  never  too  early  and  never 
too  late  to  give  battle  to  vicious  doctrines  and  corrupt  practices.    He  believed  that 


Cleveland's  speeches,  letters,  etc.  87 

pure  and  sound  Democracy  flourished  and  grew  in  open,  bold  and  honest  cham- 
pionship of  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  that  it  but  feebly  lived  upon  deceit, 
false  pretenses  and  fear. 

And  he  was  right.  His  success  proved  him  right,  and  proved,  too,  that  the 
American  people  appreciate  a  courageous  struggle  in  their  defense. 

I  should  certainly  join  you  in  recalling  the  virtues  and  achievements  of  this 
illustrious  Democrat  on  the  anniversaiy  of  his  birth,  if  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
social  events  connected  with  my  official  life  an  important  one  had  not  been 
appointed  to  take  place  on  the  evening  of  your  banquet.  This  necessarily  detains 
me  here. 

Hoping  that  your  celebration  will  be  very  successful  and  full  of  profitable 

enjoyment,  I  am  yours,  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

m. 

the  career  of  henry  ward  beecher. 

Executive  Mansion,  ) 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  33, 1888.  J 
My  Bear  JUra.  Beecher : 

I  have  been  asked  to  furnish  a  contribution  to  a  proposed  memorial  of  your  late 
husband. 

While  I  am  by  no  means  certain  that  anything  I  might  prepare  would  be 
worthy  of  a  place  among  the  eloquent  and  beautiful  tributes  which  are  sure  to  be 
presented,  this  request  spurs  to  action  my  desire  and  intention  to  express  to  you 
more  fully  than  I  have  yet  done,  my  sympathy  in  your  affliction  and  my  appreciation 
of  my  own  and  the  country's  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Beecher. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  repeatedly  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  hearing  him 
in  his  own  pulpit.  His  warm  utterances,  and  the  earnest  interest  he  displayed  in  the 
practical  things  related  to  useful  living,  the  hopes  he  inspired,  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  relieved  the  precepts  of  Christianity  from  gloom  and  cheerlessness,  made 
me  feel  that,  tkough  a  stranger,  he  was  my  friend.  Many  years  afterward  we  came 
to  know  each  other;  and  since  that  time  my  belief  in  his  friendship,  based  upon 
acquaintance  and  personal  contact,  has  been  to  me  a  source  of  the  greatest  satis- 
4ction. 

His  goodness  and  kindness  of  heart,  so  far  as  they  were  manifested,  in  his  per- 
gonal life  and  in  his  home,  are  sacred  to  you  and  to  your  grief;  but  so  far  as  they 
gave  color  and  direction  to  his  teachings  and  opinions,  they  are  proper  subjects  for 
gratitude  and  congratulation  on  the  part  of  every  American  citizen.  They  caused 
him  to  take  the  side  of  the  common  people  in  every  discussion.  He  loved  his  fellows 
in  their  homes;  he  rejoiced  in  their  contentment  and  comfort,  and  sympathized  with 
them  in  their  daily  hardships  and  trials.  As  their  champion  he  advocated  in  all 
things  the  utmost  regulated  and  wholesome  liberty  and  freedom.  His  sublime  faith 
m  the  success  of  popular  government  led  him  to  trust  the  people,  and  to  treat  their 
errors  and  misconcepvions  with  generous  toleration.  An  honorable  pride  in  American 
citizenship,  when  guided  by  the  teachings  of  religion,  he  believed  to  be  a  sure 
guaranty  of  a  splendid  national  destiny.  I  never  met  him  without  gaining  some 
<ihing  from  his  broad  views  and  wise  reflections. 


I 


88  CLEVELAND'S  SPEECHES,  LETTERS,  ETC. 

Your  personal  affliction  in  his  death  stands  alone,  in  its  magnitude  and  depth. 
But  thousands  wish  that  their  sense  of  loss  might  temper  your  grief,  and  that  they, 
by  sharing  your  sorrow,  might  lighten  it. 

Such  kindly  assurances  and  your  realization  of  the  high  and  sacred  mission 
accomplished  in  your  husband's  useful  life,  furnish  all  this  world  can  supply  of 
comfort !  but  your  faith  and  piety  will  not  fail  to  lead  you  to  a  higher  and  better 
source  of  consolation.  Yours  very  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


IV. 

tribute  to  general  p.  h.  sheridan,  august  6,  1888. 

Executive  Mansion,        ) 
Washington,  August  6,  1888.  J 
To  the  Senate  and  Hoicse  of  Representatives  : 

It  becomes  my  painful  duty  to  announce  to  the  Congress  and  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  the  death  of  Philip  H.  Sheridan,  general  of  the  army,  which 
occrreud  at  a  late  hour  last  night  at  his  summer  home,  in  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

The  death  of  this  valiant  soldier  and  patriotic  son  of  the  Republic,  though 
his  long  illness  has  been  regarded  with  anxiety,  has  nevertheless  shocked  the 
country  and  caused  universal  grief. 

He  had  established  for  himself  a  stronghold  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-coun 
trymen,  who  soon  caught  the  true  meaning  and  purpose  of  his  soldierly  devotion 
and  heroic  temper. 

His  intrepid  courage,  his  steadfast  patriotism  and  the  generosity  of  his  nature 
inspired  with  peculiar  warmth  the  admiration  of  all  the  people. 

Above  his  grave  affection  for  the  man  and  pride  in  his  achievements  will  strug- 
gle for  mastery,  and  too  much  honor  cannot  be  accorded  to  one  who  was  so  richly 
endowed  with  all  the  qualities  which  make  his  death  a  national  loss. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CIYIL  SERYICB  BBFOBM.  89 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 


CONSISTENT  RECORD  OF  GROVER   CLEVELAND  ON  THIS    Q[JE8« 
TION  DURING  HIS  WHOLE  PUBLIC  CAREER. 


Speeches^  Letters  and  Official  Messages  in  wMch  He  Has: 
Uniformly  Advocated  a  Reformed  Civil  Service. 


I. 

PROM  THE  SETTER  ACCEPTING  THE    NOMINATION  FOR  GOVERNOR  OP  THE  8TATB 
OF  NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  7,  1882. 

Public  officers  are  the  servants  and  agents  of  the  people  to  execute  laws  which 
the  peopie  have  made,  and  within  the  limits  of  a  Constitution  which  they  have 
established.  Hence  the  interference  of  officials  of  any  degree,  and  whether  state 
or  federal,  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  or  controlling  the  popular,  wish  should  not 
be  tolerated. 

Subordinates  in  public  place  should  be  selected  and  retained  for  their  effi^- 
ciency,  and  not  because  they  may  be  used  to  accomplish  partisan  ends.  The 
people  have  a  right  to  demand,  here  as  in  cases  of  private  employment,  that  their 
money  be  paid  to  those  who  will  render  the  best  service  in  return,  and  that  th& 
appointment  to  and  tenure  of  such  places  should  depend  upon  ability  and  merit. 
If  the  clerks  and  assistants  in  public  departments  were  paid  the  same  compensa- 
tion and  required  to  do  the  same  amount  of  work  as  those  employed  in  prudently 
conducted  private  establishments,  the  anxiety  to  hold  these  public  places  would  be 
much  diminished,  and,  it  seems  to  me,  the  cause  of  civil  service  reform  materially 
aided. 

The  system  of  levying  assessments  for  partisan  purposes  on  those  holding  office 
or  place  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  Through  the  thin  disguise  of  volun- 
tary contributions,  this  is  seen  to  be  naked  extortion,  reducing  the  compensation, 
which  should  be  honestly  earned  and  swelling  a  fund  used  to  debauch  the  people 
and  defeat  the  popular  will.  V 

n 

FROM  FIRST  MESSAGE  TO  NEW  YORK  LEGISLATURE,  JANUARY,  1883. 

It  is  submitted  that  the  appointment  of  subordinates  in  the  several  State  depart- 
ments, and  their  tenure  of  office  or  employment,  should  be  based  upon  fitness  and 
efficiency,  and  that  this  principle  should  be  embodied  in  legislative  enactment,  to 
the  end  that  the  policy  of  the  State  may  conform  to  the  reasonable  public  demand  ojtt 
that  subject. 


90  CIYIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

m. 

FROM  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  TO  NEW  YORK  LEGISLATURE,  JANUARY,  1884. 

New  York,  then,  leads  in  the  inauguration  of  a  comprehensive  State  system  of 
civil  service.  The  principle  of  selecting  the  subordinate  employes  of  the  State  on 
the  ground  of  capacity  and  fitness,  ascertained  according  to  fixed  and  impartial  rules, 
without  regard  to  political  predelictions  and  with  reasonable  assurance  of  retention 
and  promotion  in  case  of  meritorious  service,  is  now  the  established  policy  of  the 
State.  The  children  of  our  citizens  are  educated  and  trained  in  schools  maintained 
at  common  expense,  and  the  people  as  a  whole  have  a  right  to  demand  the  selection 
for  the  public  service  of  those  whose  natural  aptitudes  have  been  improved  by  the 
educational  facilities  furnished  by  the  State.  The  application  to  the  public  service 
of  the  same  rule  which  prevails  in  ordinary  business,  of  employing  those  whose 
knowledge  and  training  best  fit  them  for  the  duties  at  hand,  without  regard  to  other 
considerations,  must  elevate  and  improve  the  civil  service  and  eradicate  from  it  many 
evils  from  which  it  has  long  sufiered.  Not  the  least  gratifying  of  the  results  which 
this  system  promises  to  accomplish,  is  relief  to  public  men  from  the  annoyance  of 
importunity  in  the  strife  for  appointments  to  public  places. 

IV. 

FROM  THE  LETTER   ACCEPTING  THE   NOMINATION  FOR  PRESIDENT  OP    THE  UNITED 
STATES,  AUGUST  18,  1884. 

The  people  pay  the  wages  of  the  public  employes,  and  they  are  ^ititled  to  the 
fair  and  honest  work  which  the  money  thus  paid  should  command.  It  is  the  duty 
of  those  entrusted  with  the  management  of  their  aflTairs  to  see  that  such  public  ser- 
vice is  forthcoming.  The  selection  and  retention  of  subordinates  in  government  em- 
ployment should  depend  upon  their  ascertained  fitness  and  the  value  of  their  work, 
and  they  should  be  neither  expected  nor  allowed  to  do  questionable  party  service. 
The  interests  of  the  people  will  be  better  protected ;  the  estimate  of  public  labor 
and  duty  will  be  immensely  improved ;  public  employment  will  be  open  to  all  who 
can  demonstrate  their  fitness  to  enter  it;  the  unseemly  scramble  for  place  under  the 
Government,  with  the  consequent  importunity  which  embitters  official  life,  will 
cease ;  and  the  public  departments  will  not  be  filled  with  those  who  conceive  it  to 
be  their  first  duty  to  aid  the  party  to  which  they  owe  their  places,  instead  of  render- 
ing patient  and  honest  return  to  the  people. 

V. 

LETTER  FROM  GEORGE    WILLIAM  CURTIS,  ESQ. 

AsRFiBiiD,  Mass,,  October  20, 1884. 
The  Honobablb  Qrover  Cleveland. 

^  Dear  Sir:— There  are  many  Republicans  who.  for  ample  and  satisfactory  reasons,  are 
unable  to  support  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  as  the  surest  way  of 
preventing  what  seem  to  them  the  national  misfortune  of  his  election,  many  of  them,  of 
whom  I  am  one,  propose  to  vote  for  the  Democratic  candidate  as  the  especial  representa- 
tive of  incorruptible  official  fidelity  and  as  a  public  officer  who  has  proved  both  his  convic- 
tiona  and  his  courage  upon  the  subject  of  administrative  reform.    There  are  those,  how- 


CIVIL  SERVICE  REFOKM.  91 

ever,  who  while  regarding  the  election  of  the  Republican  candidate  as  an  event  greatly  to 
be  deprecated,  are  yet  apprehensive  that  his  defeat  might  involve  the  removal  of  upright 
and  experienced  officers  in  the  civil  service,  whose  positions  are  in  no  sense  political,  who 
are  not  "party  workers,"  who  discharge  their  public  duties  honestly,  efficiently  and  satis- 
factorily, but  who  are  not  included  within  the  civil  service  rules. 

Undoubtedly  owing  to  defective  and  vicious  methods  of  appointment,  there  are  many 
persons  in  the  civil  service  who  might  well  be  replaced  by  more  efficient  and  faithful 
Incumbents.  But  the  removal  of  such  capable  and  honest  non-political  officers  as  I  have 
mentioned,  except  for  reasons  connected  with  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties,  would 
be  viewed  by  patriotic  men  of  all  parties,  who  are  thoroughly  alive  to  the  disgrace  and 
danger  of  regarding  a  national  election  as  a  mere  struggle  for  spoils,  with  profound  regret 
and  apprehension-  This  is  a  point  not  specifically  treated  in  your  letter  of  acceptance, 
although  it  seems  tome  to  be  implied.  Your  sympathy  with  the  principles  and  purposes  of 
the  reform  act  of  January  16, 1883,  which  was  passed  by  the  co-operation  of  both  parties  and 
with  the  universal  public  approval,  is  well  known.  Your  fidelity  to  those  principles  has 
been  shown  by  your  offloial  action  in  promoting  the  reformed  system  in  New  York,  and 
the  rules  laid  down  in  your  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  Presidential  nomination  that  "the 
selection  and  retention  of  subordinates  in  Government  employment  should  depend  upon 
their  ascertained  fitness  and  the  value  of  their  work,  and  they  should  be  neither  expected 
nor  allowed  to  do  questionable  party  service,"  is  a  rule  equally  applicable  to  the  selection 
and  retention  of  such  officers  as  1  have  mentioned,  whose  duties  are  wholly  non-political 
and  properly  performed. 

Am  I  wrong,  then,  in  believing  that  you  would  regard  such  officers  as  protected  by  the 
highest  considerations  of  the  public  welfare,  by  your  convictions  in  regard  to  the  true  con- 
ditions of  an  efficient  public  service,  and  by  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  reform  act,  from 
arbitrary  dismissal  for  party  or  political  reasons  ?  I  do  not  think  that  those  who  have  been 
especially  Interested  in  this  reform  and  who  have  had  personal  occasion  to  know  your 
views,  feel  that  any  assurance  from  you  upon  this  point  is  necessary.  But  they  are  con- 
stantly beset  with  apprehensive  inquiries,  and  If  they  could  be  enabled  to  speak  upon  the 
point  both  publicly  and  privately  in  a  tone  of  positive  knowledge,  it  would  be  of  the  utmost 
service  in  encouraging  the  doubtful  and  the  hesitating. 

The  confidence  that  a  change  of  administration  could  be  effected  in  this  country  with- 
out the  grave  disorder  that  must  result  from  the  proscription  in  the  civil  service,  which 
for  fifty  years  has  followed  such  a  change,  and  wh  ich,  from  the  immense  increase  of  the 
civil  service,  would  now  be  very  much  more  extensive  and  disastrous  than  ever  before, 
would  produce  the  utmost  public  satisfaction  as  promising  a  new  era  of  good  feeling  in  the 
fulfillment  of  the  desire  of  the  wisest  men  in  both  parties,  and  a  return  to  the  sound  and 
patriotic  practice  of  the  earlier  administrations. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 


reply  op  governor  cleveland. 

Executive  Mansion,  Albany, 
October  24th,  1884 
Hon.  George  William  Curtis. 

Bear  Sir :  While  my  letter  of  acceptance,  in  that  part  devoted  to  Civil  Service 
Reform,  has  verbal  reference  to  subordinates  in  public  affairs,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  there  are  other  officials  of  a  non-political  character,  to  whom  retention  in 
place  during  the  term  for  which  they  were  appointed,  the  same  considerations 
should  apply.  I  am,  of  course,  a  Dem  ocrat,  attached  to  the  principles  of  that 
party,  and  if  elected  I  desire  to  remain  true  to  that  organization.  But  I  do  not 
think  partiian  zeal  should  lead  to  "  arbitrary  dismissal  for  party  or  political  rea- 
sons" of  officials  of  the  class  above  referred  to,  who  have  attended  strictly  to  their 


93  CIVIL  SEBVICB  REFORM. 

public  duty,  and  have  not  engaged  in  party  service,  and  who  have  not  allowed 
themselves  to  be  used  as  partisan  instruments,  or  made  themselves  obnoxious  to 
the  people  they  should  serve,  by  the  use  of  their  oifices  to  secure  party  ends. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

VL 

LETTER  PROM  GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  ESQ.,  AND  OTHERS. 

National  Civil  Service  Reform  League,  f 
New  York,  December  20, 1884.    f 
The  Eonorahle  Grovbr  Cleveland  : 

Si  a— We  have  the  honor  to  address  you  on  behalf  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Re- 
form League,  an  association  composed  of  citizens  of  all  parties,  whose  sole  purpose  is 
indicated  by  its  name,  and  which,  as  an  association,  takes  no  part  whatever  in  party  con- 
troversy. The  vast  increase  in  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  the  civil  service  and  the 
grave  mischiefs  and  dangers  arising  from  the  general  proscription  in  the  service  which  for 
half  a  century  has  followed  a  change  of  party  control  of  the  National  Administration,  have 
produced  so  profound  an  impression  upon  the  public  mind  that  the  first  effective  steps 
toward  reform  were  I  aken  with  the  co-operation  of  both  parties  In  the  passage  of  the 
Reform  Act  of  January  16, 1883.  The  abuses  which  that  act  seeks  to  correct,  however,  are 
so  strongly  entrenched  in  the  traditions  and  usages  of  both  parties,  that  there  is  naturally 
widespread  anxiety  lest  the  party  change  in  the  National  Executive  effected  by  the  late 
election  should  show  them  to  be  insuperable. 

But  believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  reformed  system  cannot  be  held  to  be  securely  estab- 
lished until  it  has  safely  passed  the  ordeal  of  such  a  party  change,  and  recalling  with 
satisfaction  your  public  expressions  favorable  to  reform,  and  your  official  acts  as  the  Chief 
Executive  of  the  State  of  New  York,  we  confidently  commend  this  cause  to  your  patriotic 
care  in  the  exercise  of  the  great  power  with  which  the  American  people  have  entrusted 
you.  Respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)  GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  President. 

WILLIAM  POTTS,  Secretary. 

John  Jay,  Morrill  Wtman,  Jr., 

MooRFiELD  Storey,  Carl  Schurz, 

J.  Hall  Pleasants,  Silas  W.  Bubt, 

W.  U.  Montgomery,  A.  R.  Macdonough, 

Everett  P.  Wheeler,  Wm.  Caky  Sawyer, 

Frederick  Cromwell,  William  W.  aikin. 

Executive  ft>mmittee. 


REPLY  OP    GROVER    CLEVELAND,  PRESIDENT-ELECT. 

Albany,  Dec.  35, 1884 
Hon.  George  William  Curtis,  President,  etc. 

Dear  Sir: — Your  communication  dated  December  20th,  addressed  to  me  on 
behalf  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League,  has  been  receieved. 

That  a  practical  reform  in  the  Civil  Service  is  demanded,  is  abundantly  estab- 
lished by  the  fact  that  a  statute,  referred  to  in  your  communication,  to  secure  such  a 
result,  has  been  passed  in  Congress  with  the  assent  of  both  political  parties  ;  and 
by  the  further  fact  that  a  sentiment  is  generally  prevalent  among  patriotic  people 
calling  for  the  fair  and  honest  enforcement  of  the  law  which  has  been  thuB 
enacted.    I  regard  myself  pledged  to  this,  because  my  conception  of  true  Demo- 


CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM.  98 

cratic  faith  and  public  duty,  requires  that  this  and  all  other  statutes,  should  be  in 
good  faith,  and  without  evasion  enforced,  and  because  in  many  utterances  made 
prior  to  my  election  as  President,  approved  by  the  party  to  which  I  belong  and 
which  I  have  no  disposition  to  disclaim,  I  have  in  effect  promised  the  people  that 
this  should  be  done. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  to  which  you  refer,  that  many  of  our  citizens 
fear  that  the  recent  party  change  in  the  National  Executive  may  demonstrate  that 
the  abuses  which  have  grown  up  in  the  Civil  Service  are  ineradicable.  I  know 
that  they  are  deeply  rooted,  and  that  the  spoils  system  has  been  supposed  to  be 
intimately  related  to  success  in  the  maintenance  of  party  organization ;  and  I  am  not 
sure  that  all  those  who.  profess  to  be  the  friends  of  this  reform,  will  stand  firmly 
among  its  advocates,  when  they  find  it  obstructing  their  way  to  patronage  and 
place. 

But  fully  appreciating  the  trust  committed  to  my  charge,  no  such  consideration 
shall  cause  a  relaxation  on  my  part  of  an  earnest  effort  to  enforce  this  law. 

There  is  a  class  of  government  positions  which  are  not  within  the  letter  of  the 
Civil  Service  statute,  but  which  are  so  disconnected  with  the  policy  of  an  admin- 
istration, that  the  removal  therefrom  of  present  incumbents,  in  my  opinion,  should 
not  be  made  during  the  terms  for  which  they  were  appointed,  solely  on  partisan 
grounds,  and  for  the  purpose  of  putting  in  their  places  those  who  are  in  political 
accord  with  the  appointing  power. 

But  many  now  holding  such  positions  have  forfeited  all  just  claim  to  retention, 
because  they  have  used  their  places  for  party  purposes,  in  disregard  of  their  duty  to 
the  people,  and  because  instead  of  being  decent  public  servants,  they  have  proved 
themselves  offensive  partisans,  and  unscrupulous  manipulators  of  local  party  man- 
agement. 

The  lessons  of  the  past  should  be  unlearned ;  and  such  officials,  as  well  as  their 
successors,  should  be  taught  that  efficiency,  fitness  and  devotion  to  public  duty  are 
the  conditions  of  thdlr  continuance  in  public  place,  and  that  the  quiet  and  unobtru- 
sive exercise  of  individual  rights,  is  the  reasonable  measure  of  their  party  service. 

If  I  were  addressing  none  but  party  friends,  I  should  deem  it  entirely  proper  to 
remind  them  that  though  the  coming  administration  is  to  be  Democratic,  a  due 
regard  for  the  people's  interest  does  not  permit  faithful  party  work  to  be  always 
rewarded  by  appointment  to  office ;  and  to  say  to  them  that  while  Democrats  may 
<3xpect  all  proper  consideration,  selections  for  office  not  embraced  within  the  Civil 
Service  rules,  will  be  based  upon  sufficient  inquiry  as  to  fitness,  instituted  by  those 
charged  with  that  duty,  rather  than  upon  persistent  importunity  or  self-solicited 
recommendations,  <hi  behalf  of  candidates  for  appointment. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

VII. 

FROM  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  AS  PRESIDENT  MARCH  4,  1885. 

The  people  demand  reform  in  the  administration  of  the  Government  and  the 
application  of  business  principles  to  public  affairs.  As  a  means  to  this  end  civil 
service  reform  should  be  in  good  faith  enforced.  Our  citizens  have  the  right  to 
protection  from  the  incompetency  of  public  employes  who  hold  their  places  solely 


•94  CIVIL  SERVICE   REFORM. 

as  the  reward  of  partisan  service  and  from  the  corrupting  influence  of  those 
who  promise  and  the  vicious  methods  of  those  who  expect  such  rewards.  And 
those  who  worthily  seek  public  employment  have  the  right  to  insist  that  merit 
and  competency  shall  be  recognized  instead  of  party  subserviency  or  the  surrender 
of  honest  political  belief. 

vm. 

FROM  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS,  DECEMBER  8,  1885. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  is  no  sentiment  more  general  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  of  our  country,  than  a  conviction  of  the  correctness  of  the  principle  upon 
which  the  law  enf(>rcing  civil-service  reform  is  based.  In  its  present  condition  the 
law  regulates  only  a  part  of  the  subordinate  public  positions  throughout  the  country. 

It  applies  the  test  of  fitness  to  applicants  for  these  places  by  means  of  a  comoeti- 
tive  examination,  and  gives  large  discretion  to  the  Commissioners  as  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  examination  and  many  other  matters  connected  with  its  execution. 
Thus  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by  the  Commission  have  much  to  do  with 
the  practical  usefulness  of  the  statute  and  with  the  results  of  its  application. 

The  people  may  well  trust  the  Commission  to  execute  the  law  with  perfect  fair- 
ness and  with  as  little  irritation  as  is  possible.  Bat,  of  course,  no  relaxation  of  the 
principle  which  underlies  it,  and  no  weakening  of  the  safeguards  which  surround 
it  can  be  expecttd.  Experience  in  its  administration  will  probably  suggest  amend- 
ment of  the  methods  of  its  execution,  but  I  venture  to  hope  that  we  shall  never  again 
be  remitted  to  the  system  which  distributes  public  positions  purely  as  rewards  for 
partisan  service.  Doubts  may  well  be  entertained  whether  our  Government  could 
survive  the  strain  of  a  continuance  of  this  system,  which  upon  every  change  of  ad- 
ministration inspires  an  immense  army  of  claimants  for  office  to  lay  siege  to  the  pat- 
ronage ef  G<>vcrnraent,  engrossing  the  time  of  public  officers  wiih  their  importu- 
nities, spreading  abroad  the  contagion  of  their  disappointment,  and  filling  the  air  with 
the  tumult  of  their  discontent. 

The  allurements  of  an  immense  number  of  offices  and  places,  exhibited  to  the 
voters  of  the  land,  and  the  promise  of  their  bestowal  in  recognition  of  partisan 
activity,  debauch  the  sufl'rage  and  rob  political  action  of  its  thoughtful  and  delibera- 
tive character.  The  evil  would  increase  with  the  multiplication  of  offices  conse- 
quent upon  our  extension,  and  the  mania  for  office-holding,  growing  from  its  indul- 
gence, would  pervade  our  population  so  generally  that  patriotic  purpose,  the 
support  of  principle,  the  desire  for  the  public  good,  and  solicitude  for  the  Nation's 
welfare,  would  be  nearly  banished  from  the  activity  of  our  party  contests  and  cause 
them  to  degenerate  into  ignoble,  selfish,  and  disgraceful  struggles  for  the  possession 
of  office  and  public  place. 

Civil-service  reform  enforced  by  law  came  none  too  soon  to  check  the  progress 
of  demoralization. 

One  of  its  eflfects,  not  enough  regarded,  is  the  freedom  it  brings  to  the  political 
action  of  those  conservative  and  sober  men  who,  in  fear  of  the  confusion  and  risk 
attending  an  arbitrary  and  sudden  change  in  all  the  public  offices  with  a  change  of 
party  rule,  cast  their  ballots  against  such  a  chance. 

Parties  seem  to  be  necessary,  and  will  long  continue  to  exist;  nor  can  it  be  now 
denied  that  there  are  legitimate  advantages,  not  disconnected  with  ofllce-holding, 


CIVIL  BEKVICE  REFORM.  95^ 

which  follow  party  supremacy.  While  partisanship  continues  bitter  and  pronounced, 
and  supplies  so  much  of  motive  to  sentiment  and  action,  it  is  not  fair  to  hold  public 
officials,  in  charge  of  important  trusts,  responsible  for  the  best  results  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  duties,  and  yet  insist  that  they  shall  rely,  in  confidential  and  import- 
ant places,  upon  the  work  of  those  not  only  opposed  to  them  in  political  affiliation, 
bnt  so  steeped  In  partisan  prejudice  and  rancor  that  they  have  no  loyalty  to  their 
chiefs  and  no  desire  for  their  success.  Civil -service  reform  does  not  exact  this,  nor 
does  it  require  that  those  in  subordinate  positions  w:ho  fail  in  yielding  their  best 
service,  or  who  are  incompetent,  should  be  retained  simply  because  they  are  in  place. 
The  whining  of  a  clerk  discharged  for  indolence  or  incompetency,  who,  though  he 
gained  his  place  by  the  worst  possible  operation  of  spoil  system,  suddenly  discovers 
that  he  is  entitled  to  protection  under  the  sanction  of  civil-service  reform,  repre- 
sents an  idea  no  less  absurd  than  the  clamor  of  the  applicant  who  claims  the  vacant 
position  as  his  compensation  for  the  most  questionable  party  work. 

The  civil-service  law  does  not  prevent  the  discharge  of  the  indolent  or  incom- 
petent clerk,  but  it  does  prevent  supplying  his  place  with  the  unfit  party 
worker.  Thus,  in  both  these  phases,  is  seen  benefit  to  the  public  service.  And  the 
people  who  desire  good  government  having  secured  this  statute,  will  not  relinquish 
its  benefits  without  protest  Nor  are  they  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  its  full  advan- 
tages can  only  be  gained  through  the  complete  good  faith  of  those  having  its  execu- 
tion in  charge.    And  this  they  will  insist  upon. 


IX. 
order  to  the  executive  departments. 

Executive  Mansion,       ) 
Washington,  July  14, 1886.  J 

I  deem  this  a  proper  time  to  especially  warn  all  subordinates  in  the  several 
departments  and  all  office-holders  under  the  general  Government,  agamst  the  use  of 
their  official  positions  in  attempts  to  control  political  movements  in  their  localities. 

Office-holders  are  the  agents  of  the  people,  not  their  masters.  Not  only 
is  their  time  and  labor  due  to  the  government,  but  they  should  scrupulously 
avoid  in  their  political  action  as  well  as  in  the  discharge  of  their  official  duty 
oflfending  by  a  display  of  obtrusive  partisanship,  their  neighbors  who  have  relations 
with  them  as  public  officials. 

They  should  also  constantly  remember  that  their  party  friends  from  whom, 
they  have  received  preferment,  have  not  invested  them  with  the  power  of  arbitra- 
rily managing  their  political  aflairs.  They  have  no  right  as  office-holders  to  dictate 
the  political  action  of  their  party  associates,  or  to  throttle  freedom  of  action  within 
party  lines,  by  methods  and  practices  which  pervert  every  useful  and  justifiable 
purpose  of  party  organization. 

The  influence  of  Federal  office-holders  should  not  be  felt  in  the  manipulation 
of  political  primary  meetings  and  nominating  conventions.  The  use  by  these 
officials  of  their  positions  to  compass  their  selection  as  delegates  to  political  con- 
ventions is  Indecent  and  unfair ;  and  proper  regard  for  the  proprieties  and  require- 
ments of  official  place  will  also  prevent  their  assuming  the  active  conduct  of 
political  campaigns. 


I 


9%  ^  CIVIL  BERVICB  REFORM. 

Individual  interest  and  activity  in  political  affairs  are  by  no  means  condemned 
Officeholders  are  neither  disfranchised  nor  forbidden  the  exercise  of  political  privi 
leges ;  but  their  privileges  are  not  enlarged  nor  is  their  duty  to  party  increased  t( 
pernicious  activity,  by  office-holding. 

A  just  discrimination  in  this  regard  between  the  things  a  citizen  may  properlj 
do  and  the  purposes  for  which  a  public  office  should  not  be  used,  is  easy  in  tht 
light  of  a  correct  appreciation  of  the  relation  between  the  people  and  thos( 
entrusted  with  official  place,  and  a  consideration  of  the  necessity  under  our  form  o 
Government,  of  political  action  free  from  official  coercion. 

You  are  requested  to  communicate  the  substance  of  these  views  to  those  fo] 
whose  guidance  they  are  intended. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


FROM  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS,  DECEMBER  6,  1886. 

The  continued  operation  of  the  law  relating  to  our  civil  service  has  added  thi 
most  convincing  proofs  of  its  necessity  and  usefulness.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  o 
note  that  every  public  officer  who  has  a  just  idea  of  his  duty  to  the  people,  testifiei 
to  the  value  of  this  reform.  Its  staunchest  friends  are  found  among  those  wh( 
understand  it  best,  and  its  warmest  supporters  are  those  who  are  restrained  anc 
protected  by  its  requirements. 

The  meaning  of  such  restraint  and  protection  is  not  appreciated  by  those  wh( 
want  places  under  the  Government,  regardless  of  merit  and  efficiency,  nor  by  thosi 
who  insist  that  the  selection  for  such  places  should  rest  upon  a  p  roper  credentia 
showing  active  partisan  work.  They  mean  to  public  officers,  if  not  their  lives,  th< 
only  opportunity  afforded  them  to  attend  to  public  business,  and  they  mean  to  th( 
good  people  of  the  country  the  better  performance  of  the  work  of  their  Govern 
ment. 

It  is  exceedingly  strange  that  the  scope  and  nature  of  this  reform  are  so  litth 
understood,  and  that  so  many  things  not  included  within  its  plan  are  called  by  iti 
name.  When  cavil  yields  more  fully  to  examination  the  system  will  have  largi 
additions  to  the  number  of  its  friends. 

Our  civil  service  reform  may  be  imperfect  in  some  of  its  details ;  it  may  b( 
misunderstood  and  opposed ;  it  may  not  always  be  faithfully  applied ;  its  designi 
may  sometimes  miscarry  through  mistake  or  willful  intent;  it  may  sometime! 
tremble  under  the  assaults  of  its  enemies  or  languish  under  the  misguided  zeal  o 
impracticable  friends  ;  but  if  the  people  of  this  country  ever  submit  to  the  banish 
ment  of  its  underlying  principle  from  the  operation  of  their  Gove]|Qment,  they  wil 
abandon  the  surest  guarantee  of  safety  and  success  of  American  institutions. 

I  invoke  for  this  reform  the  cheerful  and  ungrudging  support  of  the  Congress 


CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM.  97 

XI. 

republicak  extension  op  the  service  after  the  election  op  1884. 

Executive  Mansion,         ) 
Washington,  March  21,  1888.  f 

To  THE  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission: 

Genilemen — I  desire  to  make  a  suggestion  regarding  Sub-division  C,  General 
Rule  3,  of  the  amended  Civil  Service  Rules  promulgated  February  2,  1888.  It  pro- 
vides for  the  promotion  of  an  employe,  in  a  department,  who  is  below  or  outside 
of  the  classified  service  to  a  place  within  said  classified  service  in  the  same  depart- 
ment upon  the  request  of  the  appointing  officer  upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
Commission  and  the  approval  of  the  President  after  a  non- competitive  examina- 
tion, in  case  such  person  has  served  eontinuously  for  two  years  in  the  place  from 
which  it  is  proposed  to  promote  him,  and  "because  of  his  faithfulness  and  effici- 
ency in  the  position  occupied  by  him,"  and  "  because  of  his  qualifications  lor 
the  place  to  which  the  appointing  officer  desires  his  promotion." 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  this  provision  must  be  executed  with  caution  to 
avoid  the  application  of  it  to  cases  not  intended  and  the  undue  relaxation  of  the 
general  purposes  and  restrictions  of  the  civil  service  law. 

Non-competitive  examinations  are  the  exceptions  to  the  plan  of  the  act,  and  the 
rules  permitting  the  same  should  be  strictly  construed.  The  cases  arising  under 
the  exception  above  recited  should  be  very  few,  and  when  presented  they  should 
precisely  meet  all  the  requirements  specified  and  should  be  supported  by  facts 
which  will  develop  the  basis  and  reason  of  the  application  of  the  appointing 
officer  and  which  will  commend  them  to  the  judgment  ol  the  Commission  and  the 
President.  The  sole  purpose  of  the  provision  is  to  benefit  the  public  service,  and 
it  should  never  be  permitted  to  operate  as  an  evasion  of  the  main  feature  of  the 
law,  which  is  competitive  examinations. 

As  these  cases  will  first  be  presented  to  the  Commission  for  recommendation,  I 
have  to  request  that  you  will  formulate  a  plan  by  which  their  merits  can  be  tested. 
This  will  naturally  involve  a  statement  of  all  the  facts  deemed  necessary  for  the 
determination  of  such  applications,  including  the  kind  of  work  which  has  been 
done  by  the  i)erson  proposed  for  promotion,  and  the  considerations  upon  which  the 
allegations  of  the  faithfulness,  efficiency  and  qualifications  mentioned  in  the  rule 
are  predicated. 

What  has  already  been  written  naturally  suggests  another  very  important  sub 
ject  to  which  I  will  invite  your  attention. 

Thedesirability  of  the  rule  which  I  have  commented  upon  would  be  nearly,  if 
not  entirely,  removed,  and  other  difficulties  which  now  embarrass  the  execution  of 
the  civil  service  law  would  be  obviated  if  there  was  a  better  and  uniform  classifica- 
tion of  the  employes  in  the  difl'erent  departments.  The  importance  of  this  is 
entirely  obvious.  The  present  imperfect  classifications,  hastily  made,  apparently 
with  but  little  care  for  uniformity,  and  promulgated  after  the  last  Presidential  elec- 
tion and  prior  to  the  installation  of  the  present  Administration,  should  not  have 
been  permitted  to  continue  to  this  time. 


I 


98  CIVIL  BERVICB  REFORM. 

It  appears  that  in  the  War  Department  the  employes  were  divided  on  the  19th. 
day  of  November  1884,  into  eight  classes  and  sub-classes,  embracing  those  earning 
annual  salaries  from  $900  to  $2,000. 

The  Navy  Department  was  classified  November,  22,  1884,  and  its  employes 
were  divided  into  seven  classes  and  sub  classes,  embracing  those  who  received 
annual  salaries  from  $720  to  $1,800. 

In  the  Interior  Department  the  classification  was  made  on  the  6th  day  of  De- 
cember, 1884.  It  consists  of  eight  classes  and  sub-classes,  and  embraces  employes 
receiving  annual  salaries  from  $720  to  $2,000. 

On  the  second  day  of  January,  1885,  a  classification  of  the  employes  in  the 
Treasury  Department  was  made,  consisting  of  six  classes  and  sub-classes,  including 
those  earning  annual  salaries  from  $900  to  $1,800.^    * 

In  the  Postoffice  Department  the  employes  were  classified  on  February,  6, 1885, 
into  nine  classes  and  sub-classes,  embracing  persons  earning  annual  salaries  from 
$720  to  $2,000. 

On  the  12th  of  December,  1884,  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  was  classified  in  a 
manner  different  from  all  the  other  departments,  and  presenting  features  peculiar 
to  itself. 

It  seems  that  the  only  classification  in  the  Department  of  State  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  is  that  provided  for  by  Section  163  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  which 
directs  that  the  employes  in  the  several  departments  shall  be  divided  into  four 
classes.  It  appears  that  no  more  definite  classification  has  been  made  in  these 
departments. 

I  wish  the  Commission  would  revise  these  classifications  and  submit  to  me  a 
plan  which  will  as  far  as  possible  make  them  uniform,  and  which  will  especially 
remedy  the  present  condition  which  permits  persons  to  enter  a  grade  in  the  service 
in  the  one  department  without  any  examination,  which  in  another  department  can 
only  be  entered  after  passing  such  examination.  This,  I  think,  should  be  done  by 
extending  the  limits  of  the  classified  service  rather  than  by  contracting  them. 

QROVER  CLEVELAND. 


xn. 

SOME  OP  THE  DIFFICULTIES  PRESENTED. 

To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States : 

Pursuant  to  the  second  section  of  chapter  27  of  the  laws  of  1833,  entitled  "  An' 
act  to  regulate  and  improve  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States,"  I  herewith 
transmit  the  fourth  report  of  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission,  covering 
the  period  between  the  16th  day  of  January,  1886,  and  the  1st  day  of  July,  1887. 

While  this  report  has  especial  reference  to  the  operations  of  the  commission 
during  the  period  above  mentioned,  it  contains,  with  its  acompanying  appendices, 
much  valuable  information  concerning  the  inception  of  civil  service  reform  and  its 
growth  and  progress,  which  can  not  fail  to  be  interesting  and  instructive  to  all  who 
desire  improvement  in  admirfistrative  methods. 

During  the  time  covered  by  the  report  15,852  persons  were  examined  for  ad- 
mission in  the  classified  civil  service  of  the  Government  in  all  its  branches,  of 
whom  10,746  passed  the  examination  and  5,106  failed.    Of  those  who  passed  the= 


CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM.  99 

examination,  2,977  were  applicants  for  admission  to  the  departmental  service  at 
Washington,  2  547  were  examined  for  admission  to  the  customs  service,  and  5^22 
for  admission  to  the  postal  service.  During  the  same  period  547  appointments  were 
made  from  the  eligible  lists  to  the  departmental  service,  641  to  the  customs  service, 
and  3,254  to  the  postal  service. 

Concerning  separations  from  the  classified  service,  the  report  only  informs  us 
of  such  as  have  occurred  among  the  employes  in  the  public  service  who  had  been 
appointed  from  eligible  lists  under  civil-service  rules.  When  these  rules  took  effect 
they  did  not  apply  to  the  persons  then  La  the  service,  comprising  a  full  complement 
of  employee  who  obtained  their  positions  independently  of  the  new  law.  The  com- 
mission has  no  record  of  the  separations  in  this  numerous  class,  and  the  discrepancy 
apparent  in  the  report  between  the  number  of  appointments  made  in  the  respec- 
tive branches  of  the  service  from  the  lists  of  the  commission  and  the  small  number 
of  separations  mentioned  is  to  a  great  extent  accounted  for  by  vacancies  of  which 
no  report  was  made  to  the  commission,  occurring  among  those  who  held  their, 
places  without  examination  and  certification,  which  vacancies  were  filled  by  ap- 
pointment from  the  eligible  lists. 

In  the  departmental  service  there  occurred  between  the  16th  day  of  January, 
1886,  and  the  80th  day  of  June,  1887,  among  the  employes  appointed  from  the 
eligible  lists  under  civil  service  rules,  seventeen  removals,  thirty-six  resignations, 
and  five  deaths.  This  does  not  include  fourteen  separations  in  grade  of  special 
examiners,  four  by  removal,  fire  by  resignation,  and  five  by  death. 

In  the  classified  customs  and  postal  service  the  number  of  separations  among 
those  who  received  absolute  appointments  under  civil  service  rules  are  given  for  the 
period  between  the  1st  day  of  January,  1886,  and  the  30th  day  of  June,  1887,  It 
appears  that  such  separationa  in  the  customs  service  for  the  time  mentioned  em- 
braced twenty-one  removals,  five  deaths,  and  eighteen  resignations,  and  in  the  postal 
service  two  hundred  and  flfty-eix  removals,  twenty-three  deaths,  and  four  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  resignationsL 

More  than  a  year  has  paaaed  since  the  expiration  of  the  period  covered  by  the  re- 
port of  the  commission.  Within  the  time  which  has  thus  elapsed  many  important 
changes  have  taken  place  in  furtherance  of  a  reform  in  our  civil  service.  The  rules 
and  regulations  goyeming  the  execution  of  the  law  upon  the  subject  have  been 
completely  remodeled  in  such  manner  as  to  render  the  enforcement  of  the  statute 
more  effective  and  greatly  Increase  Its  usefulnese. 

Among  other  things,  the  scope  of  the  examinations  prescribed  for  those  who 
seek  to  enter  &e  classified  service  bas  been  better  defined  and  made  more  practical, 
the  number  of  names  to  be  certified  from  the  eligible  lists  to  the  appointing  officers 
from  which  a  selection  is  made  has  been  reduced  from  four  to  three,  the  maximum 
limitation  of  the  age  of  persons  seeking  entrance  to  the  classified  service  to  forty- 
five  has  been  changed,  and  reasonable  provision  has  been  made  for  the  transfer  of 
employes  from  one  DepaHment  to  another  in  proper  cases.  A  plan  has  also  been 
devised  providing  for  the  OEamination  of  applicants  for  promotion  in  the  service, 
which,  when  in  fall  operation,  will  eliminate  all  chance  of  favoritism  in  the  advance- 
m^t  of  employes,  by  making  promotion  a  reward  of  merit  and  feithftil  discharge  of 
duty. 

Until  within  a  few  weeks  there  was  no  uniform  classification  of  employes  in  the 
difierent  Executive  Deparfen^its  of  the  Gtovemment.    As  a  result  of  this  condition. 


L 


100  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

in  some  of  the  Departments  positions  could  be  obtained  vrithout  civil-service  exam- 
ination  because  they  were  not  within  the  classification  of  such  Department,  while 
in  other  Departments  an  examination  and  certification  were  necessary  to  obtain 
positions  ofthe  same  grade,  because  such  positions  were  embraced  in  the  classifica- 
tions applicable  to  those  Departments. 

The  exception  of  laborers,  watchmen,  and  messengers  from  examination  and 
classification  gave  opportunity,  in  the  absence  of  any  rule  guarding  against  it,  for 
the  employment,  free  from  civil-service  restrictions,  of  persons  under  these  designa- 
tions who  were  immediately  detailed  to  do  clerical  work. 

All  this  has  been  obviated  by  the  application  to  all  the  Departments  of  an  ex- 
tended and  uniform  classification  embracing  grades  of  employes  not  heretofore  in- 
cluded, and  by  the  adoption  of  a  rule  prohibiting  the  detail  of  laborers,  watchmen, 
or  messemgers  to  clerical  duty. 

The  path  of  civil-service  reform  has  not  at  all  times  been  pleasant  nor  easy. 
The  scope  and  purpose  of  the  reform  have  been  much  misapprehended ;  and  this 
has  not  only  given  rise  to  strong  opposition,  but  has  led  to  its  invocation  by  its 
friends  to  compass  objects  not  in  the  least  related  to  it.  Thus  partisans  of  the  pa- 
tronage system  have  naturally  condemned  it.  Those  who  do  not  understand  its 
meaning  either  mistrust  it,  or  when  disappointed  because  in  its  present  stage  it  is 
not  appUed  to  every  real  or  imaginary  iU,  accisse  those  charged  with  its  enforce- 
ment with  faithless  to  civil- service  reform.  ^: 

Its  importance  has  frequently  been  underestimated  ;  and  the  support  of  good 
men  has  thus  been  lost  by  their  lack  of  interest  in  its  success.  Besides  all  these 
difficulties,  those  responsible  for  the  administration  of  the  Government  in  its  exec- 
utive branches  have  been  and  still  are  often  annoyed  and  irritated  by  the  disloyalty 
to  the  service  and  the  insolence  of  employes  who  remain  in  place  as  the  beneficiaries, 
and  the  relics  and  reminders  of  the  vicious  system  of  appointment  which  civil-ser- 
vice reform  was  intended  to  displace. 

And  yet  these  are  but  the  incidents  of  an  advance  movement,  which  is  radical 
and  far-reaching.  The  people  are,  notwithstanding,  to  be  congratulated  upon  the 
progress  which  has  been  made,  and  upon  the  firm,  practical,  and  sensible  founda- 
tion upon  which  this  reform  now  rests. 

With  a  continuation  ofthe  inteUigent  fidelity  which  has  hitherto  characterized 
the  work  of  the  commission,  with  a  continuation  and  increase  of  the  favor  and  lib- 
erality which  have  lately  been  evinced  by  the  Congress  in  the  proper  equipment 
ofthe  commission  for  its  work,  with  a  firm  but  conservative  and  reasonable  support 
of  the  reform  by  all  its  friends,  and  with  the  disappearance  of  opposition  which 
must  inevitably  follow  its  better  understanding,  the  execution  of  the  civil-service 
law  cannot  fail  to  ultimately  answer  the  hopes  in  which  it  has  its  origin. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
ExBcrmvE  Mansion,  July  21, 1888. 


CONDITION  OP  THE  CIVIL  SaRVICB.  101 

CHAPTER  IX.    " 
THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE. 


THE   DEPTH   OF   DEGRADATION  WHICH  THE  SERVICE  HAD  REACHED 
UNDER  REPUBLICAN   RULE. 


In  the  FoQrth  Annual  Report  of  the  Civil  Service  CommisBion,  just  sent  to 
Congress  by  the  President,  the  condition  which  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States 
had  reached  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  Republican  domination  is  strongly  and 
graphically  depicted.  This  Commission  is  composed  of  members  selected  from  both 
parties,  and  its  members  have  made  a  careful  study  of  the  serious  evils  which  had 
grown  up  under  the  long  rule  of  the  RepubUean  party.  The  Commission  thus  de- 
scribes the  state  of  affairs  which  existed  before  the  civil  service  law  took  effect ; 

EMPLOYED  WITHOTJT  AUTHORITY  OF  LAW. 

Before  the  enactment  of  the  civil  service  act  the  condition  of  the  executive  civil 
€ervlce  In  the  departments  at  Washington  and  in  the  customs  and  postal  services  was 
deplorahle.  In  the  Department  of  the  Treasury  8%)0  persons  were  at  one  time  employed. 
Less  than  1,600  of  them  under  authority  of  law.  Of  these  3,400  employes  1,700  were  put  on 
imd  off  the  rolls  at  the  pleasure  of  the  secretary,  who  paid  them  out  of  funds  that  had  not 
toy  law  been  appiopriated  for  the  payment  of  such  employes. 

At  that  time,  of  a  force  of  958  persons  employed  in  the  bureau  of  engraving-  and 
printing,  539,  with  annual  salaries  amounting  to  $390,000,  were,  upon  an  investigation  of 
that  bureau,  found  to  be  superfluous.  For  years  the  force  In  some  branches  of  that  bureau 
had  been  twice  and  even  three  times  as  great  as  the  work  required.  In  one  division  there 
was  a  sort  of  platform,  built  underneath  the  iron  roof,  about  seven  feet  above  the  floor, 
to  accommodate  the  superfluous  employes.  In  another  division  twenty  messengers  were 
employed  to  do  the  work  of  one.  The  committee  that  made  this  Investigation  reported 
that  "  patronage,"  what  is  known  as  the  "  spoils  system,"  was  responsible  for  this  condi- 
tion, and  declared  that  this  system  had  cost  the  people  millions  of  dollars  in  that  branch 
of  the  service  alone. 

So  great  was  the  importunity  for  place  under  the  old  system  of  appointments  that 
when  $1,600  and  $1,800  places  became  vacant  the  salaries  thereof  would  be  allowed  to  lapse, 
to  accumulate,  so  that  these  accumulations  might  be  divided  among  the  applicants  for 
place  on  whose  behalf  patronage-mongers  were  incessant  in  Importunity.  In  place  of  one 
$1,800  clerk  three  would  be  employed  at  $600  each ;  would  be  employed,  according  to  the 
peculiarly  expressive  language  of  the  patronage-purveyors,  "on  the  lapse."  "In  one 
<5ase,"  said  a  person  of  reliability  and  accurate  information,  testifying  before  the  Senate 
committee  on  civil  service  reform  and  retrenchment, "  thirty-five  persons  were  put  on  the 
*  lapse  fund'  of  the  treasurer's  office  for  eight  days  at  the  end  of  a  fiscal  year  to  sop  up 
some  money  which  was  in  danger  of  being  saved  and  returned  to  the  treasury." 

■  THE  CONDITION  OF  CUSTOM  HOUSES  AND  POSTOFFICES. 

Unnecessary  employes  abounded  in  every  department,  in  every  customs  office,  and  in 
almost  every  postoffice.  Dismissals  were  made  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  supply  with 
places  the  proteges  of  importunate  solicitors  for  spoils.    One  collector  at  the  port  of  New 

Iork  removed  on  an  average  one  of  his  employes  every  third  day  to  make  a  vacancy  tc 
I 


1C8  ,  CONDITION  OF  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE. 

be  filled  by^86me  iQembe^  of  ttie  dame  party  who  had  "  worked  to  a  purpose,"  not  against 
the  (?ODfti^on  pQlitical  enemy  but  for  his  patron,  who  had  succeeded  in  being  appointed  over 
somi^  other  yaop^Xtetfii,  Jiis  o^\'n,  party* 

Ajiot£ier'colleclorafth«tti>oj;t,  the  successor  of  the  one  above  referred  to,  removed 
S30  of  his  903  subordinates  at  the  average  mte  of  three  in  every  four  days.  The  successor 
of  this  collector  removed,  within  eighteen  months,  510  of  his  893  subordinates,  and  his 
successor  made  removals  at  the  rate  of  three  every  five  days.  In  its  first  report  the  com- 
mission said: 

It  was  the  expectation  of  such  spoils  which  gave  each  candidate  for  collector  the  party 
strength  which  secured  his  confirmation.  Thus,  during  a  period  of  five  years  In  succession, 
collectors,  all  belonging  to  one  party,  for  the  piu-pose  of  patronage,  made  removals  at  a 
single  office  of  members  of  their  own  party  more  frequently  than  at  the  rate  of  one  every 
day.    In  1,565  secular  days  1.678  such  removals  were  made. 

A  condition  of  affairs  as  deplorable  existed  in  the  postal  service. 

On  all  sides,  in  every  branch  of  the  civil-service,  subordinate  places  were  used  in  the 
interestf  of  the  leaders  of  the  factions  of  a  party,  who  by  assessments,  which  were  disguised 
in  the  form  of  solicitations  for  money,  suggestions  that  money  ought  to  be  contributed, 
and  other  methods  of  this  kind,  extorted  from  public  employes  funds  which  were  used  for 
political  purposes,  legitimate  and  otherwise.  Even  members  of  Congress  of  national  repu- 
tation signed  circular  letters  addressed  to  subordinate  civil  servants  of  the  Goverrunent 
requesting  contributions  to  be  paid  to  them,  as  members  of  a  political  committee;  doing  this 
in  utter  disregard  of  the  spirit  of  a  provision  of  the  Revised  Statutes  declaring  it  to  be 
unlawful,  an  offense  punishable  by  fine  and  dismissal  from  office,  for  any  officer  In  the 
public  service  to  solicit  or  receive  money  from  any  other  officer  in  such  service  I 

The  public  conscience  had  peen  perverted  by  the  doctrine  that  to  the  victors  belong  the 
spoils ;  and  the  people  were  not  shocked  when  they  beheld  public  offices  bestowed,  as  a 
reward  for  partisan  services,  upon  persons  at  once  unworthy  and  incompetent.  Senator 
Hoar,  in  his  speech  on  the  Belknap  Impeachment  trial,  forcefully  stated  the  condition  of  the 
public  mind  at  that  time  when  be  said : 

IT8  CONDmON  A8  DBBCHIBED  BY  A  EEPUBLICAN  LBADHB. 

"  I  have  heard  in  highest  places  the  shameless  doctrine  avowed  by  men  gFown  old  in 
office,  that  the  true  way  by  which  power  should  be  gained  In  this  republic  is  to  bribe  the 
people  with  the  offices  created  for  their  service,  and  the  true  end  for  which  It  should  be  used 
when  gained  Is  the  promotion  of  selflfih  ambition  and  the  gratification  of  personal  revenge  ." 

The  evidence  Is  abundant  that  under  the  patronage  system  of  appointments  •  *  * 
appointments  were  noi.  In  fact,  made  by  the  President,  or  by  the  heads  of  the  departments 
in  whom  Congress  has  vested  authority  to  appoint  subordinate  officers.  Nearly  all  such 
appointments  were  really  made  by  members  of  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government, 
orby  otherinflientlal  politicians;  and  were  not  made  upon  any  tests  of  fitness,  whatever. 

In  proof  of  this  assertion  it  may  be  mentioned  that  before  the  civil-service  act  became 
a  law  the  secretary  of  one  of  the  most  important  departments  of  the  Government  once 
stated  that  there  were  seventeen  clerks  under  his  authority  for  whom  he  could  find  no 
employment ;  that  he  did  need  one  competent  clerk  of  a  higher  grade,  and  that  if  an  appro- 
priation were  made  for  that  one  clerk,  at  the  proper  amount  and  according  to  the  gradations 
of  the  servjoe,  and  the  appropriation  for  tlie  seventeen  were  left  out,  he  could,  without 
impairing  the  efficiency  of  his  department,  leave  the  seventeen  clerks  off  the  role;  but  if 
the  appropriation  for  the  seventeen  clerks  were  continued,  the  personal,  social,  and  politi- 
cal pressure  was  so  great  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  employ  and  pay  them*  though  he 
could  find  no  employment  for  them. 

tTnder  a  system  of  the  evUs  of  which  this  is  but  a  specimen,  could  the  head  of  any 
depai'tment,  or  even  the  President,  act  independently,  and  In  fairness  be  held  responsible 
for  his  administration  of  the  public  affairs  committed  to  his  charge?  Ithad  come  to  pass  that 
the  chief  labor  of  the  President  and  of  the  headsof  departments,  customs  offices,  and  post- 
offices  was  rewarding  the  personal  friends  and  punishing  the  personal  foes  of  the  leaders  of 
the  dominant  faction  of  the  dominant  party.  These,  with  all  their  retainers,  appeared  to 
the  appointing  offlcei-s,  from  the  President  down,  in  the  first  hours  of  power,  and  were 
always  thereafter  with  them,  requiring  their  attention  In  the  consideration  of  demands  for 
places. 


i 


CONDITION  OP  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE,  103 

WHEN  ABUSES  REACHBD  THEIR  FULLEST  DEVELOPMENT. 

In  1882  these  abuses  reached  their  culmination  in  the  efforts  of  Jay  Hubbell  of 
Michigan,  Representatiye  Henderson  of  Iowa,  Senator  Hale  of  Maine,  and  other 
prominent  Senators  and  Representatives  who  were  members  of  the  Republican  Con- 
gressional Committee,  to  extort  money  from  the  employes  of  the  government.  This 
was  so  open  and  shameless  that  men  of  standing  in  the  party  in  both  the  Senate  and 
the  House  joined  Senator  Pendleton  in  his  effort  to  devise  some  method  for  correct- 
ing these  evils.  The  result  of  this  was  the  civil  service  law,  which  took  effect  nomi- 
nally July  16, 1883,  but  was  not  put  into  force  with  anything  like  honesty  or  uni- 
formity until  after  the  Presidential  election  of  1884,  when  even  Mr.  Chandler,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Nary,  whom  nobody  ever  accused  of  thinking  of  a  reform  of  any 
kind,  joined  his  fellows  on  November  25,  1884,  in  extending  the  rules  in  his  depart- 
ment, under  an  antedate  letter  of  November  22, 1884.  There  was  such  wUd  haste 
to  enforce  and  extend  the  civil  service  rules,  in  order  to  cover  a  larger  number  of 
employes,  that  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  not  previously  included  in  the  clas- 
sified service,  was  on  December  11, 1884,  put  under  the  rules  upon  a  telephonic  mes- 
sage from  the  outgoing  President.* 

A  law  had  been  passed  in  1876  prohibiting  the  levying  of  assessments  upon  the 
employes  of  the  Federal  Government.  It  was  proposed  to  make  this  law  more 
stringent  under  the  Pendleton  bill,  which  was  pending  in  the  Senate  during  the 
Congressional  campaign  of  1882.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Republican 
Congressional  Committee  issued  its  campaign  text  book  for  the  year,  and  on  page 
111  of  that  publication  the  efforts  of  a  Democratic  Congress  to  introduce  a  reform 
in  the  service  are  thus  referred  to,  with  *'  scare*'  heads  of  the  most  exciting  kind : 

mf  THE  ASSBSSMENT  LAW   A  CONFEDERATE  BRIGADIER  CONSPIRACY. 

"The  Law  of  1876,  prohibiting  Political  Assessmen -9— Some  facts  in  the  History  of  its 
Passage.  Law  of  1876,  passed  by  the  Confederate  Brigading— Fart  of  the  machinery  to 
wrest  the  National  Oov*rnm«nt  from  the  hands  of  the  majority." 

"The  law  respecting  political  asssesaments  referred  to  by  Mr.  Pendleton  in  the  Senate 
and  by  George  Willljira  Curtis  in  his  circular,  was  passed  in  1876.  It  was  passed  by  the  Con- 
federate Brigadibhs.  It  was  pa*Md  as  a  part  of  the.  machinery  by  which  they  p7-oposed  to 
wrest  the  National  Government  from  the  hands  of  the  majority.  By  it,  all  they  proposed  was  to 
defeat  or  cripple  the  organization  of  the  Repiiblican  party  by  defecting  all  voluntaby  contri- 
butions, NOT  ASSESSMENTS,  in  its  Support.     This  is  absolutely  r^oiorious." 

In  the  same  document,  on  page  103,  the  position  of  the  Republican  party  and  some  of 
its  leading  men  is  further  enlarged  upon,  with  some  reckless  use  of  bold  face  headings  and 
excited  style,  as  follows : 

"Geueral  Garfield  Favored  Contributions  for  Partisan  Purposes— His  Letter  to  Chair- 
man Hubbell  during  the  last  Presidential  Election  asking  '  How  are  the  Departments  gen- 
erally doing.' " 

"General  James  A.  Garfield  is  often  quoted  by  the  so-called  Civil-Service  Reformers  as 
opposed  to  or  reprobating  political  contributions  for  partisan  purposes.  The  question  is  a 
characteristic  fraud  of  the  bogu3  reformer.  To  arbitrary  or  compulsory  assessments,  Gen, 
■Garfield  was  no  doubt  opposed,  as  are  Jay  A.  HijbbeU  and  D.  B.  Henderson— as  indeed  are  all. 


*For  the  exact  dates  of  the  extension  of  the  Civil  Service,  up  and  down,  in  the  different 
departments  see  the  letter  of  the  President  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission  under  date  of 
March  21, 1888.  By  this  extension  hundreds  of  clerks  in  the  departments  were  put  into  the 
classified  service  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  maintain  the  henchmen  of  the  Republican 
party  in  office  and  to  embarrass  the  incoming  Democratic  administration. 


104  CONDITION  OP  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE. 

Republicans,  But  the  General  was  too  sensible  a  man,  too  experienced,  practical  and  jtist  to  oppog& 
or  reprobate  volwitary  contributions,  or  requests  from  responsible  organs  of  the  party  for  contribu- 
tions, in  support  of  the  cause  he  so  ably  sustained.  Were  there  any  doubt  In  the  matter  the 
following  letter  from  General  Garfield  during  the  late  Presidential  election,  when  ke  waa 
himself  a  candidate,  would  authoritatively  settle  it : 

"Mentor,  Ohio,  August  23,  '80. 
My  Dear  EvbbeU : 

"Yours  of  the  19th  Instant  is  received.  Please  say  to  Brady  I  hope  he  will  give  us  all 
the  assistance  possible.  I  think  he  can  help  effectively.  Flease  tell  nu  how  tht  departments' 
are  generally  doing. 

As  ever  yours, 

J.  A.  GARFIELD." 
Hon.  Jay  a.  Htjbbbll.        ^ 

This  will  show  that  some  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  who  are  now 
posing  as  enthusiastic  civil  reformers,  were  able,  only  six  years  ago,  to  see  nothing  in 
it  except  a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  so-called  "Confederate  Brigadiers"  to  keep 
the  noble  old  Republican  party  from  levying  blackmail  upon  the  employes  of  the 
Federal  Government.  There  was  no  intention  on  their  part  to  correct  these  abuses, 
and  it  was  only  a  strong  public  opinion  in  opposition  to  these  practices  which, 
induced  any  of  them  to  yield  anything  of  their  supposed  party  advantages. 

HOW  IT  WAS  DONE  IN  FORMER  DATS. 

In  order  to  further  show  the  disgraceful  condition  of  things  under  the- 
Republican  management,  some  blackmail  letters  sent  to  employes  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  1878  and  in  later  campaigns.  These  are  only  specimens  of  the  open, 
shameless  prostitution  of  the  public  service  to  partisan  robbery  which  had  been; 
going  on  for  more  than  twenty-five  years.  It  was  the  law  to  pervert  this  which  Mr^ 
Hubbell  and  his  friends  denounced  a  "  confederate  conspiracy." 

Circulars  of  various  dates  will  show  the  policy  pursued  so  long  as  the  Republicai* 
party  was  in  power.  In  1878  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  acted  as  the  Dick  Turpin 
and  called  out  the  "  stand  and  deliver "  to  all  government  employes,  male  and 
female,  as  is  shown  in  the  following : 

no  objection  ik  ant  orficial  quaetbb. 

headquabtkr8  of  thb  rupfblicaw 

Congressional  Committke,  1878, 
1S19  F  Stbebt,  Northwest,  Washington,  D.  C, 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  37,  1878. 

Sir— This  committee,  charged  with  laboring  for  the  success  of  the  Republican  cause !» 
the  coming  campaign  for  the  election  of  members  of  Congress,  call  with  confidence  upon 
you,  as  a  Republican,  for  such  a  contribution  in  money  as  you  may  feel  willing  to  make, 
hoping  that  it  may  not  be  less  than  $16. 

The  committee  deem  it  proper,  in  thus  appealing  to  Republicans  generally,  to  inform 
those  who  happen  to  be  in  Federal  employ  that  there  will  be  no  objection  in  any  oificial 
quarter  to  such  voluntary  contribution. 

The  importance  of  the  pending  struggle  cannot  easily  be  exaggerated.  That  the  Sen- 
ate is  to  be  Democratic  after  the  4th  of  March,  1879,  is  very  nearly  a  certainty.  In  view  of 
this,  the  election  of  a  Democratic  House  of  Representatives  would  precipitate  upon  the' 
country  dangerous  agitations,  which  would  inevitably  add  to  present  distresses.  Foremost 
among  their  schemes  the  opposition  already  announce  their  intention  to  attempt  the  revo- 
lutionary expulsion  of  the  President  from  his  olfice.  «***•* 

Please  make  prompt  and  favorable  response  to  this  letter,  and  remit  at  once,  by  draft 
or  postal  money  order,  to  "Sidney  F.  Austin,  Esq.,  treasurer,  &c.,  German-AmericaD 
National  Bank,  Washington,  D.  C." 

By  order  of  the  Committee. 

GEO.  C.  GORHAM,  Secr^ary. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  CIVIL  8ERVICB.  105 

In  about  six  weeks  such  clerks  and  employes  as  had  not  responded  to  the  noti- 
fication contained  in  the  first  circular  to  call  at  Captain  Gorham's  oflSce  and  settle, 
were  reminded  that  the  Republican  party  expected  and  insisted  that  every  man 
should  pay  his  assessment,  by  the  receipt  of  Circular  No.  2,  as  follows : 

WALK  UP  AND  SETTLE- 
HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  Republican 

Congress roNAL  Committee, 
Washington,  D.  C.  July  11,  1878. 
Dear  Sib— Since  sending  you  circular  under  date  of  May  37,  we  have  ascertained  that 
the  rules  of  your  depart ment  render  diflBcult  your  absence  during:  office  hours,  and  that 
you  are  unable  to  call  at  the  bank  where  contributions  are  received.  We  have,  therefore, 
arranged  with  the  treasurer,  Mr.  Austin,  to  attend  at  the  German- American  National 
Bank  from  4  to  5  o'clock  P.  M„  to  receive  contributions  from  those  in  your  department  who 
have  not  already  responded.  If  more  convenient,  the  amount  can  be  transmitted  by  mail 
to  Sidney  F.  Austin,  Treasurer  Congressional  Republican  Committee,  as  above. 

Respectfully  Yours, 

GEO.  C.  GORHAM,  Secretary.    • 

There  were  still  delinquents,  even  after  the  second  circular  was  sent,  and  such 
were  once  more  called  upon  for  their  money  by  the  following  circular : 

BLACKMAIL  CALLED  A  DEBT  OF  HONOR. 

Mr. ,  Dear  Sir— There  appears  to  be  due  upon  your  subscription  to  our  cam- 

Eaign  fund  the  sum  of dollars.  We  have  regarded  your  subscription  as  a  debt  of 
onor,  voluntarily  incurred  by  you,  and  relying  upon  its  payment,  have  taken  it  into  the 
account  in  the  conduct  of  our  work.  We  earnestly  request  immediate  payment,  and  Mr. 
N.  B.  Pugitt  will  be  in  attendance  at  these  headquarters  daily  from  10  o'clock  A.  M.  till  6 
o'clock  P.  M,  to  receive  and  receipt  for  such  moneys. 

Respectfully, 

GEO.  C.  GORHAM,  Secretary. 

These  circulars,  Mr.  Gorham  said,  were  sent  to  Mr.  Hayes,  and  were  substan- 
tially approved  by  him.  This  last  circular  was  without  date ;  but  Mr.  Gorham  tes- 
tified that  it  was  issued  some  time  in  August, 

"my  dear  hubbell's"  way  op  doing  it. 

The  following  was  the  first  letter  sent  out  by  the  Republican  Congressional 

Committee  in  1882 : 

[Jay  A.  Hubbell,  chairman;  D.  B.  Henderson,  secretary;  Executive  Committee,  Hon. 
W,  B.  Allison,  Hon.  Eugene  Hale,  Hon.  Nelson  W.  Aldrlch,  Hon.  Frank  Hiscock,  Hon. 
George  M.  Robeson,  Hon.  Wm.  McKinley,  Jr.,  Hon.  George  R.  Davi^Hon.  Horatio  G. 
Fisher,  Hon.  Horace  F.  Page,  Hon.  W,  H.  Calkins,  Hon.  Thomas  Ryan,  Hon-  William  D. 
Washburn,  Hon.  L.  C.  Houk,  Hon.  R.  T.  Van  Horn,  Hon.  Orlando  Hubbs.] 

Headquartbrb  of  the  Republican  Congressional  Committee,  1883. 

520  Thirteenth  Street,  Northwest, 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  15,  1882. 

Sir:  This  committee  is  organized  for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  in  each  of  the  Congressional  districts  of  the  Union.  In  order  that  it  may  pre- 
pare, print  and  circulate  suitable  documents  illustrating  the  issues  which  distinguish  the 
Republican  party  from  any  other  and  may  meet  all  proper  expenses  incident  to  the  cam- 
paign, the  committee  feels  authorized  to  apply  to  all  citizens  whose  principles  or  interests 
are  involved  in  the  struggle.  Under  the  circumstances  in  which  the  country  finds  itself 
placed,  the  committee  believes  that  you  will  esteem  it  both  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure  to 

make  to  its  funds  a  contribution,  which  it  is  hoped  may  not  be  less  than  $ .    The 

committee  is  authorized  to  state  that  such  voluntary  contributions  from  persons  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States  will  not  be  objected  to  in  any  official  quarter. 

The  labors  of  the  committee  will  affect  the  result  of  the  Presidential  election  in 
1884  as  well  as  the  Congressional  struggle;  and  it  may  therefore  reasonably  hope  to  have 
the  sympathy  and  assistance  of  all  who  look  with  dread  upon  the  possibility  of  the  restor- 
ation of  the  Democratic  party  to  the  control  of  the  Government. 

Please  make  prompt  and  favorable  response  to  this  letter  by  bank-check  or  draft  or 

Eostal  money  order,  payable   to  the  order  of  Jay  A.  Hubbell,  acting  treasurer,  P.  O 
)ck-box  589,  Washington,  D.  C. 
By  order  of  the  Committee. 

D.  B.  HENDERSON,  Secretary. 


106  CONDITION  OF  THE  CH^IL  SERVICE. 


IMPROVING  IN  THE    HIGHWAYMAN'S  ART. 

The  second  letter  had  the  true  highwayman  ring,  and  was  more  in  harmony 
with  the  characteristics  of  the  stalwart  leaders.    It  was  as  follows : 

Washington,  D.  C,  August  15, 1882. 

Sir:  Your  failure  to  respond  to  the  circular  of  May  15, 1883.  sent  to  you  by  this  com- 
mittee, is  noted  with  surprise.  It  is  hoped  that  the  only  reason  for  such  failure  is  that  the 
matter  escaped  your  attention  owing  to  press  of  other  cares. 

Great  political  battles  cannot  be  won  in  this  way.  This  committee  cannot  hope  to  suc- 
ceed in  the  pending-  struggle  if  those  most  directly  benefited  by  success  are  unwilling  or 
neglect  to  aid  in  a  substantial  manner. 

We  are  on  theskirmish  line  of  1884,  with  a  conflict  before  us,  this  fall,  of  great  moment 
to  the  Republic,  and  you  must  know  that  a  repulse  now  is  full  of  danger  to  the  next  Presi- 
dential campaign. 

Unless  you  think  that  our  grand  old  party  ought  not  to  succeed,  help  it  now  in  its 
struggle  to  build  up  a  new  South,  in  which  there  shall  be,  as  in  the  North,  a  free  ballot 
and  a  fair  count,  and  to  maintain  such  hold  in  the  North  as  shall  insure  good  government 
to  the  country. 

It  is  hoped  that  by  return  mail  you  will  send  a  voluntary  contribution  equal  to  two  per 
cent.  0/ your  annual  compensation,  as  a  substantial  proof  of  your  earnest  desire  for  the  success  of 
the  Republican  party  this  fall,  transmitting  by  draft  or  postal  money  order,  payable  to  the  order 
of  Jay  a.  Hubbkll,  acting  treasurer,  postoffice  lock-box  589,  Washington,  D.  C. 

HOW  IT  WAS  DONE  IN  1884. 

Even  in  1884,  long  after  the  leaders  of  the  party  had  begun  to  play  the  dodge 
of  being  civil  service  reformers,  the  following  circular  was  sent  to  Federal  office- 
holders : 

1421  New  York  Avenue,  Washington,  D.  C,  August  1, 1884. 

The  undersigned  have  been  requested  by  the  Republican  National  Committee  to  act 
as  Finance  Committee  for  the  District  of  Columbia  in  the  collection  of  funds  to  be  used  by 
said  National  Committee  in  the  present  political  campaign.  We  have  agreed  to  act,  and 
have  organized  by  the  selection  of  A.  M.  Clapp  as  chairman,  W.  H.  Lowdermilk  as  secre- 
tary, and  Green  B.  Raum  as  treasurer.  On  and  after  this  date  we  will  be  prepared  to 
receive  and  receipt  for  such  sums  as  persons  may  wish  to  contribute  to  the  campaign  fund 
of  the  Republican  party. 

The  rooms  of  the  Committee,  1421  New  York  Avenue,  will  be  open  daily  from  8.30 

A,  M.  to  9  P.  M. 

A.  M.  CiiAPP,  Chairman.  Green  B.  Raum,  Treasurer. 

W.  A.  Lowdermilk,  Secretary.  Dr.  E.  A.  Adams. 

R.  T.  Greener. 

THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE'S    WAY. 

The  following  letter  sent  to  the  clerks  in  the  Departments  at  Washington,  the 
first  one  accompanying  the  above  letter,  is  evidence  of  their  attempt  to  circumvent 
the  law  : 

B.  F.  Jones,  Pennsylvania,  Chairman.  Samuel  Fessknden,  Connecticut,  Secretary. 

Headquarters  Republican  National  Committee,    I 
No.  243  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  August  8, 1884.        \ 
[dictated  letter.] 
Dear  Sir :  The  pending  Presidential  campain  is  of  unusual  importance  to  the  country. 
Every  Republican  is  deeply  Interested  in  its  result.    The  National  Committee,  on  behalf 
of  the  Republican  party,  desires  to  make   it  justly  vigorous  and  effective,  and  success 
certain  in  November.  Funds  are  required,  however,  to  meet  the  lawful  and  proper  expenses 
of  the  campaign  ;  and,  to  provide  tne  same,  the  Committee  finds  itself  dependent  upon 
the  liberality  of  Republicans  to  make  such  voluntary  contributions  as  their  means  will 
permit,  and  as  they  feel  inclined  to  give.    You  are,  therefore,  respectfully  invited  to  send, 
as  soon  as  you  conveniently  may.  by  draft  on  New  York  or  postal  money  order  to  the  order 
of  B.  F.  Jones,  Chairman  Republican  National  Committee,  No.  342  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York  City,  such  sum  as  you  may  desire  to  contribute  for  the  objects  before  mentioned.    A 
receipt  for  the  same  will  be  sent  by  return  mail.       *******  ** 

Respectfully,  B.  F.  JONES,  Chairman. 

FEDERAL  OFFICE  HOLDERS  NOT  IN  POLITICS. 

President  Cleveland,  in  July,  1886,  issued  an  Executive  order  forbidding  Fed- 
eral officials  from  taking  part  in  politics.    He  has  enforced  it  from  the  beginning,  as 


shown  by  the  following  correspondence : 


CONDITION  OP  THE  CIVIL  SERVICE.  107 

U.  S.  Pension  Agency,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Augrust  4, 1886. 
J  C.  Black,  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  etc. : 

Dear  Sib  :  For  the  past  few  months  there  has  been  a  preliminary  cjampaign  In  Tennes- 
see lor  the  nomination  for  Governor.  My  name  has  been  mentioned  In  that  connection,  but 
obedient  to  the  wish  and  requirement  of  the  President,  I  have  never  left  my  olfice  a  <lay. 
nor  have  I  taken  any  active  part  for  myself  in  the  campaign.  Nevertheless,  I  feel  contidem 
that  1  will  be  nominated.  I  desire  to  know  if,  in  your  judgment,  it  would  be  improper  for 
me  to  go  to  Nashville  to  the  convention.  I  am  not  a  delegate,  but  if  I  am  nominated  I 
would  like  to  be  there.  If  It  is  in  any  way  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  President  I  will 
not  go.  Please  reply  by  telegram,  as  I  will  have  to  start  Monday,  the  9th  instant,  if  I  go. 
The  convention  meets  on  the  11th.    Very  respectfully, 

EGBERT  L.  TAYLOR. 

Interior  Department,  Pension  Office,  Washington,  Aug.  8, 1886. 
■Col  Robert  L.  Taylor,  If.  S.  Pension  Agent,  etc. : 

Dear  Sir  :  In  reply  to  your  letter  I  have  the  honor  to  Inform  you  that  in  pursuance  to 
the  Instructions  of  the  honorable  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  it  is  better  for  you  not  to 
attend  the  nominating  convention.  While  no  doubt  exists  as  to  your  good  faith  in  your 
proposed  action,  your  presence  at  the  convention  will  place  you  and  the  Administration,  if 
not  in  a  false  position,  in  one  subject  to  misconstruction.    Respectfully,  etc., 

W.  E.  McLEAN,  Acting  Commissioner.    • 

AT  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  THIS  TEAR. 

While  the  National  Democratic  Convention  was  in  session  at  St.  Louis  this 
year  the  following  letter  appeared  in  the  New  York  Times  under  date  of  June  <>.  It 
presents  an  instructive  comparison  of  the  "  good  old  times,"  with  the  methods  of 
the  present  administration : 
To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times : 

That  civil  service  reform  has  made  some  advance  under  the  present  administration  Is 
<3learly  proved  when  one  takes  the  trouble,  as  I  have  just  done,  to  compare  the  present 
National  Convention  at  St.  Louis  with  the  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago  in  1884.  Four 
years  ago  the  Chicago  gathering  was  the  convention  by  the  party  in  power.  According  to 
the  official  organ  of  the  Republican  Party  in  this  city  there  were  present  at  the  Chicago 
Convention  "  considerably  over  100  delegates  who  are  [were]  Federal  officials,  and  there  is 
[was]  a  much  larger  number  of  officials  here  [there]  who  are  [were]  not  delegates."  Among 
the  "  over  250  Federal  officeholders  "  present  were  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York, 
the  First  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  the  United  States  District  Attorney  for  the  Troy 
■district,  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Buflfalo,  the  Register  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Com- 
missioner of  Internal  Revenue.  The  First  Assistant  Postmaster-General  was  the  avowed 
leader  of  the  forces  seeking  a  renomlnation  of  the  President.  Now  compare  this  with  the 
St.  Louis  Convention,  which  is  the  administration  convt^ntion  this  year,  and  what  do  we 
see  ?  From  the  most  reliable  newspaper  accounts  there  are  at  the  outside  only  a  few  Fed- 
eral officials  in  attendance,  and  among  them  not  a  single  one  of  the  importance  of  the  offi- 
cials mentioned  above.  1  do  not  know  of  a  single  Federal  office  holder  from  this  city  who 
is  there. 

When  has  there ''-<^n  a  National  Convention  of  the  party  in  power  as  free  from  the 
presence  of  Federal  officials  as  the  present  gathering  at  St.  Louis  ? 

I  believe  the  friends  of  civil  service  reform  have  reasons  for  rejoicing  over  the  advance 
that  the  reform  has  made  since  1884. 

THE   IMPROVEMENT  UNDER  DEMOCRATIC  ADMINISTRATION. 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  serious  abuses  of  the  public  service  under  the  old 
'Republican  rule,  as  shown  by  the  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission, already  quoted,  is  the  condition  in  which  the  same  commission  find  it  now. 
They  say  in  the  same  report : 

Under  the  civil-servic  act  many  of  these  abuses  have  been  corrected.  This  Is  shown 
l3y  the  fact  that  although  there  has  been,  since  the  enactment  of  the  law,  a  change  of  polit- 
ical parties  in  the  administration  of  the  government,  there  has  not  been,  either  in  the 
departments  or  at  the  port  of  New  York,  as  many  dismissals  in  any  given  time  as  occurred 
before  the  passage  of  the  aot.  And  there  has  not  been  since  the  change  of  parties  any  dis- 
missals in  any  branch  of  the  classified  sei-vlce  avowedly  for  partisan  reasons. 

The  notable  fact  may  be  stated  that  a  collector  at  the  port  of  New  York,  appoitned 
after  March  4, 1885,  was  compelled  to  resign  his  office  when  it  became  evident  that  removals 
excessive  in  number  were  being  made  by  him  apparently  with  reference  to  partisan  con- 
siderations, and  the  customs  business  of  that  port  was  not  being  conducted  on  business 


108  CONDITION  OP  THE  CIYIL  SERVICE. 

principles.  Attention  may  also  be  called  to  the  fact  that  a  postmaster  at  Baltimore^ 
appointed  after  March  4, 1885,  resigned  his  oflace,  and  was  condemned,  because  he  had  violated 
the  civil  service  rules  by  making  appointments  to  and  removals  from  the  classified  service 
of  his  oflace  for  partisan  reasons. 

THE  OFFICE  BROKER'S  OCCUPATION  GONE. 

Since  the  passage  of  the  act  no  appointments  have  been  or  could  have  been  made  '*  on 
the  lapse."  The  place-purveyor's  occupation  ia  gone  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  those  parts  of 
the  service  that  are  operated  upon  by  this  law.  He  can  no  longer  demand  a  place  for  the 
party  henchman  who  has  no  adequate  qualifications  for  the  public  service,  and,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  no  person  can  now  be  appointed  until  after  his  qua  lifications  have  been  tested* 
not  by  theoretic,  hair-splitting  tests  unnecessary  to  the  ascertainment  of  his  fitness  for 
the  employment  sought,  but  by  examinations  practical  in  their  oharacter.  The  demor- 
Blizing  methods  of  the  patronage  system  of  appointments  have  been  replaced,  within  the 
classified  service,  by  the  better  methods  of  the  law,  under  which  the  demands  of  common 
justice  are  complied  with,  that,  in  so  far  as  practicable,  all  citizens  duly  qualified  shall  be 
allowed  equal  opportunity,  on  grounds  of  personal  fitness,  for  securing  appointment  and 
employment  in  the  subordinate  civil-service. 

And  even  outside  the  classified  service  the  effects  of  the  law  are  apparent.  The 
wisdom  of  making  dismissals  from  unclassified  subordinate  places  for  partisan  reasons  is 
now  challenged  by  the  better  sentiment  of  the  country.  The  political  assessor  no  longer 
does  his  work  in  an  openmanner.  He  ia  not  now  a  familiar  presence  in  the  departments, 
the  custom-houses,  and  the  postoffices.  He  has  become  a  skulker  in  his  work,  and  pursues 
his  vocation  as  if  it  were  dishonorable.  Senators  and  representatives  no  longer  organizr 
themselves  into  assessing  committees,  for  the  purpose  of  making  requests  for  money  for 
nolitical  purposes,  requests  to  which  potency  was  formerly  given  by  the  Implied  threat 
that  non-compliance  would  result  in  dismissal,  and  which  were  therefore,  in  effect,  imper- 
ative demands  for  money  upon  the  employes  of  the  government,  who  were  thus  oompellfed 
by  fear  of  loss  of  employment  to  "  stand  and  deliver." 


THE  COKTEBT  WITH  TAB  SENATE.  109 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  CONTEST  WITH   THE  SENATE. 


)W    THE   PRESIDENT   RESENTED    DICTATION    FROM    THE   SENATE- 

A  PLUCKY  AND  SUCCESSFUL  ASSERTION  OF  THE  RIGHTS 

OF  THE  EXECUTIVB. 


The  controversy  between  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  United 
States  Senate,  during  the  first  year  of  his  term,  became  familiar  to  the  entire  coun- 
try, and  its  result  fully  vindicated  the  wisdom,  the  ability  and  the  courage  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland. 

Exercising  the  power  which  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  country 
expressly  invest  in  him,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  from  the  time  of  his  inau- 
guration on  the  4th  of  March,  1885,  to  January  5th,  1886,  inclusive,  suspended  from 
ofBce  and  sent  to  the  Senate  as  their  successors  the  names  of  six  hundred  and  forty- 
three  officials.  These  included  Chief  Justices  and  Associate  Justices  of  Territories, 
United  States  District  Attorneys  and  Marshals,  Collectors  of  Internal  Revenue, 
Melters  and  Refiners,  Assayers  in  the  Mint,  Collectors  of  Customs,  Appraisers  of 
Merchandise,  Surveyors  of  Customs,  Consuls,  Surveyors-General,  Receivers  of  Pub- 
lic Money,  Registers  of  the  Land  Office,  Indian  Inspectors,  Agents,  and  298  Presi- 
dential Postmasters. 

The  Republican  majoi'^  in  the  Senate,  usurping  the  functions  of  the  Executive^ 
asserted  their  privilege  to  put  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  country  on  the  witness 
stand,  and  cross-examine  him  concerning  his  discharge  of  the  duties  pertaining  to 
the  Chief  Executive.  The  Republican  Senate  undertook,  upon  this  pretext,  to  throw 
its  majority  as  an  obstruction  in  the  way  of  the  selection  by  the  President,  under 
the  laws  and  the  Constitution,  of  agents  of  his  own  choice  to  succeed  those  he  found 
in  office  on  his  inauguration.    The  Senate  passed  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved^  That  the  Attoraey-Gteneral  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he  hereby  Is,  directed 
to  transmit  to  the  Senate  copies  of  all  documents  and  papers  that  have  been  filed  in  the 
Department  of  Justice  since  the  lat  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1885,  in  relation  to  the  manage- 
ment and  conduct  of  the  office  of  district  attorney  of  the  United  States  of  the  southern  dis- 
trict of  Alabama. 

The  Attorney-General  made  the  following  reply : 

Dbpabtmbnt  oi'  Justice, 

January  28,  1886. 
Tfie  Prmdent  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : 

I  acknowledge  1;he  receipt  of  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  adopted  on  the  35th  instant,  in 
executive  session,  as  follows : 

'■^Resolved,  That  the  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed 
to  transmit  to  the  Senate  copies  of  all  documents  and  papers  that  have  been  filed  in  the 
Department  of  Justice  since  the  lat  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1885,  in  relation  to  the  manage- 
ment and  conduct  of  the  office  of  district  attorney  of  the  United  States  of  the  southern 
district  of  Alabama." 


110  THE  CONTEST   WITH  THE  SENATE. 

In  response  to  the  said  resolution  the  President  of  the  United  States  directs  me  to  say 
that  the  papers  which  were  in  this  Department  relating  to  the  fitness  of  John  D.  Burnett, 
recently  nominated  to  said  office,  baring  been  sent  to  the  Judiciary  CJommittee  of  the 
Senate,  and  the  papers  and  documents  which  are  mentioned  in  the  said  resolution,  and  still 
remaining  in  the  custody  of  this  Department,  haring  exclusive  reference  to  the  suspension 
by  the  President  of  George  M.  Duskin,  the  late  Incumbent  of  the  office  of  district  attorney 
of  the  United  States  for  the  southern  district  of  Alabama,  It  is  not  considered  that  the 
public  interest  will  be  promoted  by  a  compliance  with  said  resolution  and  the  transmission 
of  the  papers  and  documents  therein  mentioned  to  the  Senate  in  executive  session. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

A.  H.  GARLAND, 

Attorney- General. 

WHY  THE  SENATE  ABANDOISTBD  THE  CONTEST. 

As  the  result  of  this  correspondence  and  upon  the  report  of  the  Attorney- 
Oeneral  to  comply  with  the  demanas  of  the  Senate,  that  body  passed  the  following 
resolutions  reported  by  the  majority  members  of  the  committee  on  judiciary : 

Besolved,  That  the  foregoing  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be  agreed  to  and 
adopted. 

Besolved,  That  the  Senate  hereby  expresses  Its  condemnation  6f  the  refusal  of  the 
Attorney-General,  under  whatever  influence,  to  send  to  the  Senate  copies  of  papers  called 
for  by  its  resolution  of  the  35th  of  January,  and  set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  commit' ee  on 
Judiciary,  as  in  violation  of  his  official  duty  and  subversive  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Government  and  of  a  good  administration  thereof. 

JResolved,  That  it  is,  under  these  oircamstances,  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  refuse  its 
advice  and  consent  to  proposed  removals  of  officers,  the  documents  and  papers  in  reference 
to  the  supposed  official  or  personal  misconduct  of  whom  are  withheld  by  the  Executive 
or  any  head  of  a  department  when  deemed  necessary  by  the  Senate  and  called  for  in  con- 
sidering the  matter. 

These  resolutions  were  passed  by  a  strict  party  vote  in  the  Senate.  The 
Republicans  were  not  able  to  maintain  their  whole  strength  on  the  third  resolution, 
which  passed  by  a  majority  of  one  in  a  Senate  with  a  Republican  majority  of  eight. 
However,  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  simply  covered  a  hasty  and  igno- 
minious retreat,  for  from  that  time  on  the  false  issue  made  by  Edaaunds,  Hoar  and 
others,  was  abandoned  by  the  Republicans  of  the  Senate,  and  the  President  was 
completely  vindicated  in  his  assertion  and  maintenance  of  tlie  prerogatives  ot 
his  office- 
Nothing  was  ever  heard  of  the  resolutions  after  the  country  had  had  time  and 
opportunity  to  understand  the  merits  of  the  question  as  set  forth  in  the  following 
message  of  the  President : 

THE  PRESIDENT  TO  THE   SENATE. 
To  the  Senate  qf  the  United  States : 

Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  session  of  the  Senate,  the  different  heads  of 
the  Departments  attached  to  the  Executive  branch  of  the  Government  have  been  plied 
with  various  requests  and  demands  from  committees  of  the  Senate,  from  members  of  such 
committees,  and  at  last  from  the  Senate  itself,  requiring  the  transmission  of  reasons  for 
the  suspension  of  certain  officials  during  the  recess  of  that  body,  or  for  the  papers  touch- 
ing the  conduct  of  such  officials,  or  for  all  papers  and  documents  relating  to  such  suspen- 
sions, or  for  all  documents  and  papers  filed  in  such  Departments  in  relation  to  the  man- 
agement and  conduct  of  the  offices  held  by  such  suspended  officials. 

The  different  terms  from  time  to  time  adopted  in  making  these  requests  and  demands, 
the  order  in  which  they  succeeded  each  other,  and  the  fact  that  when  made  by  the  Senate 


THE  CONTEST  WITH   THE  SENATE.  Ill 

the  resolution  for  that  purpose  was  passed  In  executive  session,  have  led  to  a  presumption, 
the  correctness  of  which  will,  I  suppose,  be  candidly  admitted,  that  from  first  to  last  the 
information  thus  sought  and  the  papers  thus  demanded  were  desired  for  use  by  the  Senate 
and  its  committees  in  considering  the  propriety  of  the  suapensions  referred  to. 

Though  these  suspensions  are  my  executive  acts,  based  upon  considerations  addressed 
tome  alone,  and  for  which  I  am  wholly  responsible,  I  have  had  no  invitation  from  the  Sen- 
ate to  state  the  position  which  I  have  felt  constrained  to  assume  in  relation  to  the  same,  or 
to  interpret  for  myself  my  acts  and  my  motives  in  the  premises. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  I  have  forborne  addressing  the  Senate  upon  the  subject, 
lest  I  might  be  accused  of  thrusting  myself  unbidden  upon  the  attention  of  that  body. 

THE  IfiSUB  8UC5CINCTIiY  STATED. 

But  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the  Senate,  lately  presented  and 
published,  which  censures  the  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  for  his  refusal  to 
transmit  certain  papers  relating  to  a  suspension  from  office,  and  which  also,  if  I  correctly 
interpret  it,  evinces  a  misapprehension  of  the  position  of  the  Executive  upon  the  question 
of  such  suspensions,  will,  1  hope,  justify  this  communication. 

This  report  is  predicated  upon  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  directed  to  the  Attorney- 
General  and  his  reply  to  the  same.  This  resolution  was  adopted  in  executive  session 
devoted  entirely  to  business  connected  with  the  consideration  of  nominations  for  office.  It 
required  the  Attorney-General  **to  transmit  to  the  Senate  copies  of  all  documents  and 
papers  that  have  Iseen  filed  in  the  Department  of  Justice  since  the  Isl  day  of  January 
1885,  in  relation  to  the  management  and  conduct  of  the  office  of  district  attorney  of  the 
United  States  of  the  southern  district  of  Alabama." 

The  Incumbent  of  this  office  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1885,  and  until  the  ITth  day  of 
July  ensuing,  was  George  M.  DusMn,  who,  on  the  day  last  mentioned,  was  suspended  by 
an  Executive  order,  and  John  D.  Burnett  designated  to  perform  the  duties  of  said  office. 
At  tho  time  of  the  passage  of  the  resolution  above  referred  to,  the  nomination  of  Burnett 
for  said  office  was  pending  before  the  Senate,  and  all  the  papers  relating  to  said  nomina- 
tion were  before  that  body  for  its  inspection  and  Informatlon. 

In  reply  to  this  resolution,  the  Attorney-General,  after  referring  to  the  fkct  that  the 
papers  relating  to  the  nomination  of  Burnett  had  already  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  stated 
iJiat  he  was  directed  by  the  President  to  say  that  "the  papers  and  documents  which  are  mon- 
iioned  in  said  resolution  and  still  remaining  in  the  custody  of  this  Department,  having  ex 
elusive  reference  to  the  suspension  by  the  President  of  George  M.  Duskin,  the  late  incum- 
bent of  the  office  of  district  attorney  Jor  the  southern  district  of  Alabama,  It  is  not  coi  - 
sidered  that  the  public  Interests  will  be  promoted  by  a  compliance  with  said  resolution  and 
the  transmission  of  the  papers  and  documents  therein  mentioned  to  the  Senate  in  execu- 
tive session." 

Upon  this  resolution  and  the  answer  thereto  the  issue  Is  thus  stated  by  the  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary  at  the  outset  of  the  report : 

"  The  important  question,  then,  Is  whether  It  Is  within  the  esonstitutional  competence 
of  either  house  of  Congress  to  have  access  to  the  official  papers  and  documents  In  the 
various  public  offices  of  the  United  States  created  by  laws  enacted  by  themselves." 

WrLL  NCMP  SUHBBHDBB  IiBTTBBS  OR  DOCUMENTS  OF  A  PRFVATH  JJATUB3B. 

I  do  not  suppose  that "  the  public  offleea  of  the  United  States  "  are  regulated  or  con- 
trolled In  their  relations  to  either  house  of  Congress  by  the  fact  that  they  were  "created 
by  laws  enacted  by  tJiemselvea^"  1%  must  be  that  these  instrumentalities  were  created  for 
thebenefltof  the  people  and  to  answer  the  general  purposes  of  government  under  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  and  that  they  are  unincumbered  by  any  lien  in  favor  of  either 
branch  of  Cackgrese  growing  out  of  their  construction,  and  unembarrassed  by  any  obliga- 
tion to  the  Senate  as  the  price  of  the^  creation. 

The  complaint  of  the  committee,  that  access  to  official  papers  in  the  pulsllc  offices  is 
denied  the  Senate,  is  met  by  the  statement  that  at  no  time  has  it  been  the  disposition  or 
the  intention  of  the  President  or  any  department  of  the  executive  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  withhold  trom  the  Senate  official  documents  or  papers  filed  in  any  of  tho  public 
offices.    Wbile  it  is  by  no  means  conceded  that  the  Senate .  has  the  right  in  any  case  to 


113  THE  CONTEST  WITH  THE  SENATE. 

rf'view  the  act  of  the  executive  In  removing  or  suspending  a  public  officer  upon  oflBcial 
doouments  or  othervrise,  it  is  considered  that  documents  and  papers  of  that  nature  should, 
'because  they  are  official,  be  freely  transmitted  to  the  Senate  upon  its  demand,  trusting  the 
use  of  the  same  for  proper  and  legitimate  purposes  to  the  good  faith  of  that  body.  And 
though  no  such  paper  or  document  has  been  specifically  demanded  in  any  of  the  numerous 
requests  and  demands  made  upon  the  departments,  yet  as  often  as  they  were  found  in  the 
public  offices  they  have  been  furnished  in  answer  to  such  applications. 

The  letter  of  the  Attorney-General  in  response  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  In  the 
particular  case  mentioned  in  the  committee's  report  was  written  at  my  suggestion  and  by 
my  direction.  There  had  been  no  official  papers  or  documents  filed  In  his  department 
relating  to  the  case  within  the  period  speoified  in  the  resolution.  The  letter  was  intended, 
by  its  description  of  the  papers  and  documents  remaining  in  the  custody  of  liie  depart- 
ment, to  convey  the  idea  that  they  were  not  official ;  and  it  was  not  assumed  that  the 
resolution  called  for  information,  papers,  and  documents  of  the  same  character  as  were 
required  by  the  requests  and  demands  which  preceded  it. 

Everything  that  had  been  written  or  done  on  behalf  of  the  Senate  from  the  begiiming, 
pointed  to  all  letters  and  papers  of  a  private  and  unofficial  nature  as  the  objects  of  search, 
if  they  were  to  be  found  in  the  departments,  and  provided  they  had  been  pre- 
sented to  the  Executive  with  a  view  to  their  consideration  upon  the  question  of 
suspension  from  office.  ^ 

THEY  ARE  IN  NO  SENSE  OPPICIAL. 

Against  the  transmission  of  such  papers  and  documents  I  have  interposed  my  advice 
and  direction.  This  has  not  been  done,  as  is  suggested  in  the  committee's  report,  upon  the 
assumption  on  my  part  that  the  Attorney-General  or  any  other  head  of  a  department  "'is 
the  servant  of  the  President,  and  is  to  give  or  withhold  copies  of  documents  in  his  office 
according  to  the  will  of  the  Executive  and  not  otherwise,"  but  because  I  regard  the  papers 
and  documents  withheld  and  addressed  to  me  or  intended  for  my  use  and  action,  purely 
unofficial  and  private,  not  infrequently  confidential,  and  having  reference  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  duty  exclusively  mine.  I  consider  them  in  no  proper  sense  as  upon  the  files 
of  The  department,  but  as  deposited  there  for  my  convenience,  remaining  still  completely 
under  my  control.  I  suppose  if  I  desired  to  take  them  into  mv  custody  I  might  do  so  with 
entire  propriety,  and  if  I  saw  fit  to  destroy  them  no  one  could  complain. 

Even  the  committee  in  its  report  appears  to  concede  that  there  may  be  with  the  Presi- 
dent, or  in  the  Departments,  papers  and  documents  which,  on  account  of  their  unofficial 
■character,  are  not  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  Congress.  A  reference  in  the  report  to 
instances  where  the  House  of  Representatives  ought  not  to  succeed  in  a  call  for  the  Pro- 
duction of  papers  is  immediately  followed  by  this  statement : 

"  The  committee  feels  authorized  to  state,  after  a  somewhat  careful  research,  that 
within  the  foregoing  limits  there  is  scarcely  In  the  history  of  this  Government,  until  now, 
any  instance  of  a  refusal  by  a  head  of  a  Department,  or  even  of  the  President  himself,  to 
communicate  official  facts  and  information  as  distinguished  from  private  and  unofficial 
papers,  motions,  views,  reasons,  and  opinions,  to  either  house  of  Ctongress  when  uncondi- 
tionally demanded."  • 

To  which  of  the  classes  thus  recognized  do  the  papers  and  documents  belong  that  are 
now  the  objects  of  the  Senate's  quest? 

They  consist  of  letters  and  representations  addressed  to  the  Executive  or  intended  for 
his  inspection;  they  are  voluntarily  written  and  presented  by  private  citizens  who  are  not  in 
the  least  instigated  thereto  by  any  official  invitation  or  at  all  subject  to  official  control. 
While  some  of  them  are  entitled  to  Executive  consideration,  many  of  them  are  so  irrele- 
vant, or  in  the  light  of  other  facts  so  worthless,  that  they  have  not  been  given  the  leaat 
weight  in  determining  the  question  to  which  they  are  supposed  to  relate. 

Are  all  these,  simply  because  they  are  preserved,  to  be  considered  official  documents 
and  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  Senate?  If  not,  who  is  to  determine  which  belong  to 
this  class?  Are  the  motives  and  purposes  of  the  Senate,  as  they  are  day  by  day  developed, 
such  as  would  be  satisfied  with  my  selection?  Am  I  to  submit  to  theirs  at  the  risk  of  being 
charged  with  making  a  suspension  from  office  upon  evidence  which  was  not  even  con- 
.■•. 'lered? 

Are  these  papers  to  be  regarded  official  because  they  have  not  only  been  presented  but 
preserved  in  the  public  offices? 


THE  CONTEST  WITH  THE  SENATE.  113 

Their  nature  and  character  remain  the  same  whether  they  arc  kept  in  the  Executive 
Hansion  or  deposited  in  the  Departments.  There  is  no  mysterious  power  of  transmutation 
In  departmental  cu8tody,nor  is  there  magic  in  the  undefined  and  sacred  solemnity  of  Depart- 
ment flies.  If  the  presence  of  these  papers  in  the  public  offices  is  a  stumbling  block  in 
the  way  of  the  performance  of  Senatorial  duty,  it  can  be  easily  removed. 

The  papers  and  documents  which  have  been  described  derive  no  official  character  from 
any  constitutional,  statutory,  or  other  requirement  making  them  necessary  to  the  perform- 
ance of  the  official  duty  of  the  Executive. 

It  will  not  be  denied,  I  suppose,  that  the  President  may  suspend  a  public  officer  in  the 
entire  absence  of  any  papers  or  documents  to  aid  his  official  judgment  and  discretion.  And 
I  am  quite  prepared  to  avow  that  the  cases  are  not  few  in  which  suspensions  from  office 
have  depended  more  upon  oral  representations  made  to  me  by  citizens  of  known  good 
repute,  and  by  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senators  of  the  United 
States,  rhan  upon  any  letters  and  documents  presented  for  my  examination.  I  have  not 
felt  justified  in  suspecting  the  veracity,  integrity  and  patriotism  of  Senators,  or  ignoring 
their  representations,  because  they  were  not  in  party  affiliation  with  the  majority  of  their 
associates;  and  I  recall  a  few  suspensions  which  bear  the  approval  of  individual  memberd 
identified  politically  with  the  majority  in  the  Senate. 

While,  therefore,  I  am  constrained  to  deny  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  the  papers  and 
documents  described,  so  far  as  the  right  to  the  same  is  based  upon  the  claim  that  they  are 
in  any  view  of  che  subject  official,  I  am  also  led  unequivocally  to  dispute  the  right  of  the 
Senate,  by  the  aid  of  any  documents  whatever,  or  in  any  way  save  through  the  judicial 
process  of  trial  on  impeachment,  to  review  or  reverse  the  acts  of  the  Executive  In  the 
suspension,  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  of  Federal  officials. 

WHERE- THE  POWEE  OF  REMOVAL  IS  VESTED. 

I  believe  the  power  to  remove  or  suspend  such  officials  is  vested  in  the  President  alone 
by  the  Constitution,  which  in  express  terms  provides  that  "  the  Executive  power  shall  be 
vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  and  that "  he  shall  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed." 

The  Senate  belongs  to  the  legislative  t  -"ich  of  the  Government.  When  the  Consti- 
tution by  express  provision  superadded  to  its  legislative  duties,  the  right  to  advise  and 
consent  to  appointments  to  office,  and  to  sit  as  a  court  of  impeachment,  it  conferred  upon 
that  body  all  the  control  and  regulation  of  Executive  action  supposed  to  be  necessary  for 
the  safety  of  the  people ;  and  this  express  and  special  grant  of  such  extraordinary 
powers,  not  in  any  way  related  to  or  growing  out  of  general  Senatorial  duty,  and  in  itself  a 
departure  from  the  general  plan  of  our  Government,  should  be  held,  under  a  familiar 
maxim  of  construction,  to  exclude  every  other  right  of  interference  with  Executive 
functions. 

In  the  first  Congress  which  assembled  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  compris- 
ing many  who  aided  in  its  preparation,  a  legislative  construction  was  given  to  that  instru- 
ment in  which  the  independence  of  the  Executive  in  the  matter  of  removals  from  office 
was  fully  sustained. 

I  think  it  will  be  found  that  in  the  subsequent  discussions  of  this  question  there  was 
generally,  if  not  at  all  times,  a  propositton  pending  to  in  some  way  curtail  this  power  of 
the  President  by  legislation,  which  furnishes  evidence  that  to  limit  such  power  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  necessary  to  supplement  the  Constitution  by  such  legislation. 

The  first  enactment  of  this  description  was  passed  under  a  stress  of  partisanship  and 
political  bitterness  which  culminated  in  the  President's  impeachment. 

This  law  provided  that  the  Federal  officers  to  which  it  applied  could  only  be  suspended 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate  when  shown  by  evidence  satisfactory  to  the  President  to 
be  guilty  of  misconduct  in  office,  or  crime,  or  when  incapable  or  disqualified  to  perform 
their  duties,  and  that  within  twenty  days  after  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate  it  should  bo 
the  duty  of  the  President "  to  report  to  the  Senate  such  suspension,  with  the  evidence  and 
reasons  for  his  action  in  the  case." 


I 


114  THE  CONTEST  "WITH  THE  SENATE. 


THE  TEISTTaE  OP  OFFICE  LAW. 


This  Btatate,  passed  in  1867,  when  Congress  was  overwhelmingly  and  bitterly  opposed 
politically  to  the  President,  may  be  regarded  as  an  indication  that  even  then  it  was  tihought 
necessary  by  a  Congress  determined  upon  the  subjugation  of  the  Eaceoutive  to  legislative 
will  to  furnish  itself  a  law  for  that  purpose,  instead  of  attempting  to  reach  the  object 
intended  by  an  invocation  of  any  pretended  constituiional  right. 

The  law  which  thus  found  Its  way  to  our  statute-book  was  plain  in  its  terms,  and  its 
intent  needed  no  avowaL  If  valid  and  now  In  operation  it  would  justify  the  present 
course  of  the  Senate  and  command  the  obedience  of  the  Executive  to  its  demands.  It  may, 
however,  be  remarked  in  passing,  that,  under  this  law,  the  President  had  the  privilege  of 
presenting  to  the  body  which  assumed  to  review  his  executive  acts  his  reasons  theref  or» 
instead  of  being  excluded  from  explanation  or  judged  by  papers  found  in  the  Departments. 
Two  years  after  the  law  of  1867  was  passed,  and  within  lees  than  five  weeks  after  the 
inauguration  of  a  President  In  political  accord  with  both  branches  of  Congress,  the  sec- 
tions of  the  act  regulating  suspensions  from  office  during  the  reoess  of  the  Senate  were 
entirely  repealed  and  In  their  place  were  substituted  provisions  which.  Instead  of  limiting 
the  causes  of  suspension  to  misconduct,  crime,  disability,  or  disqualification,  expressly 
permitted  such  suspension  by  the  President "  In  his  discretion,"  and  completely  abandoned 
the  requirement  obliging  him  to  report  to  the  Senate  "  the  evidence  and  reasons  "  for  his 
action- 

With  these  modlfloatlona  and  with  all  branches  of  the  (Jovemment  in  politloal  harmony, 
and  in  the  absence  of  partlBan  Incentive  to  captious  obstruction,  the  law  as  it  was  left  by  the 
amendment  of  1S69  was  much  lees  destructive  of  Executive  discretion.  And  yet  the  great 
General  and  patriotic  dticen  who,  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  18®,  assumed  the  duties  of 
Chief  Bxecntive,  and  for  whose  freer  administration  of  his  high  office  the  most  hateful 
restraints  of  the  law  of  ISffl  were,  on  the  5th  day  of  April,  1869,  removed,  mindful  of  his 
obligation  to  defend  and  protect  every  prerogative  of  his  great  trust,  and  apprehensive  of 
the  Injury  threatened  the  public  service  In  the  continued  operation  of  these  statutes  even 
in  their  modified  form.  In  his  first  message  to  Congress  advised  their  repeal  an!  sot  forth 
their  unconstitntional  character  and  hurtful  tendency  in  the  following  language : 

"  It  may  be  well  to  mention  here  the  embarrassment  possible  to  arls*  from  leaving  on 
the  statute-books  the  so-called  'teninre  of  office  acts,'  and  to  eameatly  recommend  theirtotal 
repeal.  It  could  not  have  been  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
when  providing  that  appointments  made  by  the  President  should  i-eoeive  the  consent 
of  the  Senate,  that  the  latter  should  hare  the  power  to  retain  In  office  persons  plaood  there 
by  Federal  appointment  against  vhe  will  of  the  President  Tha  law  is  inconslfltent  with  a 
faithful  and  efficient  administration  of  the  Government.  What  faith  can  an  Bxeoative  put 
in  officials  forced  upon  him.  and  those,  too,  whom  ho  has  supended  for  reason?  How  will 
such  officials  be  likely  to  serve  an  administration  which  they  know  does  not  trust  them?^ 

I  am  unable  to  state  whether  or  not  this  recommendation  for  a  repeal  of  these  laws  has 
been  since  repeated,  If  it  has  not,  the  reason  can  probably  be  found  In  tiie  experience 
which  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  necessities  of  the  political  sitoatioii  but  zaarely  devel- 
oped their  vldotiB  chattiotea. 

LA.WB  WHICH  HAVE  PAXJiEN  INTO  DISUSE. 

And  so  It  happens  that  after  an  existence  of  nearly  twenty  years  of  almost  innocnous 
desuetude  these  laws  are  brought  forth— apparently  the  repealed  as  woU  as  the  tmre- 
pealed— and  pat  in  the  way  of  an  Executive  who  is  willing,  if  pearmitted,  to  attempt  an 
improvement  in  the  methods  of  admittlstifttion. 

The  oonstitutionality  of  these  laws  is  by  no  means  admitted.    But  why  should  the  pro- 

visions  of  the  repealed  law,  which  required  spedflc  cause  for  suspension  and  a  report  to  the 

Senate  of  "evidence  and  reasons,"  be  now,  in  effoot,  applied  to  the  present  Bxeonttve, 

instead  of  the  l^rw,  afterwards  passed  and  unrepealod,  which  distinctly  pezndts  snspenaions 

,  by  the  President  "in  his  dlsoretlon,"  and  carefully  omits  the  requirement  that  •^'evidence 

*  and  reasons  for  his  action  in  the  case"  shall  be  reported  to  the  Senate? 

The  requests  and  demands  which  by  the  score  have  for  neajrly  three  months  been  pre- 
sented to  the  different  Departments  of  the  Grovernment,  whatever  may  be  their  form,  have 
but  one  complexion.  They  assume  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  sit  In  jndgmBnt  upon  the 
exercise  of  my  exclu^ve  discretion  and  executive  function,  for  which  I  am  solely  respon- 


THE   CONTEST   WITH   THE    SENATE.  115 

sible  to  the  people  from  whom  I  have  so  lately  received  the  sacred  trust  of  office.  My  oath 
to  support  and  defend  the  Constitution,  my  duty  to  the  people  wh®  have  chosen  me  to  exe- 
cute the  powers  of  their  great  office  a»d  not  to  relinquish  them,  and  my  duty  to  the  Chief 
Magistracy  which  I  must  preserve  unimpaired  in  all  its  dignity  and  vigor,  compel  me  ta 
refuse  compliance  with  these  demands. 

To  the  end  that  the  service  may  be  improved,  the  Senate  is  invited  to  the  fullest  scru- 
tiny of  the  persons  submitted  to  them  for  public  office.  In  recognition  of  the  constitutional 
power  of  that  body  to  advise  and  consent  to  their  appointment.  I  shall  continue,  as  I  have- 
thus  far  done,  to  furnish,  at  the  request  of  the  confirming  body,  all  the  information  I  pos- 
sess touching  the  fitness  of  the  nominees  placed  before  them  for  their  action,  both  when 
they  are  proposed  to  fill  vacancies  and  to  take  the  place  of  suspended  officials.  Upon  a 
refusal  to  confirm  I  shall  not  assume  the  right  to  ask  the  reasons  for  the  action  of  the  Senate 
nor  question  its  determination.  I  cannot  think  that  anything  more  is  required  to  secure 
worthy  incumbents  In  public  office  than  a  careful  and  independent  discharge  of  our 
respective  duties  within  their  well-defined  limits. 

Though  the  propriety  of  guspensions.might  be  better  assured  if  the  action  of  the  Pres- 
ident was  subject  to  review  by  the  Senate,  yet  if  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  have  placed 
this  responsibility  upon  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government,  It  should  not  be  divided 
nor  the  discretion  which  it  Involves  relinquished. 

ALL  PLEDGES  MADE  HAVE  BEEN  KEPT. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  present  Executive  having  pledged  himself  not  to  remove  ~ 
officials  except  for  cause,  the  fact  of  their  suspension  implies  such  mlsconducii  on  the  part 
of  a  suspended  official  as  injures  his  character  and  reputation,  and  therefore  the  Senate 
should  review  the  case  for  his  vindication. 

I  have  said  that  certain  officials  should  not,  in  my  opinion,  be  removed  daring  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  term  for  which  they  were  appointed  solely  for  the  purpose  of  putting  in 
their  place  those  in  political  affillatlon-with  the  appointing  power ;  and  this  declaration  was 
jnmediately  followed  by  a  description  of  official  partisanship  which  ought  not  to  entitle 
those  in  whom  it  was  exhibited  to  consideration.  It  is  not  apparent  how  an  adherence  to 
iie  course  thus  announced  carries  with  it  the  conseque^^^es  described.  If  In  any  degree 
;he  suggestion  is  worthy  of  consideration.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  there  may  be  a  defense 
igalnst  unjust  suspension  In  the  justice  of  the  Executiva 

Every  pledge  which  I  have  made  by  which  I  have  placed  a  Umitation  upon  my  exercise 
)f  executive  power  has  been  faithfully  redeemed.  Of  course  the  pretense  is  not  put  forth; 
hat  no  mistakes  have  been  committed ;  but  not  a  suspension  has  been  made  except  It 
ippeared  to  my  satisfaction  that  the  public  welfare  would  be  inaproved  thereby.  Many 
ippllcations  for  suspension  have  been  denied^  and  the  adherence  to  the  rule  laid  down  to 
rovern  my  action  as  to  such  suspensions  has  caused  much  Irritation  and  Impatience  on  the 
)art  of  those  who  have  insisted  upon  more  changes  in  the  offices. 

The  pledges  I  have  made  were  made  to  the  people,  and  to  them  I  am  responsible  for  the 
oanner  In  which  they  have  been  redeemed,  I  am  not  responsible  to  the  Senate,  and  I  am 
m willing  to  submit  my  actions  and  official  conduct  to  them  for  judgment. 

There  are  no  grounds  for  an  allegation  that  the  fear  of  being  found  false  to  my  prof es- 
ions  influences  me  in  declining  to  submit  to  the  demands  of  the  S^iate.  I  have  not  con. 
tantly  refused  to  suspend  officials,  and  thus  Incurred  the  displeasure  of  political  friends, 
nd  yet  wilfully  broken  faith  with  the  people  for  the  sake  of  being  false  to  them. 

Neither  the  discontent  of  party  friends  nor  the  allurements  constantly  offered  of  oon- 
rmations  of  appointees  conditioned  upon  the  avowal  that  suspensions  have  been  made  on 
arty  grounds  alone,  nor  the  threat  proposed  in  the  resolutions  now  before  the  Sencte  that 
o  confirmations  will  be  made  unless  the  demands  of  that  body  be  complied  T.lth,  are  suf- 
cient  to  discourage  or  deter  me  from  following  in  the  way  which  I  am  convinced  leads  to 
etter  government  for  the  people. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

Executive  Mansion, 

Washington^  D.  U. 


116  B£FUBLI0AIS   OFIIilOIiS  OH  TH£  TARIFF. 


CHAPTEK  XI. 
REPUBLICAN   OPINIONS   ON  THE  TARIFF. 


WHAT  PROMINENT  MEN  OF  THE  PAET.Y  HAVE  HAD  TO  SAY  IN  FAVOI 
OF  A  LIBERAL  SYSTEM  OF  CUSTOMS  TAXATION. 


'Gleaned  from  Speeclies  in  Congress  and   Political  Cam 
paignsjfrom  LeUers,  Intermews  and  Official  Eeports. 


James  G-  Blaine  on  Lumber— June  10, 1868: 

During  the  entire  war,  when  we  were  seeking  everything  on  the  earth,  and  ii 
the  skies,  and  in  the  waters  under  the  earth,  out  of  which  taxation  could  be  wrung 
it  never  entered  into  the  conception  of  Congress  to  tax.  breadstuflfs — never.  Durin 
the  most  pressing  exigencies  of  the  terrible  contest  in  which  we  were  engaged,  neithe 
breadstuffs  nor  lij^mber  e/t&r  became  tlie  subject  of  one  penny  of  iaxatiov.  *  *  *  No^^ 
as  to  the  article  of  lumber,  I  again  remind  the  House  that  there  has  never  been 
tax  upon  this  article  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  may  talk  on  this  question  as  h 
pleases;  but  I  say  that  wherever  the  Western  frontiersman  undertakes  to  make  fc 
Jiimself  a  home,  to  till  the  soil,  to  carry  on  the  business  of  life,  he  needs  lumber  fc 
his  cabin,  he  needs  lumber  for  his  fence,  he  needs  lumber  for  his  wagon  or  cart,  h 
needs  lumber  for  his  plough,  he  needs  lumber  for  almost  every  purjjose  in  his  dail 
life. 

William  D.  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania  on  Free  Wool — July  28, 1865 : 

Let  the  raw  material  conie  in.  Let  us  make  blankets  that  will  drive  out  Englih 
bJxinkets.  Let  us  make  our  own  "English  frieze"  and  "  Peterboro'  frosted  beaver. 
Let  us  be  able  to  rival  England  and  France  and  other  representative  nations  i 
making  these  cloths. 

Senator  Ingalls,  February  15,  1878: 

We  can  not  disguise  the  truth  that  we  are  on  the  verge  of  an  impending  rev( 
lution;  the  old  issues  are  dead!  The  people  are  arraying  themselves  upon  or 
side  or  the  oth§r  of  a  portentous  contest.  On  one  side  is  capital,  formidably  ei 
trenched  in  privilege,  arrogant  from  continued  triumph,  conservative,  tenacious  t 
old  theories,  demanding  new  concessions,  enriched  by  domestic  levy  and  foreig 
commerce,  and  struggling  to  adjust  all  values  to  its  own  standard.  On  the  other 
labor,  asking  for  employment,  striving  to  develop  domestic  industries,  battlin 
with  the  forces  of  nature,  and  subduing  the  wilderness;  labor,  starving  and  suUen  i 
cities,  resolutely  determined  to  overthrow  a  system  under  which  the  rich  are  growin 
richer  and  tlie  -poor  are  growing  poorer;  a  system  which  gives  to  a  Vanderbilt  tb 
possession  of  wealth  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice  and  condemns  the  poor  to 
poverty  which  has  no  refuge  from  starvation  but  the  prison  or  the  grave. 


REPDBLICA.N   OPIMONS  ON  THfi  TARIFF.  117 

Hugh  McCulloch,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.    Recommendations  in  Report,  1884: 
First.    That  the  existing  duties  upon  raw  materials  which  are  to  be  used  in 

manufacture  should  be  removed.    This  can  be  done  in  the  interest  of  our  foreign 

trade. 

Second.    That  the  duties  upon  the  articles  used  or  consumed  by  those  who 

are  the  least  able  to  bear  the  burden  of  taxation  should  be  reduced.    This  also 

can  be  effected  without  prejudice  to  our  export  trade. 

President  Grant,  Annual  Message,  December,  1874: 

Those  articles  which  enter  into  our  manufactures,  and  are  not  produced  at 
home,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be  entered  free.  Those  articles  of  manufacture  which 
we  produce  a  constituent  part  ofy  but  do  not  produce  the  whole,  that  part  which  we  do  not 
produce  should  be  entered  free  also.  I  will  instance  fine  wools,  dyes,  etc.  These 
articles  must  be  imported  to  form  a  part  of  the  manufacture  of  the  higher  grades 
of  woolen  goods.  Chemicals  used  as  dyes,  compounded  in  medicines,  and  used  in 
various  ways  in  manufactures,  come  under  this  class.  The  introduction^  free  of 
duty,  of  such  wools  as  we  do  not  pi'oduce  would  stimulate  the  manufacture  of  goods 
requiring  the  use  of  those  we  do  produce,  and  tfierefore  would  be  a  benefit  to  home  pro- 
duction. There  are  many  articles  entering  into  '■''home  manufactures  "  which  we  do  not 
produce  ourselves,  the  tarvf  upon  which  increases  the  cost  of  producing  the  manufactured 
article.  All  the  corrections  in  this  regard  are  in  the  direction  of  bringing  labor  and 
capital  in  harmony  with  each  otiier,  and  of  supplying  one  of  the  cleTnents  of  prosperity 
so  much  needed. 

Mr.  Kellet  on  Tax  Reduction— April  22, 1872 : 

If  we  adjourn  on  the  29th  of  May  we  shall  have  repealed  no  tax  or  duty,  and 
the  people  will  ask  us  in  every  paper  and  at  every  cor-°^  why  we  have  continupd 
the  system  of  taxation,  so  largely  in  excess  of  the  demands  of  the  Government  and 
the  reduction  of  the  public  debt,  at  the  rate  of  $50,000,000  per  annum  outside  of 
what  is  already  provided  by  law.  On  neither  side  of  the  House  can  justification  be 
found,  nor  do  I  believe  apologies  which  will  prove  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  tax- 
payers, who  a/re  loaded  at  every  point  and  whose  profits  are  absorbed  in  th^  excessive 
Treasury  of  the  Oovernment. 

William  McKinley,  of  Ohio,  1883 : 

The  free  list  might  be  enlarged  without  affecting  injuriously  a  single  American 
interest. 

Senator  "Warner  Miller,  of  New  York,  1882 : 

The  sooner  we  have  that  (tariff)  revision  the  better  it  will  be  for  all  industries. 
Senator  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  1882  : 

I  will  vote  in  any  direction  to  bring  about  a  resolute  attempt  to  give  us  a  revis- 
ion of  the  tariff.    I  say  that  as  representing  a  protectionist  constituency. 

Mr.  Kasson,  of  Iowa,  1882 : 

Some  excessive  duties  remain  on  the  statute  book ;  some  dutiable  articles  should 
be  on  the  free  list,  and  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  tariff  have  become  obsolete. 

Senator  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  1882 : 

We  agree  that  the  tariff  sbould  be  revised  and  the  taxes  reduced.  *  *  ♦ 
Under  existing  law  we  are  collecting  from  the  people  of  the  United  States  as 
National  taxes  the  sum  of  fifty  to  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  more  than  is  re- 
quisite to  meet  all  the  proper  current  expenditures  of  the  Government  and  all  our 
obligations  to  the  public  creditors. 

Eugene  Hale,  of  Maine,  in  the  House,  1871 : 

The  duty  upon  salt  is  now  18  cents  per  100  pounds  in  bulk  and  24  cents  in  sacks. 
The  best  Turk's  Island  salt  can  be  purchased  at  the  place  where  it  is  produced  for 
from  9  to  10  cents  per  bushel.  Any  gentleman  here  can  compute  for  himself  the 
pero«ntage  of  duty  resting  upon  this  article.    I  believe  there  is  no  one  questiou 


I 


118  REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

about  which  the  reflection  of  millions  of  people  day  by  day  is  so  decided  as  it  is  in 
declaring  that  there  should  be  no  tax  upon  this  article  of  salt.  I  have  been  asked 
to  amend  the  bill  introduced  by  me  so  as  to  cut  down  the  duty  50  per  cent.  I  do 
not  consent  to  that.  /  believe  tliis  a/rtide  shovM  go  upon  the  free  Ust :  that  the  monopoly 
wMcJi  Jias  obtained  heretofore  for  the  Qrumdaga  Salt  Works^—as  great  and  complete  as 
anymonopoly eoer graiited  by  tJie  Ikidara  in  England 8  most  de^tic  time»~~oughi  ta 


President  Grant,  Annual  Message,  December,  1875  : 

Many  duties  now  collected,  and  which  give  but  an  insignificant  return  for 
the  cost  of  collection,  might  be  remitted,  and  to  the  direct  advantage  of  consumers 
at  home.  I  would  mention  those  articles  which  enter  into  manufactures  of  all 
sorts.  AU  duty  paid  upon  such  articles  goes  direcdy  to  the  cost  of  the  article  wTien  man- 
ufactwred  here^  and  rmist  be  paid  for  by  the  conmmera.  These  duties  not  only  come  from 
the  consumers  at  home^  but  act  as  a  protection  to  foreign  rruinufa/itwren  of  the  same 
completed  a/rtides  irk  o'wr  own  and  distant  markets. 

President  Arthur,  Annual  Message,  1882 : 

A  total  abolition  of  excise  taxes  would  almost  irfceritably  prore  a  serious,  if 
not  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  a  thorough  revision  of  the  tariflf  and  to  any  con- 
siderable reduction  in  import  duties.  The  present  tariff  system  is  in  many  respects 
unjust.  It  makes  unequal  distributions,  both  of  its  burden  and  its  benefits.  *  *  * 
/  recom/mend  am  enlargement  of  the  free  Ust  so  as  to  include  uritTdn  it  the  numerous 
articles  wMch  field  inconsiderable  revenue,  a  simplification  of  t?ie  complex  and  inconsist- 
ent scfiedule  of  duties  upon  certain  manufactures,  particularly  tliose  of  cotton,  iron 
and  steel,  and  a  substantial  reduction  of  the  duties  upon  those  articles,  and  upon 
sugar,  molasses,  silk,  wool  and  woolen  goods. 

Senator  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  1867  : 

In  considering  so  complicated  a  subject  as  a  tariff^  notliing  cmi  be  roore  decep- 
tive than  the  application  of  such  general  phmses  as  a  **  protective  tariff,"  "  a 
revenue  teu-iff,**  '*  a  free- trade  tariff.*'  Every  la/to  imposmg  a  duty  on  imported  goods  is 
necessarily  a  restraint  on  trade.  It  imposes  a  burden  upon  the  purchase  and  sale  of 
imported  goods  and  tends  to  prevent  every  importation.  The  erpression,  **a  free 
trade  taHff^  inwkxs  an  absurdity.  If  you  converse  with  intelligent  men  engaged 
in  the  business  of  manufacturing  th^  will  tell  you  that  they  are  willing  to  compete 
with  England,  France,  Gfermany,  and  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  at  the  old  rates 
of  duty.  If  you  reduce  their  products  to  a  specie  tMsis,  and  pvi  them  on  the  same 
footing  they  were  on  before  the  war^  the  present  rates  of  duty  would  be  too  high.  It  toould 
Tiot  be  necessary  fyr  soa/rce  any  bran/ch  of  indkustry  to  be  protected  to  the  extent  of  your 
present  tariff  Uao.  They  do  not  ask  protection  against  the  pauper  labor  of  Ev/rope^  but 
they  ask  protection  against  t?ie  creation  of  your  own  laws. 

Benjamin  Harrison,  November  28,  1882: 

The  creation  of  the  Tariff  Gommdssion  was  a  confession  that  the  tariff  needs  re- 
vision.  If  the  report  comes  in  it  should  be  promptly  acted  upon.  My  opinion  is 
that  no  time  should  be  lost  after  Congress  assembles  in  bringing  forward  these 
measureSy  and  that  no  time  should  be  lost  during  tJie  holidays  by  adjournment. 

James  Q.  Blaine,  Secretary  of  State,  1881 : 

The  wages  of  spinners  and  weavers  in  Lancashire  and  in  Massachusetts,  accordr 
in  to  the  foregoing  statements,  were  as  follows,  per  week : 

Spinners :  English,  $7.20  to  $8.40  (master  spinners  running  as  high  as  $12) ; 
American,  $7.07  to  $10.30. 

Weavers :  English,  $3.84  to  $8.64,  subject,  at  the  date  on  which  these  rates  were 
given,  to  a  reduction  of  10  per  cent ;  American,  $4.82  to  $8.T3. 

The  average  wages  of  employes  in  the  Massachusetts  mills  is  as  follows,  accord- 
ing to  the  oflacial  returns :  Men,  $8.30 ;  women,  $5.62 ;  male  children,  $8.11  ;  female 
children,  $3.08.  According  to  Consul  Shaw's  report,  the  average  wages  of  the 
men  employed  in  the  Lancashire  mills  on  the  1st  of  January,  1880,  was  about  $8 
per  week,  subject  to  a  reduction  of  10  per  cent. ;  women,  from  $3.40  to  $4.30,  sub- 
ect  to  a  reduction  of  10  per  cent. 


REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  119 

The  hours  of  labor  in  the  Lancashire  mills  are  56,  in  the  Massachusetts  mills 
60  per  week.  The  hours  of  labor  in  the  mills  in  the  other  New  England  States, 
where  the  wages  are  generally  less  than  in  Massachusetts,  are  usually  66  to  69  per 
week. 

Undoubtedly  the  inequalities  in  the  wages  of  English  and  American  operatives 
are  more  than  equalized  by  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  latter  and  their  longer 
hours  of  labor.  If  this  should  prove  to  be  a  fact  in  practice,  as  it  seems  to  be 
proven  from  official  statistics,  it  would  be  a  very  important  element  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  our  ability  to  compete  with  England  for  our  share  of  the  cotton-goods 
trade  ot  ihe  world. 

From  these  returns  it  is  seen  that  every  American  spindle  consumes  66  pounds 
of  raw  cotton,  while  each  British  spindle  consumes  onJiy  33  pounds,  or  less  than 
one-half  the  American  consumption  per  spindle. 

It  thus  appears  that  each  American  operative  works  up  as  much  raw  material 
as  two  British  operatives,  turns  out  nearly  $1.50  worth  of  manufactures  to  the 
British  operative's  $1  worth,  and  even  in  piece  goods,  where  the  superior  quality 
and  weight  of  the  American  goods  are  so  marked,  the  American  operative  turned 
out  2.75  yards  to  2.50  yards  by  the  British  operative. 

Senator  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  1870 : 

It  is  a  mistake  of  the  friends  of  a  sound  tariff  to  insist  upon  the  extreme  rates 
imposed  during  the  war,  if  less  will  raise  the  necessary  revenue. 

Senator  Sherman,  March  15, 1872 : 

I  have  listened  with  patience,  day  by  day,  to  the  statements  of  gentlemen  who 
are  interested  in  our  domestic  productions.  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  general 
idea  of  protecting  their  industries,  but  I  assure  them,  as  I  as.  '-e  their  representa- 
tives here,  that  if  the  present  high  rates  of  duty,  unexampled  in  our  country,  and 
higher  by  nearly  50  per  cent  than  they  were  in  1861,  are  maintained  on  metallic 
and  textile  fabrics  after  we  have  repealed  Hie  very  internal  taxes  which  ga/oe  rise  to  them^ 
and  after  we  have  avbstantiaUy  given  them  their  raw  materials  free  of  duties^  we  shall 
have  a  feeling  of  dissaliisfaction  among  other  interests  in  the  country  that  will 
overthrow  the  whole  system,  and  do  i^reater  harm  than  can  possibly  be  done  by  a 
moderate  reduction  of  the  present  rates  of  duty. 

National  Rkpublican  Platform,  1868 : 

It  is  due  to  the  labor  of  the  nation  that  taxation  should  be  equalized  artd  reduced 
as  rapidly  as  the  national  faith  will  permit. 

National  Republican  Platform,  1884 : 

The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the  Inequalities  of  the  tariff  and 
to  reduce  the  surplus. 

i^enator  Allison,  of  Iowa,  March  24, 1870 : 

The  tariff  of  1846,  although  confessedly  and  professedly  a  tariff  for  revenue,  was, 
80  far  as  regards  all  the  great  interests  of  the  country,  as  perfect  a  tariff  ad  any  that 
we  have  ever  had. 

But  I  may  be  asked  how  this  reduction  shall  be  made.  I  think  it  should  be 
made  upon  ail  leading  articles,  or  nearly  all,  and  for  that  purpose,  when  I  can  get 
an  opportunity  in  the  House,  if  no  gentleman  does  before  me,  I  shall  move  that  the 
pending  bill  be  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  with  instruc- 
tions to  report  a  reduction  upon  existing  rates  of  duty  equivalent  to  20  per  cent, 
upon  the  existing  rates,  or  one-fiflh  reduction.  Even  this  will  not  be  a  full  equiva- 
lent for  the  removal  of  all  the  internal  taxes  upon  manufactures. 

Justice  Miller,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  in  Loan  Association  vs 
Topeka.  20  Wallace. 
To  lay  with  one  hand  the  power  of  the  Government  on  the  propwty  of  the  citi- 
zen, and  with  the  other  to  bestow  it  upon  favored  individuals  to  aid  private  enter- 
prises and  build  up  private  fortunes,  is  none  the  less  a  robbery  because  it  is  done 
under  the  forms  oi  law  and  is  called  taxation.  This  is  not  legislation.  It  is  a  decree 


L 


130  REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE   TARIFF. 

under  legislative  forms.  Nor  is  it  taxation.  A  "  tax,"  says  Webster's  Dictionary, 
"  is  a  rate  or  sum  of  money  assessed  on  the  person  or  property  of  a  citizen  by  Gov- 
ernment for  tbe  use  of  the  nation  or  State."  Taxes  are  burdens  or  charges  imposed 
by  the  Legislature  upon  persons  or  property  to  raise  money  for  public  purposes. 

We  have  established,  we  think,  beyond  cavil  that  there  can  be  no  lawful  tax 
which  is  not  laid  for  a  public  purpose. 

If  it  be  said  that  a  benefit  results  to  the  local  public  of  a  town  by  establishing 
manufactures,  the  same  may  be  said  of  any  other  business  or  pursuit  which  employs 
capital  or  labor.  The  merchant,  the  mechanic,  the  inn-keeper,  the  banker,  the 
builder,  the  steamboat  owner,  are  equally  promoters  of  the  public  good,  and  equally 
deserving  the  aid  of  the  citizens  by  forced  contributions.  No  Ime  can  be  drawn  in 
favor  of  the  manufacturer  which  would  not  open  the  cofifers  of  the  public  treasury 
to  the  importunities  of  two-thirds  of  the  business  men  of  the  city  or  town. 

Charles  J.  Folger,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Annual  Report,  1883 : 

All  agree  that  a  revision  of  the  tariff  is  necessary.  The  action  of  Congress  in 
creating  a  commission  for  that  purpose  renders  discussion  on  that  point  unneces- 
sary *  *  *  The  Secretary  earnestly  recommends  a  careful  revision  of  the 
tariff,  with  a  view  to  substantial  reductions. 

Senator  Allison,  of  Iowa,  March  34, 1870: 

The  agricultural  interest,  it  will  be  seen,  is  much  the  largest  interest  in  its 
aggregate  product  as  well  as  in  the  number  of  persons  employed.  I  believe  no  one 
will  clnim  that  this  large  interest  is  directly  protected.  It  is  true  that  under  customs 
laws  there  is  a  small  duty  upon  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  other  agricultural  products, 
but  it  does  not  afford  any  protection  to  the  great  wheat  and  grain  producing  regions 
of  the  country.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Wilson],  in  discussing  this  ques- 
tion stated  that  the  cost  of  wheat  in  New  England  is  about  $1.70  per  bushel,  while 
in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  the  price  is  about  65  cents  per  bushel.  The  Cana- 
dian wheat  is  the  only  wheat  that  comes  in  competition  with  our  own.  Canada 
being  nearer  New  England  than  the  wheat-growing  States  more  than  makes  up  the 
duty  in  the  reduced  cost  of  transportation. 

What  is  true  of  wheat  is  equally  true  of  other  grains.  Therefore  the  farmer  has 
practically  no  protection  at  al),  and  whatever  benefit  he  derives  is  from  what  the 
home  market  furnishes  for  home  products.  Unfortunately  for  the  farmer,  the  market 
price  of  wheat  is  fixed  by  the  price  which  the  surplus  will  bring  abroad,  or  the  price 
of  wheat  in  London  or  Liverpool.  At  that  market,  'where  the  surplus  is  sold,  and 
which  fixes  tJie  value  of  tho  whole  crop,  he  comes  in  competition  with  the  grain  produced 
in  the  Crimexi,  in  Hungary,  and  in  tlie  region  of  the  Bidtic,  from  fields  cultivated  by 
what  is  known,  in  comparison  with  our  own,  as  pauper  labor. 

But  I  am  told  we  must  so  legislate  as  to  furnish  a  home  market  for  all  our  agri- 
cultural products,  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  high  tariff.  Any  one  examining  the 
subject  will  see  that  our  agricultural  products  increase  more  rapidly  than  our  popu- 
lation, so  that  if  we  do  not  export  these  products  in  their  natural  condition,  we 
must  do  so  by  converting  them  into  manufactured  articles  and  export  these  articles. 
But  this  cannot  be  done  under  a  high  tariff,  for  all  nations  will  buy  manufactured  prod- 
ucts where  they  are  the  cheapest,  and  the  nation  selling  the  cheapest  will  control  tlie  mar- 
ket. This  ruU  excludes  our  highly-taxed  manufactures  made  from  highly-taxed  materials 
from  the  markets  of  tlie  worlds  although  we  have  natural  advantages  posessed  by  no  other 
nation. 

Charles  J.  Folger,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Annual  Report,  1883 : 

In  the  recommendations  of  the  President  and  those  of  this  department,  and 
the  action  of  Congress,  and  in  the  expression  of  public  opinion,  there  has  been  sub- 
stantial accord  as  to  how  the  needed  reduction  of  the  revenue  should  be  brought 
about.  It  has  been  generally  conceded  that  the  internal  revenue  taxes,  except  those 
upon  spirits,  fermented  liquors,  and  upon  the  circulation  of  banks,  might  well  be 
abolished.  There  has  been  difference  whether  the  tax  upon  tobacco  should  be 
abolished  or  modified.  There  were  but  few  advocates  of  the  immediate  total  aboli- 
tion of  taxes  upon  spirits  or  fermented  liquors.  My  last  report  said  that  taxes  upon 
spirits  and  tobacco,  being  upon  things  not  needful,  should  be  retained  rather  thaa 


REPUBLICAN   OPINIONS  ON   THE   TATLTFF.  121 

tbose  upon  the  common  necessaries  of  life ;  which,  as  a  proposition,  is  not  to  be 
controverted.  But  it  was  conceded  hy  all  that  a  sub^ianiial  reduction  shcndd  be  made 
upon  nearly  all  imported  articles  subjected  to  duties, 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Massachusetts,  September,  1884 : 

Grave  public  questions  confront  us.  Tliere  is  a  large,  perilous  and  growing  sur- 
plus in  tJie  revenues.  It  must  be  removed,  TWt  by  needless  and  extravagant  expenditures ^ 
not  by  abolishing  the  proper  taxation  of  whisky  and  tobacco,  not  by  a  stupid  and 
injurious  and  horizontal  reduction  for  politics  only,  but  by  plain  business  methods, 
by  freeing  entirely  those  great  necessaries  of  life  which  enter  into  the  daily  con- 
sumption of  every  household,  and  by  wise  and  discriminate  reductions, 

John  D.  Long,  of  Massachusetts,  September,  1884: 

There  are  only  two  ways  to  reduce  the  tariff.  One  by  raising  the  tariff  to  a 
prohibitory  height,  which  nobody  advocates;  the  other,  the  free-list  The  free-list 
is  the  honest  revenue  reformer's  Twpe. 

Henry  Wilson,  late  Vice  President : 

Men  who  have  looked  with  hungry  eye  upon  a  Treasury  overflowing  with  sur- 
plus millions  do  not  wish  to  see  the  source  from  which  those  coveted  millions  are 
derived  dried  up.  Now ,  as  in  times  past,  political  ambition  is  not  unwilling  to 
sacrifice  the  business  interests  of  the  country  in  the  hope  to  win  political  power. 
*  *  *  /  tliink  American  labor  will  be  best  protected  by  taxing  all  the  '^necessaries  of 
life  lightly;  placing  the  raw  materials  which  enter  into  our  manufactures  on  ^^e  free-list; 
raising  revenue  to  support  the  Government  upon  articles  that  come  in  competition 
with  our  manufactures  and  upon  the  luxuries  of  life,  which  are  consumed  by  the 
more  wealthy  classes  of  society. 

Oliver  P.  Morton,  of  Indiana,  April  80, 1872 : 

Now,  I  wish  to  say  to  the  Senate  that  I  am  strongly  convinced  that  we  should 
go  further,  and  reduce  the  tariff  in  material  respects  upon  many  ottier  articles.  *  *  * 
The  country  expects  a  large  reduction,  the  country  knows  that  it  can  be  made,  the 
country  has  been  promised  this  reduction,  and  the  dominant  party  here  is  respon- 
sible to  the  country  for  this  reduction,  and  will  be  held  responsible  if  it  is  not  made. 

James  A.  Garfield,  April  1, 1870: 

We  have  seen  that  one  extreme  school  of  economists  would  place  the  price  of 
all  manufactured  articles  in  the  hands  of  foreign  producers  by  rendering  it  impos- 
sible for  our  manufacturers  to  compete  with  them :  while  the  other  extreme  school, 
by  making  it  impossible  for  the  foreigner  to  sell  his  competing  wares  in  our  market, 
would  give  the  people  no  immediate  check  upon  the  prices  which  our  manufactu- 
rers might  fix  for  their  products.    I  disagree  with  both  these  extremes. 

I  hold  that  a  properly  adjusted  competition  between  home  and  foreign  products 
Is  the  best  gauge  by  which  to  regulate  international  trade.  Duties  should  be  so 
tiigh  that  our  manufacturers  can  fairly  compete  with  the  foreign  product,  but  not  so 
high  as  to  enable  them  to  drive  out  the  foreign  article,  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the 
;rade,  and  regulate  the  prices  as  they  please.  This  is  my  doctrine  of  protection. 
Tf  Congress  pursues  this  lin^  of  policy  steadily  toe  shall  year  by  year  approach  more 
nearly  to  the  basis  <?/pree  trade  hecav^e  we  shcM  he  more  nearly  able  to  compete  with  other 
lations  on  equal  terms.    I  am,  for  aprotectvm  wlmh  le^uis  to  ultimate  free  trade. 

Mr.  Chairman,  examining  the  possibilities  of  the  situation,  t  believe  the  true 
jourse  for  the  friends  of  protection  to  pursue  is  to  reduce  the  rates  on  imports 
wherever  we  can  justly  and  safely  do  so,  and  accepting  neither  of  the  extreme  doc- 
trines urged  on  this  floor,  endeavor  to  establish  a  stable  policy  that  will  commend 
tself  to  all  patriotic  and  thoughtful  people. 

Senator  Allison,  of  Iowa,  March  25, 1870: 

This  large  internal  revenue  tax  was  made  the  excuse  and  the  cause  of 
ihe  advance  of  the  tariff  of  July  14, 1862,  and  June  30,  1864.  I  quoted  the  lan- 
guage yesterday  of  the  then  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  in  1862, 
Vlr.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  himself  a  protectionist,  and  certainly  in  favor  of  the  protection 


k 


122  BEPUBLICAN   OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

of  the  great  interest  of  Pennsylvania,  iron  He  made  a  pledge  upon  this  floor  in  1862 
that  those  additions  of  duties  upon  manufactured  articles  imported  in  this  country- 
were  made  necessary  because  of  the  internal  revenue  taxes.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Mor- 
rill, subsequently  chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  declared  that  the 
act  of  June  30, 1864,  was  a  temporary  measure^  a  war  measure,  and  was  not  intended  as 
a  measure  wMch  should  remain  upon  the  staiute-book  as  a  protective  tariff  in  the 
time  of  peace. 

William  M.  Evarts,  Secretary  of  State,  May  17,  1879 : 

The  average  American  workman  performs  from  one  and  one-half  to  twice  as 
much  work  in  a  given  time  as  the  average  European  workman.  This  is  so  import- 
ant a  point  in  connection  with  our  ability  to  compete  with  the  cheap  labor  manu- 
factures of  Europe,  and  it  seems  at  first  thought  so  strange  that  I  will  trouble  you 
with  somewhat  lengthy  quotations  from  the  reports  in  support  thereof. 

For  the  first  time  our  manufactures  are  now  assuming  international  propor- 
tions. At  a  time  of  universal  depression  we  have  met  those  nations  which  held  a 
monopoly  of  the  world's  markets,  met  them  in  their  strongholds.  Within  the  last 
fifteen  years  we  have  demonstrated  our  ability  by  the  brilliant  development  of  our 
own  resources  to  exclude  by  honest  competition  foreign  manufactures  to  a  large 
extent  from  our  shores. 

The  question  which  now  peremptorily  challenges  all  thinking  minds  is  how  to 
create  a  foreign  demand  for  these  manufactures  which  are  left  after  supplying  our 
home  demands.  We  can  not  stand  still,  for  the  momentum  of^ increase  will  soon 
become  so  great  that  it  will  push  us  outward  anyway;  to  push  us  safely  and  profit- 
ably is  of  so  much  importance  as  to  almost  overtop  all  other  public  questions  of  the 
hour.  This  question  appeals  equally  to  the  selfishness  and  patriotism  of  all  citizens, 
but  to  the  laborer  it  appeals  with  tenfold  force,  for  without  work  he  can  not  live, 
and  unless  we  can  extend  the  markets  for  our  manufactures  he  can  not  expect 
steady  work ;  and  unless  our  manufactures  can  undersell  foreign  manufactures  we 
cam  not  enlarge  our  foreign  markets. 

The  first  great  truth  to  be  learned  by  the  manufacturers  and  workingmen  is 
that  the  days  of  sudden  fortunes  and  double  wages  are  gone.  We  must  realize  the 
fact  that  ocean  steam  communication  has  annihilated  distance  and  brought  the 
nations  face  to  face.  This  drawing  togetlier  of  tJie  nations  means  equalization  in  trade, 
profits,  wages,  etc.,  the  advantage  being  with  those  who  soonest  accept  the  situation.  In 
the  near  future  tJie  worldngman  of  New  York  can  not  expect  twice  or  thrice  the  wages  of 
his  felloiD-workingman  in  Europe  wMle  aU  other  things— food,  rent,  doiMng,  etc. — ojre  on 
cm.  equality. 

Under  no  consideration  must  we  have  strikes ;  under  no  consideration  must 
our  factories  lie  idle.  If  our  manufacturers  can  not  run  their  establishment  profit- 
ably— and  capital  will  no  more  remain  permanently  invested  unprofitably  than  will 
labor  work  for  nothing — and  pay  the  prevaihng  wages,  our  working  people  must 
help  them  to  make  profit  by  consenting  to  a  reduction  of  wages ! 

James  A.  Garfield,  July  13, 1868  : 

Unless  the  tariflf  men  take  heed,  unless  they  consent  to  a  rational  and  consid- 
erate adjustment  of  the  tarifi"  such  as  only  can  be  made  by  the  full  light  that  a 
careful  statistical  study  of  the  subject  will  bring,  I  fear  from  them,  more  than  from 
any  other  source,  a  reaction  which  will  bring  us  by  and  by  into  free  trade  and  all 
its  consequences  of  evil  to  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  country. 

/  desire  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  it  is  not  the  best  made  of  defending  a  tariff  to 
denounce  every  mxin  who  does  not  pronounce  the  shibbokth  after  our  fashion  as  an  enemy 
of  the  tariff. 

Representative  John  H.  Gear,  of  Iowa,  January  16, 1880 : 

To  a  State  whose  products  are  in  the  main  agricultural,  as  are  those  of  Iowa, 
anything  which  enhances  the  cost  of  railways,  thereby  even  incidentally  in  the 
least  degree  increasing  the  expense  of  the  transportation  of  her  products  to  the 
seaboard,  which  is  her  great  market,  is  a  question  of  great  interest  to  all.  In  view 
of  their  greater  stuength  and  durability,  which  lessened  the  cost  of  replacement,  all 


REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  123 

the  great  trunk  railway  lines  of  the  country  are  adopting  Bessemer  steel  rails. 
The  manufacturers  of  this  class  of  rails  in  the  United  States  are  controlled  by  a 
xjombination  of  not  exceeding,  I  think,  ten  firms  in  number. 

This  combination  is  protected  by  a  high  and  specific  tariff,  which  prevents  the 
importation  of  foreign  rails  to  any  extent,  thereby  increasing  the  cost  of  the  rail- 
ways of  the  country.  Without  discussing  the  tai-ifif  question  in  all  its  bearings,  it 
may  well  be  considered  whether  it  is  wise  legislation,  by  a  tariff  exceptional  in  its 
character,  to  put  immense  profits  into  the  pockets  of  a  monopoly  composed  of  but 
few  persons  at  the  expense,  indirectly,  not  only  of  Iowa  farmers,  but  of  the  whole 
West.  It  would,  therefore,  be  well  to  instruct  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
■Congress  to  examine  into  this  subject  with  a  view  to  removing  by  Congressional 
legislation  any  discriminations  which  may  be  found  to  exist  in  the  tariff  on  steel 
rails  against  the  interests  of  Iowa  producers. 

James  A.  Garfikld,  March  10, 1871 : 

I  was  surprised  at  a  remark  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Michigan. 
He  asserted  that  there  is  no  item  in  the  whole  tariff  that  can  stand  alone  on  its 
own  merits,  but  that  all  must  be  taken  in  a  luxnp  ia  order  to  stand.  That  coal 
must  take  salt  by  the  hand,  and  they,  too,  must  take  something  else  by  the  hand ; 
and  thus  all  interests  unite  with  all  forces  before  they  can  make  a  stand  before  the 
country.  If  this  rema/rk  be  trtie  it  strikes  a  blow  at  tJis  wJwle  tariff  syntem,  a  Uow  I  am 
not  willing  to  strike.  lam  unwilling  to  admit  that  bad  taxes  must  be  tied  t  ^  good  ones 
and  thus  be  kept  afloat.  I  think  it  urnoise  to  coniinuG  this  duiy  on  coal^  and  x  am  there- 
fore in  factor  of  itn  repeal. 

Representative  Nelson,  of  Minnesota,  March  29, 1888 : 

In  the  face  of  these  platform  pledges;  in  the  face  of  these  admissions  from  un- 
willing witnesses ;  in  the  face  of  the  large,  ever-growing  and  threatening  surplus, 
taken  from  the  people  by  taxation  and  used  by  certain  banks  without  any  con- 
sideration therefor ;  and  in  the  face  of -the  fact  that  so  many  of  the  barest  necessaries 
of  life  are  loaded  down  with  the  highest  kind  of  tariff  taxes,  it  makes  me  sick  at 
heart  to  think  that  there  are  leading  men  on  this  side  of  the  Chamber  who  can  find 
at  this  juncture,  and  under  these  circumstances,  no  other  field  for  tax  reduction 
than  the  internal  revenue  taxes  on  spirits  and  tobacco.  Surely  these  things  are 
not  the  diet  on  which  the  poor  laboring  man  keeps  his  family. 

Worthier,  better,  and  just  er,  it  seems  to  my  mind,  would  it  be  to  give  our 
people — the  toiling  masses — cheaper  food,  cheaper  fuel,  cheaper  clothing,  and 
cheaper  shelter— cheaper  because  released  from  the  heavy  and  unnecessary  bondage 
of  high  tariff  taxes.  I  will  put  free  sugar,  free  coal,  free  salt,  and  free  lumber 
against  free  whisky  and  free  tobacco  under  all  circumstances,  and  so  will  the  great 
mass  of  the  American  people. 

Senator  Jomsr  Sherman,  January,  1888 : 

The  tariff  ought  to  be  carefully  revised  with  a  view  to  correct  any  inequalities 
or  incongruities  that  have  grown  out  of  the  change  of  values  since  the  passage  of 
the  act  of  1883 ;  every  imported  article  which  does  not  compete  vdth  our  domestic 
industry  and  ia  essential  to  the  comfort  and  wants  of  our  people  should  be  placed 
on  the  free  list;  every  raw  material  of  industry  which  does  not  compete  with  our 
own  productions  should  be  specially  selected  for  the  free  list. 

Representative  Fitch,  of  New  York,  May  16,  1888 : 

In  the  interest  of  the  Republican  party,  and  in  the  interest  ot  c®mmon  fairness, 
I  propose  to  ask  gentlemen  on  this  side  of  the  House  to  consider  for  a  moment  how 
the  present  tariff,  which  we  have  promised  to  revise,  now  affects  tlie  people  whom  I 
have  described,  and  to  consider  what  they  pay  taxes  on  in  the  general  distribution 
of  the  customs  taxes  now  in  force. 

They  pay  upon  everything.  Look  for  a  moment  at  what  they  eat.  There  is  a 
tariff  duty  on  beef,  on  pork,  hams  and  bacon,  butter  and  lard,  cheese,  molasses, 
grapes,  wheat  flour,  oats,  com  meal,  rye,  barley,  potatoes,  raisins,  vinegar,  honey, 
rice  and  rice  meal,  sugar,  extract  of  meat,  pickles,  currants,  apples,  salt  and  condensed 
milk.    The  list  is  substantially  an  inventory  of  the  stock  of  the  grocery  store  at 


I 


124  REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON   THE  TARIFF. 

which  they  buy.  There  is  a  duty  on  the  coal  which  warms  them,  on  their  cooking 
and  household  utensils,  on  their  entire  clothing  from  their  hats  to  their  stockings, 
on  the  medicines  given  them  when  they  are  sick,  and  on  the  roofs  over  their  heads. 

James  A.  Garfield,  May  18, 1873 : 

And  I  know,  moreover,  that  for  nearly  two  years  the  wholesale  price  of  American 
salt  in  Toronto,  Canada,  was  a  dollnr  lower  per  barrel  than  the  same  salt  was  sell- 
ing for  on  the  New  York  side  of  the  lake.  That  is,  we  produced  it,  shipped  it  across, 
paying  whatever  portage,  freights,  and  transportation  were  required,  and  then  sold 
it  to  our  Canadian  neighbors  at  a  dollar  per  barrel  less  than  it  was  sold  to  people 
on  our  shores.  Certainly,  gentlemen  will  not  want  a  duty  continued  that  enables 
that  thing  to  be  done. 

Senator  Henry  L.  Dawes,  of  Massachueetls,  June  29,  1866 : 

The  duty  must  be  levied  on  the  raw  material  or  on  the  manufactured  article.  If 
you  levy  it  on  the  raw  material  you  discriminate  against  An)erican  labor,  and  if  you 
levy  it  on  the  manufactured  article  you  discriminate  in  favor  of  American  labor. 
You  must  have  either  a  protective  tariff  or  a  tariff  which  discriminates  against 
American  labor. 

John  Sheeman,  1872: 

It  must  be  remembered  ihat  the  present  duties,  taken  togetJier,  are  far  in  excess  of 
what  they  were  before  the  war,  and  tJuit  th£y  have  been  three  times  largely  increased  since 
iTie  passage  of  iJie  MorriU  tariff  act  of  1861.  *  *  *  Such  excessive  protection  not 
only  ceas  s  to  diversify  production^  but  forces  labor  into  protected  employments.  If  tJie 
present  rates  of  duty  icere  high  enough  during  and  since  tJie  war,  when  home  industry 
was  burdened  with  heavy  internal  taxes — with  stamp  duties,  income  taxes,  and  high 
rates  on  raw  materials — then  surely  they  are  now  too  Mgh  when  all  iliese  taxes  are 
removed. 

Hugh  McCulloch,  Ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  December,  1887 : 

In  the  main  I  agree  with  those  views.  I  am  very  glad  to  see  Mr.  Cleveland  insist 
with  such  emphasis  upon  putting  the  issue  squarely  before  the  people.  His  action, 
under  the  circumstances,  marks  him  as  a  man  whose  ability  has  been  greatly  under- 
estimated. There  is  no  question  over  which  the  general  government  has  jurisdic- 
diciion  that  is  of  such  vital  importance  as  the  financial  policy  which  we  are  to  pur- 
sue.   Mr.  Cleveland  has  marked  out  a  course  which  can  safely  be  followed. 

Governor  McGill,  of  Minnesota,  December,  1887 : 

The  people  of  the  Northwest  are  naturally  tariff  reformers.  Democrats  «nd  Re- 
publicans find  no  difference  on  this  material  issue.  The  result  is  that  I  am  glad  to 
see  the  President  take  such  a  radical  position  on  the  question.  I  am  sure  it  will 
meet  with  general  approval  all  over  the  Northwest. 

Republicans  Yote  for  Free  Coal  June  6, 1870.— Mr.  Ward  submittei  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  is  hereby  instructed  at  the  ear- 
liest moment  practicable  to  report  a  bill  to  this  House  to  abolish  the  tariff  on  coal  bo 
as  to  secure  that  important  article  of  fuel  to  the  people  free  from  all  taxes. 

Ayes — Allison,  Cullom,  Dawes,  Hale,  Hawley,  Logan. 

Horatio  C.  Burchard,  of  Illinois,  March  24, 1870 : 

If  a  duty  averaging  nearly  100  per  cent,  on  the  cost  of  the  foreign  article  is  neces- 
sary  to  maintain  this  branch  of  industry  (salt),  we  may  well  consider  if  it  were  not 
better  to  abandon  it. 

The  business  under  a  tariff  of  15  per  cent,  from  18*7  to  1861  seems  to  have  been 
flourishing.    Does  it  require  more  protection  as  the  business  becomes  established  ? 

But  the  chief  objection  to  the  duty  on  salt  is  that,  of  the  $3,000,000  paid  for  reve- 
nue and  protection,  the  greater  part  is  paid  by  sections  of  the  country  and  indus- 
tries that  receive  no  corresponding  benefits. 

The  chief  consumption  of  salt  is  by  those  engaged  in  fisheries,  and  in  raising  and 
curing  beef  and  pork. 


BEPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  125 

It  affects  the  farmer  doubly ;  as  a  consumer,  for  personal  use,  he  pays  his  equal 
share  of  as  much  of  the  tax  as  falls  upon  commodities,  and  as  a  producer  it  in- 
creases the  first  cost  of  the  exportable  products  of  his  farm. 

Senator  Trumbull's  amendment  to  Tariff  Bill,  March  26th,  1872 : 

'*  And  that  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  salt  shall  be  placed  on  the  free 
list,  and  no  further  import  duties  shall  be  collected  on  the  same." 
Yeas — Blair,  Hamlin,  Logan,  Sumner  and  Windom. 

Mr.  Allison  in  Congress,  March  24, 1870: 

I  will  say  with  regard  to  the  duty  on  wool  and  woolens,  that  I  regard  it  not  as 
an  intentional  fraud,  but  as  operating  as  thottgh  it  were  a  fraud  upon  t/ie  great  body 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  allude  to  the  woolen  tariffs  a  law,  the  effect  of 
which  has  been  to  materiaMy  injure  the  slieep  husbandry  of  this  country.  In  a  single 
county  in  the  State  of  Iowa,  between  1867  and  1869,  the  number  of  sheep  was 
reduced  from  22,000  to  about  18,000  In  two  years,  and  what  is  true  of  this  county 
is  true  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  of  other  counties  in  Iowa,  and  during  this  time 
the  price  of  wool  has  been  constantly  dep^^eciated. 

Mr.  Lawrence. — I  should  like  the  gentleman  to  inform  me  how  a  reduction  of 
the  duties  on  wool  and  woolen  goods  would  inure  to  the  advantage  of  the  wool 
grower  ? 

Mr.  Allison.— I  will  tell  the  gentleman  how,  in  my  judgment,  the  wool  gro  rer 
will  be  benefited.  As  the  law  now  is  the  tariff  upon  fine  wools  of  a  character  not 
produced  in  this  country  is  100  per  cent,  upon  their  cost.  The  tariff  upon  woolens 
of  the  same  class  is  only  about  50  per  cent.,  so  that  the  finer  woolen  goods  are  im- 
ported, and  not  the  coarser  fabrics.  Before  the  tariff  of  1867  our  manufacturers  of 
fine  goods,  mixed  joreign  fin£  wools,  with  our  domestic  prodvx^t,  and  were  thus  able  to 
compete  successfully  with  the  foreign  manufacturer  of  similar  wools.  But  being  pro- 
hibited from  importing  this  class  of  wools,  these  fine  goods  cannot  now  be  produced  in 
this  country  as  cheaply  as  they  can  be  imported.  Consequently,  mills  that  were  formerly 
engaged  in  producing  these  goods  ?iave  compelled  to  abandon  business  or  manufacture  the 
coarser  fabrics.  If  they  could  aflord  to  manufacture  those  fine  goods,  they  would 
make  a  market  which  we  do  not  now  have,  for  our  fine  wools  to  be  mixed  with  other 
fine  wools  of  a  different  character  from  abroad.  This  want  of  a  market,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  is  the  reason  why  our  fine  wools  now  command  so  low  a  price.  There  is  no 
demand  for  them  at  home,  and  we  cannot  export  them  in  competition  with  fine 
wools  grown  in  other  countries. 

Chester  A.  Arthur's  Letter  of  Acceptance,  1880 : 

Such  changes  should  be  made  in  the'  present  tariS  system  of  taxation  as 
shall  relieve  every  burdened  industry  and  enable  our  artisans  and  manufacturers 
to  compete  successfully  with  those  of  other  lands. 

Henry  Wilson,  in  the  Senate,  1857. 

The  manufacturers,  Mr.  Chairman,  make  no  war  upon  the  wool  growers.  They 
assume  that  the  reduction  of  the  duty  on  wool,  or  repeal  of  the  duty  altogether,  will 
infuse  vigor  into  that  drooping  interest,  stimulate  home  production  and  diminish 
the  importation  of  foreign  woolen  manufactures  and  afford  a  steady  and  increasing 
demand  for  American  wool.  They  believe  this  policy  will  be  more  beneficial  to  the 
wool  growers,  to  the  agricultural  interests  than  the  present  policy.  The  manufac- 
turers of  woolen  fabrics,  many  of  them  men  of  large  experience  and  extensive  knowl- 
edge, entertain  these  views,  and  they  are  sustained  in  these  opinions  by  the  expe- 
rience of  the  great  manufacturing  nations  of  the  Old  World. 

Since  the  reductions  ol  duties  on  raw  materials  in  England,  since  wool  was  ad- 
mitted free,  her  woolen  manufactures  have  so  increased,  so  prospered,  that  the  pro- 
duction of  native  wool  has  increased  more  than  100  per  cent.  The  experience  of 
England,  France  and  Belgium  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  which  makes 
the  raw  material  duty  free.  Let  us  profit  by  their  example.  If  our  manufactures 
ire  to  increase,  to  keep  pace  with  the  population  and  the  growing  wants  of  our 
people ;  if  we  are  to  have  the  control  of  the  markets  of  our  own  country ;  if  we  are  to 
jt  with  and  compete  with  the  manufacturers  of  England  and  other  nations  of 


126  REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF, 

Western  Europe  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  we  must  have  our  raw  materials  ad- 
mitted duty  free  or  at  a  mere  nominal  rate.  We  of  New  England  believe  that  wool, 
especially  the  cheap  wools,  manilla,  hemp,  flax,  raw  silk,  lead,  tin,  brass,  hides,  lin- 
seed, and  many  other  articles  used  in  our  manufactories  can  be  admitted  duty  free, 
or  for  a  mere  nominal  duty,  without  injuring  to  any  extent  any  considerable  inter- 
est of  the  country. 

In  closing,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  remarks  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  submit  to  the 
Senate  and  the  country,  that  the  Commonwealth  I  represent  on  this  floor — I  say  in 
■dart,  for  my  colleague,  Mr.  Sumner,  after  an  enforced  absence  of  more  than  nine 
months,  is  here  to-night  to  give  his  vote,  if  he  can  raise  his  voice,  for  the  interest  of 
his  State — has  a  deep  interest  in  the  modification  of  the  tariff"  of  1846  by  this  Con- 
gress. Her  merchants,  manufacturers,  mechanics  and  business  men,  in  all  depart- 
ments of  a  varied  industry,  want  action  now  before  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress 
passes  away.  They  are  for  the  reduction  of  the  revenue  to  the  actual  wants  of  an 
economical  administration  of  the  government;  for  the  depletion  of  the  Treasury, 
now  full  with  millions  of  hoarded  gold ;  for  a  free  list,  embracing  articles  of  prime 
necessity  we  do  not  produce ;  for  mere  nominal  duties  on  articles  which  make  up  a 
large  portion  of  our  domestic  industry,  and  for  such  an  adjustment  of  the  duties  on 
the  productions  of  other  nations  that  come  in  direct  competition  with  the  product 
of  American  capital,  labor  and  skill  as  shall  impose  the  least  burdens  on  that  cap- 
ital, labor  and  skill. 

^Senator  Sherman,  March  22,  1872 : 

I  beg  Senators  who  are  casting  rotes  to  remember  the  result  of  those  votes. 
We  have  now  by  the  vote  of  the  Senate  thrown  off"  a  revenue  amounting  to  about 
$17,000,000.  We  ham  left  untouched  oM  the  high  taxes  of  the  tariff  unabated  and  undimin- 
ished. These  taxes  a/re  Tiigher  than  they  ever  were  before  in  the  history  sf  this  country^ 
or  any  other  eounti'y  in  Vie  world.  Those  taxes  are  retained  at  war  rates.  Let  me 
remind  Senators  that  four  times  during  the  war  we  increased  the  tariff  rates,  once 
by  fifty  per  cent,  throughout.  The  rates  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  in  1861,  were 
fixed  by  the  Morrill  tariff  bill,  and  that  was  regarded  as  a  protective  tariff;  it  was 
passed  by  the  friends  of  protection,  and  gave  all  the  protection  that  was  claimed 
by  the  friends  of  protection  to  American  industry.  It  is  wluU  is  commonly  de- 
iwminated  a  protective  tariff.  The  rates  prescribed  by  thai  tariff  were  four  times  in- 
creased during  the  war  ;  oiice  by  a  single  blow  fifty  per  cent,  was  added  to  the  raten. 
They  have  never  been  diminished  except  here  and  there  on  casual  articles,  and  two 
years  ago  we  took  off  about  one-third  of  the  duty  on  tea  and  coffee  and  added  a 
few  articles  to  the  free  list    AU  the  other  war  duties  remain. 

In  the  Senate,  April  23, 1872 : 

On  Senator  Lyman  Trumbull's  amendm«tit  to  place  salt  and  coal  on  the  free 
list,  Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  said : 

On  this  question  I  am  paired  with  the  Senator  from  Vermont.  I  understand 
that  the  Senator  is  in  favor  of  free  coal,  and  I  am  againsL  free  salt    (Laughter.) 

The  Vice-President— The  Senator  from  Vermont  ? 

Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont — Yes,  sir ;  myself.    (Laughter.) 

And  then  the  vote  was  taken  and  Mr.  Morrill  recorded  as  absent.  Among 
those  voting  for  the  amendment  were  Senators  Hamlin,  Logan  and  Wmdom. 

House  Journal^  February  19, 1872 : 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Hale  to  suspend  the  rules  and  instruct  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  to  report  a  bill  placing  coal  and  salt  on  the  free  list,  the  following 
voted  in  the  affirmative :     Hale,  Hawley  and  Wm.  A.  Wheeler. 

Senator  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  August  4, 1882: 

I  will  not  vote  for  the  entire  abolition  of  direct  taxation,  nor  can  the  gentleman 
find  a  wise  government  or  a  wise  head  of  finance  in  any  foreign  country  that  is  in 
favor  of  talnng  all  duties  from  whiskey  and  tobacco.  They  are  the  legitimate 
plunder  of  the  tax  collector,  the  legitimate  plunder  of  the  exchequer  in  every 
government  of  the  world.    They  alt  get  a  large  part  of  their  revenues  from  them. 


KEPUBLICAN   OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  137 

House  Jotirnal,  June  27, 1870.    Mr.  Reeves  introduced  the  following  resolution  r 

Whereas,  Salt  is  an  article  of  prime  necessity  and  universal  consumption,  which, 
proponionaliy  to  numbers,  forms  a  larger  item  in  the  domestic  economy  of  families 
of  small  or  moderate  means  than  it  does  in  those  of  the  weiilthier  classes,  and  ought,, 
therefore,  at  all  times  to  be  lightly  taxed,  as  is  consistent  with  a  due  regard  to  the 
revenues  needed  for  an  economical  administration  of  the  government,  and,  whereas^ 
in  any  genuine  and  well-considered  scheme  of  revenue  reform,  duties  which  tend 
directly  and  largely  to  augment  the  cost  of  such  a  commodity  as  salt  should  be 
reduced  in  preference  to  others  which  bear  less  heavily  upon  the  resources  of  the- 
great  body  of  the  i)eople ;  therefore  be  it 

Resohed,  That  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  is  hereby  directed  and  in- 
structed to  report  to  this  House  forthwith  a  bill  reducing  the  pres^it  duties  on  all 
classes  of  salt  50  per  cent 

Voting  for  this  resolution  were  Dawe3  and  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts ;  Kelley,  of 
Pennsylvania ;  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  and  Wheeler,  of  New  York. 

Representative  John  A.  Kasson,  of  Iowa,  July,  1866 : 

And  now  what  does  this  bill  do  ?  It  raises  the  tariff  on  himber,  which  is  so» 
necessary  to  the  Western  prairie  farmer ;  on  nails,  without  which  he  can  not  drive 
his  boards  on  his  house  or  build  his  fence ;  and  on  salt,  without  which  he  cannot 
preserve  his  beef  and  pork.  There  is  hardly  a  thing  we  consume  which  this  bill 
forgets  to  raise  the  duty  upon.  Emry  prominent  necessity  of  Ufe,  food,  fiLd^shelUr 
and  dothing^  is  ennbraeed  and  made  more  expenswe  to  the  conMimir^  througTumt  the 
cowrUry.  Even  on  boys'  pocket-knives  the  duty. is  increased  about  three  times,  600- 
per  cent.,  and  yet  it  is  said  this  is  a  tariff  for  mere  protection. 

Senator  James  W.  Grimes,  of  Iowa,  Jan.  24, 1867 : 

Mr.  President^  the  mam,  who  oppo9es  t?te  passage  of  this  bill  mmst  expect  to  be  slan-- 
dered.  The  •*  protectmiitsts,^  as  they  choose  to  call  themselA^es,  home  already  operoed  the 
vials  of  their  indiffnant  wrath  tipon  tJie  heads  of  those  whose  opposition  they  antioipaied. 
Threats  <^  utter  political  extinction  are  hurled  against  etefry  man.  who,  in  the  exercise  of 
am  independent  Judgment,  is  not  prepared  to  im/pote  upon  Ids  constituents  the  burdens- 
vMch  the  various  m/irmfactu/ring  combinations  dem/ind.  That  portion  of  the  public 
press  suborned  to  their  interests  is  rife  unth  charges  tTiat  "  the  Capital  is  thronged  with  free- 
traders, and  tJuit  British  gold  is  operating  to  secure  Ameruxun  legislation  for  British  in- 
terests'^   Every  man  is  condemned  in  advance  who  wmM  inquire  before  he  would  vote. 

We  know  what  all  this  means,  and  so  far  as  I  have  the  tJi)ility,  I  am  resolved 
that  the  people  shall  know  what  it  means. 

It  means  that  two  or  three  large  maaufacturing  interests  in  the  country,  not 
satisfied  with  the  enormous  profits  they  have  realized  during  the  last  six  years,  a^e 
determined  at  whatever  hazard  to  put  more  money  in  their  pockets ;  and  to  this  end 
they  have  persuaded  some  and  coerced  other  manufacturing  interests  to  unite  with 
them  in  a  great  combination  demand  for  what  they  call  protection  to  Amemcan 
labor,  but  what  some  others  call  robbery  of  the  American  laborer  and  agri- 
culturist 

It  is  the  fashion  to  denounce  every  man  who  does  not  favor  a  prohibitory  tariff 
iS  a  free  trader.  The  charge  is  made  that  free  trade  agents  are  at  work  to  influence- 
Congress,  and  that  our  tables  are  incumbered  with  free  trade  documents.  Who  has 
5een  these  free  trade  agents?  I  have  yet  to  see  the  first  man  who  was  in  favor  of 
free  trade,  nor  have  I  seen  any  man  who  was  opposed  to  a  revenue  teriff  which  would 
ncidentally  protect  such  branches  of  American  industry  as  needed  the  fostering  aid 
3f  the  Government.  It  is  on  questions  of  detail  that  we  differ.  We  disagree  as  to 
aow  much  money  shall  be  taken  from  the  pocket  of  Peter  to  support  and  enrich  his 
Drother  Paul. 

loHN  A.  Logan,  in  the  House,  April  18, 1870. 

Now  when  the  gentleman,  who  seems  to  be  the  protector  to  an  especial  manner 
->i  the  great  labor  interests  of  the  country,  speaks  of  this  protection  being  the  pro- 
action  of  the  labor  of  this  country,  I  ask  him :  does  not  every  farmer  and  mechanic 


128  KEPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

in  this  broad  land  make  use  of  iron  in  all  kinds  of  labor  ?  The  4,000,000  men  tha 
have  been  freed  recently  are  laborers,  are  producers,  not  manufacturers.  They  an 
not  men  of  skilled  labor;  they  evidently  are  not  the  men  who  are  protected.  Am 
tJien  there  are  the  men  in  the  Northwest  vaho  'produce  corn,  wheat,  oats,  pork  ant 
beans,  &c.;  they  are  producers  and  consumers^  a7id  are  not  protected ;  and  it  is  thei 
who  pa/y  this  large  amount  of  money  into  the  pockets  of  the  manufacturers  of  thl 
artide.  And  when  a  gentleman  stands  upon  this  floor  and  tells  me  that  this  high 
this  extraordinarily  high  tarifl"  is  for  the  protection  of  the  laboring  men  of  thi: 
country  who  are  not  skilled  laborers,  I  tell  him  I  do  not  understand  how  he  cat] 
possibly  substantiate  such  a  theory. 

The  late  Emory  A.  Storrs,  of  Chicago : 

Finally,  what  is  a  tariff?  It  is  a  tax.  It  is  nothing  less  and  nothing  but  a  tax. 
It  is  a  tax  which  we  do  not  pay  to  the  Government ;  for  where  protection  begins 
revenue  ceases.    The  consumer  is  impoverished,  the  Government  is  not  aided. 

Judge  Thomas  M.  Coolet,  of  Michigan,  in  ''^Constitutional  Limitations:"" 

CJonstitutionally  a  tax  can  have  no  other  basis  than  the  raising  of  revenues  foi 
public  purposes,  and  whatever  governmental  exaction  has  not  this  basis  is  tyran- 
nical and  unlawful.  A  tax  on  imports,  therefore,  the  purpose  of  which  is  not  to 
raise  revenue,  but  to  discourage  and  indirectly  prohibit  some  particular  import  foi 
the  benefit  of  some  home  manufacturer,  may  well  be  questioned  as  being  merelj 
colorable,  and,  therefore,  not  warranted  by  constitutional  principles. 

Representative  Benj.  Butterworth,  of  Ohio : 

Every  nation  that  is  worthy  the  name  is  seeking  to  enlarge  the  area  of  its  trade 
and  commerce,  to  enlarge  the  opportunity  to  buy  and  find  new  markets  in  which  tc 
sell. 
Senator  Justin  S.  Morrill,  of  Vermont : 

The  tariff  was  intenaed  to  be  revised,  so  that  there  should  be  some  reduction  in 
the  cost  of  living.  It  was  obvious  from  the  first  that  woolens  and  wools  would 
have  to  submit  to  their  fair,  equitable,  and  just  share. 

Levi  P.  Morton,  April  5,  1880 : 

Mr  TowNSHEND,  of  Illinois,  moved  to  discharge  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee from  further  consideration  of  House  Bill,  No.  5265,  and  that  the  same  b€ 
passed.    The  bill  was  as  follows : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  iJnited  States  of  America  in 
Congress  assembled.  That  sections  2503,  2504  and  2-505,  of  Title  33,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  ol 
the  United  States  be  revised  and  amended  so  that  the  duty  on  salt,  printing-tjrpe,  printing- 
paper  and  the  chemicals  and  materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  printing-paper,  be 
repealed,  and  that  said  articles  be  placed  on  the  free-list. 

The  result  was  ayes  112,  nays  80;  not  voting  100.  Among  those  recorded  as 
voting  aye  is  Levi  P.  Morton,  of  New  York. 

Report  of  the  Tariff  Commission,  1882 : 

The  Commission  became  convinced  that  a  substantial  reduction  of  tariff  duties 
is  demanded,  not  by  a  mere  indiscriminate  popular  clamor,  but  by  the  best  conserv- 
ative opinion  of  the  country,  including  that  which  has  in  former  times  been 
most  strenuous  for  the  preservation  of  our  national  industrial  defences.  Such  a 
reduction  of  the  existing  tariff  the  Commission  regards  not  only  as  a  due 
recognition  of  public  sentiment  and  a  measure  of  justice  to  consumers,  but 
one  conducive  to*  the  general  prosperity,  and  which,  though  it  may  be  tem- 
porarily inconvenient,  will  be  ultimately  beneficial  to  the  special  interests  affected 
by  such  reduction.  *  *  *  Excessive  duties,  or  those  above  such  standard 
of  equalization,  are  positively  injurious  to  the  interest  which  they  are  supposed 
to  benefit.  *  *  *  And  in  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing  industries,  especially 
those  which  have  been  long  established,  it  would  seem  that  the  improvements  in 
machinery  and  processes  made  within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  the  high  scale  of 
productiveness  which  has  become  a  characteristic  of  their  establishments,  would 


REPUBLICAN  OPINIONS  ON  THE   TARIFF.  129 

permit  our  manufacturers  to  compete  with  their  foreign  rivals  under  a  substantial 
reduction  of  existing  duties.  *  *  *  The  average  reduction  in  rates,  including 
that  from  the  enlargement  of  the  free  list  and  the  abolition  of  the  duties  on  charges 
and  commissions,  at  which  the  Commission  has  aimed  is  not  less  on  the  average 
than  20  per  cent.,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Commission  that  the  reduction  will 
reach  25  per  cent 
John  B.  Hay,  of  Illinois,  March  14,  1870: 

Beeolved,  That  it  iB  the  sense  of  this  House  that  our  present  system  of  taxation  is  ex- 
orbitant and  needlessly  burdensome,  and  that  a  reduction  of  taxation  is  demanded,  both 
of  tariff  and  internal  taxes,  to  the  lowest  amount  consistent  with  raising  revenue  suflacient 
to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Government,  to  discharge  the  interest  of  the 
national  debt,  and  to  maintain  the  national  credit ;  and  that  a  tariff  for  revenue  with 
duties  properly  adjusted  must  necessarily  afford  all  the  advantage  lo  which  any  interest 
is  entitled. 
March  14, 1870,  S.  S.  Marshall  submitted  the  following : 

^««oto«d.  That  the  present  depressed  condition  of  the  business  and  the  various  indus- 
trial interests  of  the  country  demand  of  Congress  prompt  action  in  relieving  the  people 
of  all  burdens  of  taxation  not  absolutely  necessary  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  Gov- 
ernment economlcallv  administered ;  and  that  In  reforming  existinjg  tariff  laws  legislation 
should  be  based  upon  these  principles : 

Eirst,  That  no  duty  should  be  imposed  on  any  article  above  the  lowest  rate  which  will 
yield  the  largest  amount  of  revenue ; 

That  the  maximum  revenue  duty  should  be  Imposed  on  luxuries,  etc. 

On  a  motion  to  lay  this  motion  on  the  table  Garfield,  Elale,  Hawley  and  Allison 
voted  in  the  negative. 

Senator  P.  B.  Plumb,  of  Kansas,  Jan.  17, 1883 : 

I  do  liOt  ask  that  any  duty  shall  be  incBcased,  No  one  raising  anythmg  with- 
in the  State  of  Kansas  and  no  manufacturer  in  that  State  asks  for  an  increase  of 
duty  on  anything.  We  do  ask  that  a  ring — if  I  may  use  that  expression  without 
offence — a  collection  and  combination  of  interests  located  upon  the  eastern  frontier 
of  this  country,  near  to  tho  seat  and  source  of  power,  easily  accessible  to  tariff  com- 
missions and  easy  to  get  their  ears,  shall  not  have  their  own  way  about  everything 
of  this  kind,  entirely  irrespective  of  the  sections  of  this  country  remote  from  the 
seat  and  sources  of  power. 

Mr.  President,  some  of  us  has  got  to  be  consulted  before  this  bOl  finally  passes, 
and  some  of  us  will  be  consulted  after  the  bill  has  passed  in  regard  to  the  reasons 
for  ihs  action  or  non-action  taken.  I  say  now  to  the  persons  who  have  the  run  of 
this  thing,  to  those  who  have  had  control  and  are  better  posted,  and  have  been 
able  by  arts  and  by  various  processes  to  do  those  things  which  were  not  thoroughly 
understood— I  beg  of  them  to  consider  that  the  people  are  watching  this  proceeding 
and  that  they  want  no  higher  taxes,  but  lower  taxes,  and  that  in  giving  the  protec- 
tion for  American  industry  they  want  to  give  a  decent  chance  to  a  class  of  people 
who,  by  reason  of  their  calling,  cannot  be  protected  at  all,  but  who  have  got  to 
take  their  chances  in  the  markets  of  the  world  for  their  products,  hard  products  to 
raise,  expensive  products  to  get  to  market,  and  in  the  production  of  wMch  there  is 
the  smallest  margin  of  profit. 

I  was  talking  with  a  farmer  from  Massachusetts  to-day  about  this  thing.  He 
fiaid  he  had  as  good  a  farm  as  there  was  in  the  old  Bay  State,  and  yet  he  said  that 
he  could  barely  make  both  ends  meet,  and  he  complained  to  me  that  one  of  the 
reasons  why  he  could  not  do  so  was  because  everything  else  that  surrounded  him 
was  80  much  protected  that  it  simply  took  the  difference  between  profit  and  loss  in  his  call- 
ing and  left  him  a  very  dim  chance  indeed  from  year  to  year. 

In  1867  John  Sherman  said: 

It  is,  therefore,  simply  an  absurdity  to  talk  now  about  free  trade  tariff,  and  to 
talk  about  a  protective  tariff  is  unnecessary,  because  the  wit  of  man  could  not  possi- 
bly frame  a  tariff  that  would  produce  one  hundred  and  forty  million  dollars  in  gold 
without  amply  protecting  our  domestic  industry. 


I 


130  BEPUBLICAIf  OPINIONS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

Senator  John  Sherman,  1882 : 

These  taxes  ought  to  be  left  as  a  part  of  our  permanent  system  of  taxation  aa 
long  as  any  otier  taxes,  intexaal  or  external,  more  oppressive,  remain  on  the  statute- 
books. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  there  is  a  general  desire  among  all  classes  of  our 
people,  without  regard  to  party,  that  the  remnants  of  the  internal  system  shall  be 
swept  away,  except  on  whiskey,  tobacco,  and  beer. 

This  tobacco  tax,  of  aD  others,  is  the  easiest  collected,  the  most  certain,  increas- 
ing constantly  from  year  to  year,  dependent  upon  an  appetite  that  will  be  indulged 
no  matter  what  may  be  the  tax ;  a  tax  that  ha£  been  more  stable  than  any  other. 
No  amount  of  tax  likely  to  be  put  upon  tobacco  will  prevent  its  being  chewed  and 
smoked  and  snuffed-  In  all  other  cotmtries  where  taxation  prevails  this  is  a  favor- 
ite subject  of  taxation.  ♦  ♦  ♦  l  say  the  tax  on  tobacco  does  not  diminish  the 
price  to  the  farmer  who  raises  it.  And  I  say  we  are  throwing  otf  a  tax,  which,  by 
the  judgment  ot  all  nations,  is  the  best  source  of  taxation. 

In  1867  John  Sherman  said : 

The  luxuries  are  mostly  contained  in  the  items  spirits,  wines,  and  tobacco 
These  are  undoubtedly  the  first  objects  that  should  be  taxed. 

And  in  1870  John  Sherman  said : 

And  these  two  taxes  on  spirits  and  tobacco,  together  with  the  tax  on  fermented 
liquors,  over  $6,000,000,  are  paid  without  complaint  in  every  part  of  the  United 

States. 

On  March  16, 1971,  Mr.  Rlainb  said  on  the  floor  of  the  House  to  B.  F.  Butler : 
"  I  was  in  favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  ooal  tariff  and  the  gentleman  was  not.** 
Maine  delegation  solid. 

Jamfs  A-  Garfield,  July  6, 1866: 

*  ♦  ♦  *  "  But  I  would  like  the  attention  of  the  gentleman  ftw  one  moment. 
I  recollect  to  have  seen  a  man  attempting  to  bail  out  a  boat  that  had  no  bottom  to 
it ;  and  for  every  pail  full  he  poured  out  of  the  boat  of  course  another  pail  full 
came  right  into  the  boat  again.  Now  when  pec^le  propose  to  protect  the  produc- 
tion of  an  article  by  putting  the  duty  upon  it  so  high  a£  to  crush  out  its  use  in 
other  manafcuctures,  they  are  but  pouring  the  water  out  of  the  boat  to  come  right 
in  again." 

Justin  8.  Morriul.,  May -8, 1860 : 

There  are  no  duties  proposed  on  any  article  for  the  simple  purpose  of  protec- 
tion alone.  The  highest  duties  in  the  bill  are  proposed  for  the  purpose  of  revenue 
The  manufacturers  might  get  along  with  lower  duties,  but  we  require  the  revenue 

Justin  S.  Morrill,  July  17, 1861 : 

I  ^je'ieve  that  the  duties  on  most  articles  are  put  too  high. 
Ju&TiN  S.  Morrill,  June  2, 1S64 : 

Reporting  a  bill — 

This  is  intended  as  a  war  measure,  a  temporary  me.vsx?re,  and  we  mtist  as 

such  give  it  our  support. 

♦  *  ♦♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  »  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦ 

In  making  an  estimate  of  the  effect  of  such  a  War  tariff  as  is  now  proposed, 
it  is  important  that  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  as  we  increase  the  tax  on  any 
article  we  diminish  the  number  of  those  who  will  be  able  to  consume  it. 


THE  PllESIDE^•TS  ON   THE  TARIFF.  131 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF.* 


EXTEAcrrs  FEOM  A^^^JAL  a:nd  special  messages,  showing  tbe 

OPDsIOXS   WHICH   HAVE   BEEN'   HELD   ON   THIS   QUESTION. 


WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGEj  DECEMBER  7,  1796. 

Congress  have  repeatedly,  and  not  without  success,  directed  their  attention  to 
the  encourasrement  of  manufactures.  The  object  is  of  too  much  consequence  not  to 
insure  a  continuance  of  their  efforts  in  every  way  which  shall  appear  eligible.  As 
a  general  rule,  manufactures  on  the  public  account  are  inexpedient ;  but  where  the 
state  of  things  in  a  country  leaves  little  hope  that  certain  branches  of  manufacture 
will,  for  a  great  length  of  time,  obtain,  when  these  are  of  a  nature  essential  to  the  fur- 
nishing and  equipping  of  the.public  force  in  time  of  war,  are  not  establishments  for 
procuring  them  on  public  account,  to  the  extent  of  the  ordinary  demand  for  the 
public  service,  recommended  by  strong  considerations  of  national  policy  as  an  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule  ?  ******* 

JOHN  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  NOVEMBER  23,  1797. 

The  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  essential,  if  not  to  their  existence  at  least 
to  their  comfort,  their  growth,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 

The  genius,  character,  and  habits  of  the  people  are  highly  commercial.  Their 
cities  have  been  formed  and  exist  upon  commerce.  Our  agriculture,  fisheries,  arts, 
and  manufactures  are  connected  with  and  depend  upon  it.  In  short,  commerce  has 
made  this  country  what  it  is,  and  it  cannot  be  destroyed  or  neglected  without 
involving  the  people  in  poverty  and  distress.  Great  numbers  are  directly  and  solely 
supported  by  navigation. 

The  faith  of  society  is  pledged  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  commercial 
and  seafaring,  no  less  than  of  the  other  citizens. 

»  JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  8,  1801. 

Agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce  and  navigation,  the  four  pillars  of  our 
prosperity,  are  the  most  thriving  when  left  most  free  to  individual  enterprise.  Pro- 
tection from  casual  embarrassments,  however,  may  sometimes  be  reasonably  inter- 
posed. If,  in  the  course  of  your  observations  or  inquiries,  they  should  appear  to 
need  any  aid    within    the   limits  of  our  constitutional  powers,  your  sense  of  their 

rrtance  is  a  sufficient  assurance  they  wiU  occupy  your  attention. 
JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  NOVEMBER  8,  1808. 

The  suspension  of  our  foreign  commerce,  produced  by  the  injustice  of  the 
belligerent  powers,  and  the  consequent  losses  and  sacrifices  of  our  citizens,  are  sub- 
jects of  just  concern.  The  situation  into  which  we  have  thus  been  forced  has 
impelled  us  to  apply  a  portion  of  our  industry  and  capital  to  internal  manufac- 
tures and  improvements.    The  extent  of  this  conversion  is  daily  increasing,  and 

:i      *Copied  by  permission  from  "  Tariff  in  the  White  House,"  by  Henry  Talbott,  clerk  of 
j^Ways  and  Means  Committee,  and  published  at  Washington  by  the  compiler. 


182  THE   PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

little  doubt  remains  that  the  establishments  formed  and  forming  will,  under  the 
auspices  of  cheaper  materials  and  subsistence,  tlie  freedom  of  labor  from  taxation 
•with  us,  and  of  protecting  duties  and  prohibitions,  become  permanent. 

MADISON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  5,  1815. 

Under  circumstances  giving  a  powerful  impulse  to  manufacturing  industry,  it 
has  made  among  ua  a  progress  and  exhibited  an  efficiency  which  justify  the  belief 
that  with  a  protection  not  more  than  is  due  to  the  enterprising  citizens  whose 
interests  are  now  at  stake,  it  will  become  at  an  early  day  not  only  safe  against  occa- 
sional competitions  from  abroad,  but  a  source  of  domestic  wealth  and  even  of 
external  commerce  In  selecting  the  branches  more  especially  entitled  to  the  public 
patronage,  a  preference  is  obviously  claimed  by  such  as  will  relieve  the  United 
States  from  a  dependence  on  foreign  supplies,  ever  subject  to  casual  failures  for 
articles  necessary  for  the  public  defence,  or  connected  with  the  primary  wants  of 
individuals.  It  will  be  an  additional  recommendation  of  particular  manufactures 
where  the  materials  for  them  are  extensively  drawn  from  our  agriculture,  and  conse- 
quently impart  and  insure  to  that  great  fund  of  national  prosperity  and  independ- 
ence an  encouragement  which  cannot  fail  to  be  rewarded. 

Monroe's  special  message,  may  4, 1822. 

Duties  and  imposts  have  always  been  light,  not  greater,  perhaps,  than  would 
have  been  imposed  for  the  encouragement  of  our  manufactures,  had  there  been  no 
occasion  for  the  revenue  arising  from  them,  and  taxes  and  excises  have  never  been 
laid  except  in  cases  of  necessity,  and  repealed  as  soon  as  the  necessity  ceased   *  *  * 

It  is  natural  in  so  great  a  variety  of  climate  that  there  should  be  a  correspond- 
ing diflFerence  in  the  produce  of  the  soil ;  that  one  part  should  raise  what  the  other 
might  want.  It  is  equally  natural  that  the  pursuits  of  industry  should  vary  in  like 
manner;  that  labor  should  be  cheaper,  and  manufactures  succeed  better  in  one  part 
than  in  another.  That  where  the  climate  was  most  severe  and  the  soil  less  produc- 
tive, navigation,  the  fisheries,  and  commerce  should  be  most  relied  on.  Hence  the 
motiv-e  for  an  exchange  for  mutual  accommodation  and  active  intercourse  between 
them.  Each  part  would  thus  find  for  the  surplus  of  its  labor,  in  whatever  article 
it  consisted,  an  extensive  market  at  home,  which  would  be  the  most  profitable 
because  free  from  duty. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS's  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  2,  1828. 

In  our  country  a  uniform  experience  of  forty  years  has  shown  that  whatever 
the  tariff  of  duties  upon  articles  imported  from  abroad  has  been,  the  amount  of 
importations  has  always  borne  an  average  value  nearly  approaching  to  that  of  the 
exports,  though  occasionally  differing  in  the  balance,  sometimes  being  more  and 
sometimes  less.  It  is,  indeed,  a  general  law  of  prosperous  commerce  that  the  real 
value  of  exports  should,  by  a  small,  and  only  a  small  balance,  exceed  that  of 
imports,  that  balance  being  a  permanent  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation.  The 
extent  of  the  prosperous  commerce  of  the  nation  must  be  regulated  by  the  amount 
of  its  exports ;  and  an  important  addition  to  the  value  of  these  will  draw  after  it  a 
corresponding  increase  of  importations. 

JACKSON'S  MAYSVTLLE  ROAD  VETO,  MAY  27,  1830. 

Many  of  the  taxes  collected  from  our  citizens,  through  the  medium  of  imposts, 
have  for  a  considerable  period  been  onerous.  In  many  particulars  these  taxes  have 
borne  severely  upon  the  laboring  and  less  prosperous  classes  of  the  community, 
being  imposed  on  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  this,  too,  in  cases  where  the  burden 
was  not  relieved  by  the  consciousness  that  it  would  ultimately  contribute  to  make 
us  independent  of  foreign  nations  for  articles  of  prime  necessity,  by  the  encourage- 
ment of  their  growth  and  manufacture  at  home.  They  have  been  cheerfully  borne, 
because  they  were  thought  to  be  necessary  to  the  support  of  Government  and  the 
payment  of  the  debts  unavoidably  incurred  in  the  acquisition  and  maintenance  of 
our  national  rights  and  liberties.    But  have  we  a  right  to  calculate  on  the  same 


THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  133 

cheerful  acquiescence,  when  it  is  known  that  the  necessity  for  their  continuance 
would  cease  were  it  not  for  the  irregular,  improvident,  and  unequal  appropriations 
of  the  public  funds  ?  Will  not  the  people  demand,  as  they  have  a  right  to  do,  such 
a  prudent  system  of  expenditure  as  will  pay  the  debts  of  the  Union,  and  authorize 
the  reduction  of  every  tax  to  as  low  a  point  as  the  wise  observance  of  the  necessity 
to  protect  that  portion  of  our  manufactures  and  labor  whose  prosperity  is  essential 
to  our  national  safety  and  independence  will  allow  ? 

As  long  as  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures  is  directed  to  national 
ends  it  shall  receive  from  me  a  temperate  but  steady  support.  There  is  no  neces- 
sary connection  between  it  and  the  system  of  appropriations.  On  the  contrary,  it 
appears  to  me  that  the  supposition  of  their  dependence  upon  each  other  is  calcu- 
lated to  excite  the  prejudices  of  the  public  against  both.  The  former  is  sustained 
on  the  ground  of  its  consistency  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  of 
its  origin  being  traced  to  the  assent  of  all  the  parties  to  the  original  compact,  and 
of  its  having  the  support  and  approbation  of  a  majority  of  the  people,  on  which 
account  it  is  at  least  entitled  to  a  fair  experiment 

JACKSON'S  BANK  VETO,  JXKiY  10,  1833. 

Most  of  the  diflSculties  our  Government  now  ei^counters,  and  most  of  the  dangers 
which  impend  over  our  Union,  have  sprung  from  an  abandonment  of  the  legitimate 
objects  of  government  by  our  national  legislation.  Many  of  our  rich  men  have  not 
been  content  with  equal  protection  and  equal  benefits,  but  have  besought  us  to  make 
;hem  richer  by  acts  of  Congress.  By  attempting  to  gratify  their  desires,  we  have, 
n  the  resulta  of  mss  Iflgteuttkm,  trmytsd  aectioa  against  section,  interest  against 
nterest,  and  man  agcunst  man  in  a  fearful  commotion  which  threatens  to  stiake  the 
bundations  of  our  Union.  It  is  time  to  pause  in  our  career,  to  review  our  prin- 
ciples, and,  if  possible,  revive  that  devoted  patriotism  and  spirit  of  compromise 
vhich  distinguished  the  sages  of  the  revolution  and  the  fathers  of  our  Union.  If 
ve  cannot  at  once,  injustice  to  interests  vested  under  improvident  legislation,  make 
)ur  Government  what  it  ought  to  be,  we  can  at  least  take  a  stand  agaijst  all  new 
grants  of  monopolies  and  exclusive  privileges,  against  any  prostitution  of  our  Gov- 
rument  to  the  advancement  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  in  favor  of 
ompromise  and  gradual  reform  in  our  code  of  laws  and  system  of  political  econ- 
my. 

Jackson's  fourtS  annual  message,  December  4, 1833. 

If,  upon  investigation,  it  shall  be  found— as  it  is  believed  it  will  be — that  the  legis- 
itive  protection  granted  to  any  particular  interest  is  greater  than  is  indispensably 
Bquisite  for  these  objects,  1  recommend  that  it  be  gradually  diminished,  and  that,  as 
ir  as  may  be  consistent  with  these  objects,  the  whole  scheme  of  duties  be  reduced 
)  the  revenue  standard  as  soon  as  a  just  regard  to  the  faith  of  the  Government  and 
)  the  preservation  of  the  large  capital  invested  in  establishments  of  domestic 
idustry  will  permit. 

That  manufactures,  adequate  to  the  supply  of  our  domestic  consumption,  would, 
I  the  abstract,  be  beneficial  to  our  country,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt ;  and  to 
feet  their  establishment  there  is,  perhaps,  no  American  citizen  who  would  not,  for 
while,  be  willing  to  pay  a  higher  price  for  them.  But  for  this  purpose,  it  is  pre- 
imed  that  a  tariflT  of  high  duties,  designed  for  perpetual  protection,  has  entered 
to  the  minds  of  but  few  of  our  statesmen.  The  most  they  have  anticipated  is  a 
mporary  and  generally  incidental  protection,  which  they  maintain  has  the  eflect 
•  reduce  the  price,  by  domestic  competition,  below  that  of  the  foreign  article. 

K  JACESON'S  sixth  annual  message,  DECEMBER  2,   1834. 

Every  diminution  of  the  public  burdens  arising  from  taxation  gives  to  individual 
terprise  increased  power,  and  furnishes  to  all  the  members  of  our  happy  confed- 
acy  new  motives  for  patriotic  aflection  and  support.  But,  above  all,  its  most  im- 
irtant  effect  will  be  found  in  its  influence  upon  the  character  of  the  Government 
■  confining  its  action  to  those  objects  which  will  be  sure  to  secure  to  it  the  attach- 
jnt  and  support  of  our  fellow-citizens. 


I 


134  THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE,  TAlilFF. 

JACKSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  6,  1S36. 

Jn  redncicc^  the  revenue  to  the  wants  of  the  Government,  your  particular  atten- 
tion is  invited  to  those  articles  which  constitute  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  duty 
on  salt  was  laid  as  a  war  tax,  and  was  no  doubt  continued  to  assist  in  providing  for 
the  payment  of  the  war  debt.  There  is  no  article  the  release  of  which  from  taxation 
would  be  felt  so  generally  and  so  beneficially.  To  this  may  be  added  all  kinds  of 
fuel  and  provisions.  Justice  and  benevolence  unite  in  favor  of  releasing  the  poor 
of  our  cities  from  burdens  which  are  not  necessary  to  the  support  of  our  Govern- 
ment, and  tend  only  to  increase  the  wants  of  the  destitute. 

JACKSON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS,  MARCH  3,  1837. 

There  is  perhaps  no  one  of  the  powers  conferred  on  the  Federal  Government  so- 
liable  to  abuse  as  the  taxing  power.  The  most  productive  and  convenient  sources 
of  revenue  were  necessarily  given  to  it,  that  it  might  be  able  to  perform  the  important 
duties  imposed  upon  it;  and  the  taxes  which  it  lays  upon  commerce  being  con- 
cealed from  the  real  payer  in  the  price  of  the  article,  they  do  not  so  readily  attract 
the  attention  of  the  people  as  smaller  sums  demanded  from  them  directly  by  the  tax- 
gatherer.  But  the  tax  imposed  on  goods  enhances  by  so  much  the  price  of  the  com- 
modity to  the  consumer,  and  as  many  of  these  duties  are  imposed  on  articles  of 
necessity,  which  are  daily  used  by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  the  money  raised  by 
these  imposts  is  drawn  from  their  pockets. 

Congress  has  no  right,  under  the  Constitution,  to  take  money  from  the  people 
unless  it  is  required  to  execute  some  one  of  the  specific  powers  intrusted  to  the 
Government;  and  if  they  raise  more  than  is  necessary  for  such  purposes  it  is  an 
abuse  of  the  power  of  taxation,  and  unjust  and  oppressive.  It  may,  indeed,  happen 
that  the  revenue  will  sometimes  exceed  the  amount  anticipated  when  the  taxes  were 
laid.  When,liowever, this  is  ascertained,  it  is  easy  to  reduce  them;  and  in  such  a 
case  it  is  unquestionably  the  duty  ot  the  Government  to  reduce  them,  for  no  cir- 
cumstances can  justify  it  in  assuming  a  power  not  given  to  it  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  in  taking  away  the  money  of  the  people  when  it  is  not  needed  for  the  legitimate- 
wants  of  the  Government.         ******* 

There  is  but  one  safe  rule,  and  that  is  to  confine  the  General  Government  rigidly 
within  the  sphere  of  its  appropriate  duties.  It  has  no  power  to  raise  a  revenue  or 
impose  taxes,  except  for  the  purposes  enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  and  if  its 
income  is  found  to  exceed  these  wants,  it  should  be  forthwith  reduced,  and  the  bur- 
dens of  the  people  eo  far  lightened. 

VAN  BUREN's  SPECIAL  MESSAGE,  SEPTEMBER  4,  1838. 

All  communities  are  apt  to  look  to  Government  for  too  much.  Even  in  our 
own  country,  where  its  powers  and  duties  are  so  strictly  limited,  we  are  prone  to 
do  so,  especially  at  periods  of  sudden  embarrassment  and  distress.  But  this  ought 
not  to  be.  The  framers  of  our  excellent  Constitution,  and  the  people  who  approved 
it  with  calm  and  sagacious  deliberation,  acted  at  the  time  on  a  sounder  principle. 
They  wisely  judged  that  the  less  Government  interferes  with  private  pursuits  the 
better  for  the  general  prosperity.  It  is  not  its  legitimate  object  to  make  men  rich, 
or  to  repair  by  direct  grants  of  money  or  legislation  in  favor  of  particular  pursuits 
losses  not  incurred  in  the  public  service.  This  would  be  substantially  to  use  the 
property  of  some  for  the  benefit  of  others.  But  its  real  duty — that  duty  the  per- 
formance of  which  makes  a  good  government  the  most  precious  of  human  blessings- 
— is  to  enact  and  enforce  a  system  of  general  laws  commensurate  with,  but  not 
exceeding,  the  objects  of  its  establishment,  and  to  leave  every  citizen  and  every  inter- 
est to  reap  under  its  benign  protection  the  reward  of  virtue,  industry,  and  prudence. 

TYLER'S  FIRST  TARIFF  VETO  MESSAGE,  JUNE  29,  1842. 

The  manufacturing  classes  have  now  an  opportunity,  which  may  never  occur 
again,  of  permanently  identifying  their  interests  with  those  of  the  whole  country,, 
and  making  them  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term  a  national  concern.  The  moment 
is  propitious  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  country  in  the  introduction  of  harmony 


THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TABIPF.  135 

among  all  its  parts  and  all  its  several  interests.  The  same  rate  of  imposts,  and  no 
more,  as  will  most  surely  re-establish  the  public  credit  will  secure  to  the  manufac- 
turer all  the  protection  he  ought  to  desire,  with  every  prospect  of  permanence  and 
stability  which  the  hearty  acquiescence  of  the  whole  country  on  a  reasonable  system 
oan  hold  out  to  him. 

TYLER'S  SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  7,  1842. 

Extravagant  duties  defeat  their  end  and  object,  not  only  by  exciting  in  the 
public  mind  an  hostility  to  the  manufacturing  interests,  but  by  inducing  a  system  of 
smuggling  on  an  extensive  scale  and  the  practice  of  every  manner  of  fraud  upon 
the  revenue,  which  the  utmost  vigilance  of  Government  cannot  effectually  suppress. 
An  opposite  course  of  policy  would  be  attended  by  results  essentially  different,  of 
which  every  int  erest  of  society,  and  none  more  than  those  of  the  manufacturer, 
would  reap  important  advantages.  Among  the  most  striking  of  its  benefits  would 
be  that  derived  from  the  general  acquiescence  of  the  country  in  its  support 
and  the  consequent  permanency  and  stability  which  would  be  given  to  all  opera- 
tions of  industry. 

TYLER'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  3,  1844. 

This  important  power  of  taxation,  which,  when  exercised  in  its  most  restricted 
form,  is  a  burden  on  labor  and  production,  is  resorted  to,  under  various  pretexts,  for 
purposes  having  no  affinity  to  the  motives  which  dictated  its  grant,  and  the  extrav- 
agance of  Government  stimulates  individual  extravagance,  until  the  spirit  of  a  wild 
and  ill- regulated  speculation  involves  one  and  all  in  its  unfortunate  results.  In 
view  of  such  fatal  consequences  it  may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom  founded  in  moral 
and  political  truth — that  no  greater  taxes  should  be  imposed  than  are  necessary  for 
^n  economical  administration  of  the  Government,  and  that  whatever  exists  beyond 
should  be  reduced  or  modified.  This  doctrine  does  in  no  way  conflict  with  the 
exercise  of  a  sound  discrimination  in  the  selection  of  the  articles  to  be  taxed,  which 
^  due  regard  to  the  public  weal  would  at  all  times  suggest  to  the  legislative  mind. 

folk's  inaugural   ADDRESS,  MARCH,  4,  1845. 

In  executing  this  power  by  levying  a  tariff  of  duties  for  the  support  of  Grov- 
•ernment,  the  raising  of  revenite  should  be  the  object,  and  protection  the  incident.  To 
reverse  this  principle  and  vaoke protection  the  object  and  revenue  the  incident,  would 
be  to  inflict  manifest  injustice  upon  all  other  than  the  protected  interests.  In  levy- 
ing duties  for  revenue,  it  is  doubtless  proper  to  make  such  discriminations  within 
Wid  revenue  principles  as  will  afford  incidental  protection  to  our  home  interests. 
IVithin  the  revenue  limit  there  is  a  discretion  to  discriminate;  beyond  that  limit 
the  rightful  exercise  of  the  power  is  not  conceded.  The  incidental  protection 
afforded  to  our  home  interests  by  discriminations  within  the  revenue  range,  it  is 
believed  will  be  ample.  In  making  discriminations  all  our  home  interests  should, 
as  far  as  practicable,  be  equally  protected. 

folk's  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  2,  1845. 

In  levying  a  tariff  of  duties,  Congress  exercises  the  taxing  power,  and  for 
purposes  of  revenue  may  select  the  objects  of  taxation.  They  may  exempt  cer- 
tain articles  altogether  and  permit  their  importation  free  of  duty.  On  others 
they  may  impose  low  duties.  In  these  classes  should  be  embraced  such  arti- 
cles of  necessity  as  are  in  general  use,  and  especially  such  as  are  consumed  by 
the  laborer  and  poor  as  well  as  by  the  wealthy  citizen.  Care  should  be  taken 
that  all  the  great  interests  of  the  country,  including  manufactures,  agriculture, 
commerce,  navigation  and  the  mechanic  arts,  should,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable, 
derive  equal  advantages  from  the  incidental  protection  which  a  jast  system  of 
revenue  duties  may  afford.  Taxation,  direct  or  mdirect,  is  a  burden,  and  it  should 
be  so  imposed  as  to  operate  as  equally  as  may  be  on  all  classes  in  the  proportion  of 
tdeir  ability  to  bear  it.  To  make  the  taxing  power  an  actual  benefit  to  one  class 
necessarily  increases  the  burden  of  the  others  beyond  their  proportion  and  would 
be  manifestly  unjust. 


136  THE  PEESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

folk's  third  annual  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  8,  1846. 

The  act  of  the  30th  of  July,  1846,  "reducing'  the  duties  on  imports,"  has  been  in 
force  since  vhe  1st  of  December  last,  and  I  am  gratified  to  state  that  all  the  beneficial 
effects  which  were  anticipated  from  its  operation  have  been  fully  realized.  The  pub- 
lic revenue  derived  from  customs  during  the  year  ending  on  the  1st  of  December,. 
1847,  exceeds  bv  more  than  eight  millions  of  dollars  the  amount  received  in  the  pre- 
ceding year  under  the  operation  of  the  act  of  1842,  which  was  superseded  and  repealed 
by  it.  Its  effects  are  visible  in  the  great  and  almost  unexampled  prosperity  which 
prevails  in  every  branch  of  business.  While  the  repeal  of  the  prohibitory  and 
restrictive  duties  of  the  act  of  1842,  and  the  substitution  in  their  place  of  reasonable 
revenue  rates  levied  on  articles  imported  according  to  their  actual  value,  have 
increased  the  revenue  and  augmented  our  foreign  trade,  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
country  have  been  advanced  and  promoted.  The  great  and  important  interests  of 
agriculture,  which  had  been  not  only  too  much  neglected,  but  actually  taxed  under 
the  protective  policy  for  the  benefit  of  other  interests,  have  been  relieved  of  the 
burdens  which  that  policy  imposed  on  them,  and  our  farmers  and  planters,  under  a 
more  just  and  liberal  commercial  policy,  are  finding  new  and  profitable  markets- 
abroad  for  their  augmented  products. 

Our  commerce  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  is  extending  more  widely  the  circle  of 
international  exchanges.  Great  as  has  been  the  increase  of  our  imports  during  the 
past  year,  our  exports  of  domestic  products  st)ld  in  foreign  markets  have  been  still 
greater.  Our  navigating  interest  is  eminently  prosperous.  The  number  of  vessels 
built  in  the  United  States  has  been  greater  than  during  any  preceding  period  of 
equal  length.  Large  profits  have  been  derived  by  those  who  have  constructed,  as 
well  as  by  those  who  have  navigated  them.  Should  the  ratio  of  increase  in  the 
number  of  our  merchant  vessels  be  progressive  and  be  as  great  for  the  future  as  dur 
mg  the  past  year,  the  time  is  not  distant  when  our  tonnage  and  commercial  marine 
will  be  larger  than  that  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world.  While  the  interests  of 
agriculture,  of  commerce,  and  of  navigation  have  been  enlarged  and  invigorated,  iti& 
highly  ffratifyiug  to  observe  that  our  manufactures  are  also  in  a  prosperous  condi- 
tion. None  of  the  ruinous  effects  upon  this  interest  which  were  apprehended  b}^ 
some  as  the  result  of  the  operation  of  the  revenue  system  established  by  the  act  of 
1846  have  been  experienced.  On  the  contrary,  the  number  of  manufactories,  and 
the  amount  of  capital  invested  in  them,  is  steadily  and  rapidly  increasing,  affording 
gratifying  proofs  that  American  enterprise  and  skill  employed  in  this  branch  of 
domestic  industry,  with  no  other  advantages  than  those  fairly  and  incidentally 
accruing  from  a  just  system  of  revenue  duties,  are  abundantly  able  to  meet  success- 
fully all  competition  from  abroad,  and  still  derive  fair  and  remunerating  profits. 
While  capital  invested  in  manufactures  is  yielding  adequate  and  fair  profits  under 
the  new  system,  the  wages  of  labor,  whether  employed  in  manufactures,  agriculture,, 
commerce,  or  navigation,  have  been  augmented. 

The  toiling  millions  whose  daily  labor  furnishes  the  supply  of  food  and  raiment 
and  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  are  receiving  higher  wages  and  more 
steady  and  permanent  employment  than  in  any  other  country,  or  at  any  previous 
period  of  our  own  history.  So  successful  have  been  all  branches  of  our  industry 
that  a  foreign  war,  which  generally  diminishes  the  resources  of  a  nation,  has  in  no- 
essential  degree  retarded  our  onward  progress  or  checked  our  general  prosperity. 
With  such  gratifying  evidences  of  prosperity  and  of  the  successful  operation  of  the 
revenue  act  of  1846,  every  consideration  of  public  policy  recommends  that  it  shall 
remain  unchanged.  It  is  hoped  that  the  system  of  impost  duties  which  it  estab- 
lished may  be  regarded  as  the  permanent  policy  of  the  country,  and  that  the  great 
interests  affected  by  it  may  not  again  be  subject  to  be  injuriously  disturbed,  as  they 
have  heretofore  been,  by  frequent  and  sometimes  sudden  changes. 

TAYLOR'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  24,  1849. 

I  recommend  a  revision  of  the  existing  tariff,  and  its  adjustment  on  a  basis 
which  may  augment  the  revenue.  I  do  not  doubt  the  right  or  duty  of  Congress  to 
encourage  domestic  industry,  which  is  the  great  source  of  national  as  well  as  indi- 
vidual wealth  and  prosperity.  I  look  to  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  Congress  for  the 


tTHE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF.  137 

tion  of  a  system  which  may  place  home  labor  at  last  on  a  sure  and  permanent 
footing,  and  by  due  encouragement  of  manufactures,  give  a  new  and  increased 
stimulus  to  agriculture,  and  promote  the  development  of  our  vast  resources  and 
the  extension  of  our  commerce. 

Fillmore's  first  anntjal  message,  December  2,  1850. 

A  high  tariff  can  never  be  permanent.  It  will  cause  dissatisfaction,  and  will 
be  changed  It  excludes  competition,  and  thereby  invites  the  investment  of  capital 
in  manufactures  to  such  excess  that  when  changed  it  brings  distress,  bankruptcy 
and  ruin  upon  all  who  have  been  misled  by  its  faithless  protection.  What  the 
manufacturer  wants  is  uniformity  and  permanency,  that  he  may  feel  a  confidemie 
that  he  is  not  to  be  ruined  by  sudden  changes. 

PIEROE's  third  annual  message,  DECEMBER  31,  1855. 

The  principle  that  all  moneys  not  required  for  the  current  expenses  of  th« 
Government  should  remain  for  active  employment  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and 
the  conspicuous  fact  that  the  annual  revenue  from  all  sources  exceeds  by  many 
millions  of  dollars  the  amount  needed  for  a  prudent  and  economical  administration 
of  public  affairs,  cannot  fail  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  an  early  revision  and  reduc- 
tion of  the  tariff  of  duties  on  imports.  It  is  now  so  generally  conceded  that  the 
purpose  of  revenue  alone  can  justify  the  imposition  of  duties  on  imports,  that  in 
readjusting  the  impost  tables  and  schedules  which  unquestionably  require  essential 
modifications,  a  departure  from  the  principles  of  the  present  tariff  is  not 
anticipated. 

BUCHANAN'S  FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  8,  1857. 

It  is  this  paper  system  of  extravagant  expansion,  raising  the  nominal  price  of 
every  article  far  beyond  its  real  value,  when  compared  with  the  cost  of  similar 
articles  in  countries  whose  circulation  is  wisely  regulated,  which  has  prevented  us 
from  competing  in  our  own  markets  with  foreign  manufactures,  has  produced 
extravagant  importations,  and  has  counteracted  the  effect  of  the  large  incidental 
protection  afforded  to  our  domestic  manufactures  by  the  present  revenue  tariff. 
But  for  this,  the  branches  of  our  manufactures  composed  of  raw  materials,  the 
production  of  our  own  country — such  as  cotton,  iron,  and  woolen  fabrics — would 
not  only  have  acquired  almost  exclusive  possession  of  the  home  market,  but  would 
have  created  for  themselves  a  foreign  market  throughout  the  world. 

JOHNSON'S  third  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER,  3,  1867. 

The  attention  of  Congress  is  earnestly  invited  to  the  necessity  of  a  thorough 
revision  of  our  revenue  system.  Our  internal- revenue  laws  and  impost  system 
should  be  so  adjusted  as  to  bear  most  heavily  on  articles  of  luxury,  leaving  the 
necessaries  of  life  as  free  from  taxation  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  real  wants  of 
the  Government,  economically  administered.  Taxation  would  not  then  fall  unduly 
on  the  man  of  moderate  means,  and  while  none  would  be  entirely  exempt  from 
assessment,  all,  in  proportion  to  their  pecuniary  abilities, would  contribute  towards  the 
support  of  the  State.  *  *  *  Retrenchment,  reform,  and  economy  should 
be  carried  into  every  branch  of  the  public  service  that  the  expenditures  of  the  Gov- 
ernment may  be  reduced  and  the  people  relieved  from  oppressive  taxation. 

grant's  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEMBER  4, 1871. 

There  are  many  articles  not  produced  at  home,  but  which  enter  largely  into 
general  consumption  through  articles  which  are  manufactured  at  home,  such  as 
medicines  compounded,  &c. ,  &c.,  from  which  very  little  revenue  is  derived,  but  which 
enter  into  general  use.  All  such  articles  I  recommend  to  be  placed  on  the  "free  list." 
Should  a  further  reduction  prove  advisable  I  would  then  recommend  that  it  be  made 
upon  those  articles  which  can  best  bear  it  without  disturbing  home  production  or 
reducing  the  wages  of  American  labor. 


138  THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

grant's  sixth   annual  message,  DECEMBER  7,  1874. 

I  would  suggest  to  Congress  the  propriety  of  readjusting  the  tariff  so  as  to 
increase  the  revenue,  and  at  the  same  time  decrease  the  number  of  articles  upon 
which  the  duties  are  levied.  Those  articles  which  enter  into  our  manufactures,  and 
are  not  produced  at  home,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be  entered  free.  1  hose  articles  of 
manufacture  which  we  produce  a  constituent  part  of,  but  do  not  produce  the  whole, 
that  part  which  we  do  not  produce  should  be  entered  free  also  I  will  instance  fine 
wools,  dyes,  &c.  These  articles  must  be  imported  to  form  a  part  of  the  manufacture 
of  the  higher  grades  of  woolen  goods. 

Chemicals  used  as  dyes  compounded  in  medicines,  and  used  in  various  ways  in 
manufactures,  come  under  this  class.  The  introduction,  free  of  duty,  of  such  wools 
as  we  do  not  produce  would  stimulate  the  manufacture  of  goods  requiring  the  use  of 
those  we  do  not  produce,  and,  therefore,  would  be  a  benefit  lo  home  production. 
There  are  many  articles  entering  into  "home  manufactures"  which  we  do  not  pro- 
duce ourselves,  the  tariff  upon  which  increases  the  cost  of  producing  the  manufac- 
tured article.  All  the  corrections  in  this  regard  are  in  the  direction  of  bringing 
labor  and  capital  in  harmony  with  each  other,  and  of  supplying  one  of  the  elements 
of  prosperity  so  much  needed. 

GARFIELD'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS,  MARCH  4,  1881. 

The  interests  of  agriculture  deserve  more  attention  from  the  Government  than 
they  have  yet  received.  The  farms  of  the  United  States  afford  homes  and  employ- 
ment for  more  than  one-half  our  people,  and  furnish  much  the  largest  part  of  all  our 
exports.  As  the  Government  lights  our  coasts  for  the  protection  of  mariners  and 
for  the  benefit  of  commerce,  so  it  should  give  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil  the  best  lights 
of  practical  science  and  experience.  Our  manufactures  are  rapidly  making  us  indus- 
trially independent,  and  are  opening  to  capital  and  labor  new  and  profitable  fields 
of  employment.    Their  steady  and  healthy  growth  should  still  be  maintained. 

Arthur's  first  annual  message,  December  6,  1881. 

The  tariff  laws  also  need  revision,  but  that  a  due  regard  may  be  paid  to  the 
conflicting  interests  of  our  citizens,  important  changes  should  be  made  with 
caution. 

ARTHUR'S  VETO  OF  THE  RIVER  AND  HARBOR  BILL,  AUGUST  1,  1883. 

The  extravagant  expenditure  of  public  money  is  an  evil  not  to  be  measured  by 
the  value  of  that  money  to  the  people  who  are  taxed  for  it.  They  sustain  a  greater 
injury  in  the  demoralizing  effect  produced  upon  those  who  are  intrusted  with  official 
duty  through  all  the  ramifications  of  Government. 

ARTHUR'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE,  DECEirBER  4,   1883. 

The  present  tariff  system  is  in  many  respects  unjust.  It  makes  unequal  distri- 
butions, both  of  its  burdens  and  its  benefits.  This  fact  was  practically  recognized 
by  a  majority  of  each  House  of  Congress  in  the  passage  of  the  act  creating  the  Tariff 
Commission.  The  report  of  that  commission  will  be  placed  before  you  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  session,  and  will,  I  trust,  afford  you  such  information  as  to  the  condition 
and  prospects  of  the  various  commercial,  agricultural,  manufacturing,  mining  and 
other  interests  of  the  country,  and  contain  such  suggestions  for  statutory  revision  as 
will  practically  aid  your  action  upon  this  important  subject.        *        *        *  * 

If  the  tax  on  domestic  spirits  is  to  be  retained,  it  is  plain,  therefore,  that  large 
reductions  from  the  customs  revenue  are  entirely  feasible.  While  recommending 
this  reduction,  I  am  far  from  advising  the  abandonment  of  the  policy  of  so  discrimi- 
nating in  the  adjustment  of  details  as  to  afford  aid  and  protection  to  domestic  labor. 
But  the  present  system  should  be  so  revised  as  to  equalize  the  public  burden 
among  all  classei  and  occupations,  and  bring  it  into  closer  harmony  with  the  present 
needs  of  industry. 


THE  PRESIDENTS  ON  THE  TARIPP.  139 

Without  entering  into  minute  detail,  which,  under  present  circumstances,  is 
quite  unnecessary,  I  recommend  an  enlargement  of  the  free  list  so  as  to  include 
within  it  the  numerous  articles  which  yield  inconsiderable  revenue,  a  simplification 
of  the  complex  and  inconsistent  schedule  of  duties  upon  certain  manufactures, 
particularly  those  of  cotton,  iron  and  steel,  and  a  substantial  reduction  of  the  duties 
upon  those  articles,  and  upon  sugar,  molasses,  silk,  wool  and  woolen  goods. 

Arthur's  fourth  annual  message,  December  1, 1884. 

Our  system  of  tax  and  tariff  legislation  is  yielding  a  revenue  which  is  in  excess 
of  the  present  needs  of  the  Government.  These  are  the  elements  from  which  it  is 
sought  to  devise  a  scheme  by  which,  without  unfavorably  changing  the  condition 
of  the  workingman,  our  merchant  marine  shall  be  raised  from  its  enfeebled  condition 
and  new  markets  provided  for  the  sale,  beyond  our  borders,  of  the  manifold  fruits  of 
our  industrial  enterprises.  The  problem  is  complex,  and  can  be  solved  by  no  single 
measure  of  innovation  or  reform. 

The  countries  of  the  American  continent  and  the  adjacent  islands  are,  for  the 
United  States,  the  natural  marts  of  supply  and  demand.  It  is  from  them  that  we 
should  obtain  what  we  do  not  produce,  or  do  not  produce  in  sufficiency,  and  it  is  to 
them  that  the  surplus  productions  of  our  fields,  our  mills,  and  our  workshops  should 
flow  under  conditions  that  will  equalize  or  favor  them  in  comparison  with  foreign 
<5ompetition.* 

*  For  President  Cleveland's  opinions  on  this  question,  see  chapter  entitled  "  Cleveland 
on  the  Tariff." 


140  I>£MOCBATIC  S£CR£TAKIES  OF  THE  TRBASUKY. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
DEMOCRATIC  SECRETARIES  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


The  Principles  Laid  Down  hy  Democratic  Finance  Officers 
on  the  Tariff  Question, 


AS  SHOWN  BY  DANIEL  MANNING^  CLEVELAND'S  FIRST  SECRETABY,  IN  HIS 
FIRST  ANNUAL  REPORT,   1885. 

Like  our  currency  laws,  our  tariflTlaws  are  a  legacy  of  war.  If  its  exigencies  ex- 
cuse their  origin,  their  defects  are  unnecessary  after  twenty  years  of  peace.  They 
have  been  retained  without  sifting  or  discrimination,  although  enacted  without 
legislative  debate,  criticism, or  examination. 

A  horizontal  reduction  of  10  per  cent,  was  made  in  1^72,  but  was  repealed  in 
1875,  and  rejected  in  1884.  They  require  at  your  custom-houses  the  employment  of 
a  force  sufficient  to  examine,  appraise,  and  levy  duties  upon  more  than  4,183  differ- 
ent articles. 

Many  rates  of  duty  begun  in  war  have  been  increased  since,  although  the  late 
Tariff  Commission  declared  them  "  injurious  to  the  interests  supposed  to  be  bene- 
fited," and  said  that  a  "  reduction  would  be  conducive  to  the  general  prosperity." 
They  have  been  retained,  although  the  long  era  of  falling  prices,  in  the  case  of  specific 
duties,  has  operated  a  large  increase  in  rates.  They  have  been  retained  at  an  aver- 
age ad  valorem  rate  for  the  last  year  of  over  46  per  cent.,  which  is  but  2^  per  cent, 
less  than  the  highest  rate  of  the  war  period,  and  is  nearly  4  per  cent,  more  than  the 
rate  before  the  latest  revision. 

Some  rates  have  been  retained  after  ruining  the  industries  they  were  meant  to 
advantage.  Other  rates  have  been  retained  after  effecting  a  higher  price  for  a 
domestic  product  at  home  than  it  was  sold  abroad  for.  The  general  high  level  of 
rates  has  been  retained  on  the  theory  of  countervailing  lower  wages  abroad.  wheUy 
in  fact,  the  higher  wages  of  American  labor  are  at  once  the  secret  arid  the  security  of  our 
capacity  to  distance  aU  competition  from  "  pauper  labor,"  in  any  market.  All  changes 
have  left  unchanged,  or  changed  for  the  worst,  by  new  schemes  of  classification  and 
otherwise,  a  complicated,  cumbrous,  intricate  group  of  laws  which  are  not  capable 
of  being  administered  with  impartiality  to  all  our  merchants. 

n. 

THE   SAME  FBINCIPLES   ENFORCED   IN    HIS   SECOND   ANNUAL   BEPOBT| 
MADE  IN  DECEMBER,    1886. 

One  proud  fact  attests  the  substance  of  our  prosperity,  and  is  the  guaranty  as 
well  as  proof  of  our  power  to  hold  against  all  competition  the  markets  of  the  United 
States  for  everything  we  choose  to  dig  or  fabricate  or  grow,  and  to  command  and 
control  for  our  surplus  products,  against  all  rivals,  any  foreign  market. 


DEMOCRATIC  SECRETARIES  OF  THE  TREASURY.  141 

We  pay  to  labor  the  highest  wages  in  the  world.  Highly-paid  labor  signifies 
the  most  efficient  labor — signifies  that  high  wages  are  the  most  profitable  wages — 
signifies  that  the  high  rate  is  earned.  The  highest  wages  to  the  laborer  thus  involve 
and  imply  the  lowest  percentage  of  labor-cost  m  the  product.  But,  other  things 
being  equal,  the  lowest  percentage  of  labor-cost  in  any  product  is  the  guaranty  that 
competition  is  outstripped. 

The  low  wages  of  pauper  labor  signify  least  efficiency,  which  is  but  another 
name  for  highest  p<3rcentage  of  labor-cost  in  the  product.  Other  things  being  equal, 
it  is  obvious  that  high  wages  can  never  be  paid  unless  it  is  profitable  to  pay  them,, 
and  it  can  only  be  a  good  business  to  pay  the  highest  wages,  because  the  efficiency 
of  those  who  earn  them  vindicates  its  superiority  by  the  reduction  of  labor-cost  ia 
the  product. 

EFFICIENCY  OF  HIGH-PAID  LABOR. 

High  wages  to  labor  and  cheaper  product  are  correlative  terms.  Low  wages  to 
labor  and  a  costlier  product  are  correlative  terms.  The  one  implies  the  other  wher- 
ever labor  competes  with  labor  upon  otherwise  equal  ground.  What  pauper  stands 
any  chance  competing  with  the  intelligent  artisan  ?  The  "pauper- labor-of- Europe" 
cry  is  a  bugaboo,  except  that,  in  truth,  our  war-tariff  taxes  favor  "pauper-labor"  at 
the  expense  of  American  labor.  Its  products  are  not  fenced  out  by  our  tariff 
laws.  They  come  in  because  we  om-selves  destroy  our  own  easy  power  of  suc- 
cessful competition,  even  in  our  home  market.  By  tariff  taxes  on  raw  materials 
we  fence  in  our  own  surplus  products,  making  them  cost  too  much  to  compete 
at  home,  and,  of  course,  too  much  to  compete  abroad,  with  manufactures  from 
untaxed  raw  materials.  In  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  we  can,  of  course, 
make  no  better  headway  against  European  competition  than  at  home.  Diplo 
macy  is  not  an  acceptable  substitute  for  trade  and  its  laws.  Our  highly-paid 
labor  ensures  the  lowest  percentage  of  labor- cost  in  the  product,  but  our  tariff 
taxes  upon  raw  materials  handicap  American  manufacturers  with  the  highest  per- 
centage of  cost  of  material  in  the  product.  The  result  is  that  capital  and  labor 
united  in  our  American  industrial  products,  despite  our  advantage  in  the  most 
highly-paid  and  efficient  labor,  are  put  into  a  hopeless  competition  with  the  industrial 
products  of  other  nations,  none  of  which  taxes  raw  materials.  The  advantage  we 
possess  in  the  most  efficient  and  highly  paid  labor  in  the  world  is  nullified  by  the 
self-imposed  disadvantage  of  tariff-taxed  raw  material,  with  which  our  labor 
is  inwrought. 

OtJR  SUICIDAL  TAXES  ON  RAW  MATERIALS. 

The  total  value  of  our  domestic  exports  for  the  last  fiscal  year  was  almost  ex- 
actly $666,000,000,  of  which  86  per  cent,  were  the  products  of  our  fields,  forests, 
fisheries  and  mines,  and  16  per  cent,  only  were  the  sum  total  of  manufactured  pro- 
ducts in  which  American  labor  was  inwrought.         *  *  *        *        *        «- 

Prolonged  war  tariff  taxes,  incompetent  and  brutal  as  a  scheme  of  revenue, 
fatal  to  the  extension  of  our  foreign  markets,  and  disorderly  to  our  domestic  trade, 
have,  in  the  last  resort,  acted  and  reacted  with  most  ruinous  injury  upon  our  wage 
earners.  As  the  more  numerous  part  of  our  population,  our  wage  earners  are  of 
course  the  first,  the  last,  and  the  most  tobe  affected  by  injurious  laws.  Every  gov- 
ernment by  true  statesmen  will  watchfully  regard  their  condition  and  interests.  If 
these  are  satisfactory,  nothing  else  can  be  of  very  momentous  importance ;  but  our 
so-called  protective  statesmanship  has  disfavored  them  altogether.  Encumbering 
with  clumsy  help  a  few  thousand  employers,  it  has  trodden  down  the  millions  of 
wage  earners.  It  has  for  twenty-one  years  denied  them  even  the  peaceable  fruits  of 
liberty. 

UNTAX  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SIXTY  MILLION  PEOPLE. 

I  respectfully  recommend  to  Congress  that  they  confer  upon  the  wage  earners  of 
the  United  States  the  boon  of  untaxed  clothing,  and  in  order  thereto,  the  immediate 
passage  of  an  act  simply  and  solely  placing  raw  wool  upon  the  free  list. 


143  DEMOCRATIC  SECRETARIES  OP  THE  TREASUHY. 

Of  course,  a  repeal  of  the  duty  on  raw  wool  Bhould  be  followeJ  by,  but  need 
not  wait  for,  a  compensating  adjustment  of  the  duties  on  manufactured  woolens, 
'whilst  onr  manufacturers  are  learning  the  lesson  that  with  the  highest  paid  and 
most  efficient  labor  in  the  world,  with  the  most  skilled  management  and  the  best 
inventive  appliances,  they  need  fear  no  competition  from  any  rivals  in  the  world,  in 
home  or  foreign  markets,  so  long  as  they  can  buy  their  wools  free,  of  every  kind. 

But  the  common  daily  clothing  of  the  American  people  need  not  be  taxed ;  there- 
fore, it  ought  not  to  be  taxed ;  to  free  their  clothing  of  taxes  will  finally  reduce,  by 
half,  their  expense  for  one  of  the  three  great  necessities  of  life,  and  thus  enlarge 
honestly  and  justly  the  income  of  every  wage  earner  in  the  United  States. 


III. 

THE  THEORIES  LAID  DOWN  B7  SECRETARY  PAIRCHILD  ON  TARIFF  ABUSES  IN 
ANNUAL  REPORT,  DECEMBER,  1887. 

There  is  left  only  the  revenue  from  customs  taxation  to  be  considered.  Here 
is  where  the  reduction  should  be  made,  and  while  reducing,  advantage  should  be 
taken  of  the  opportunity  to  reform  the  abuses  and  inequalities  of  the  tarifT  laws. 
Add  to  the  free  list  a^  many  articles  as  possible.  Reduce  duties  upon  every  duti- 
able article  to  the  lowest  point  possible ;  but  in  ascertaining  these  possibilities  the 
present  situation  of  labor  and  business  must  always  be  kept  in  mind. 

While  not  admitting  that  labor  elsewhere  can  injure  labor  as  a  whole  in  this 
country  by  giving  it  clothing  and  tools  at  less  cost  than  it  can  make  them  here  for 
itself,  no  more  than  the  sun,  the  winds,  the  waters,  and,  indeed,  all  of  the  forces  of 
nature  injure  the  labor  of  the  world  because  they  do  for  mankind  far  more  of  man's 
work  than  he  does  himself,  yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  cheaper  labor  of  other 
countries  might  now  injure  a  portion  of  the  labor  of  this  country  W  the  articles 
made  by  the  former  were  admitted  here  upon  terms  which  would  enable  our  people 
to  buy  them  for  the  prices  at  which  they  are  sold  in  other  countries.  If  this  obli- 
gation, which  it  is  claimed  that  labor  as  a  whole  has  assumed  toward  labor 
engaged  in  particular  industries  in  this  country,  does  exist,  it  sliould  be  sacredly 
kept,  however  unwise  and  ill-considered  we  may  believe  its  assumption  to  have  been ; 
and  whether  the  existence  of  this  obligation  is  admitted  or  not,  the  fact  of  this 
present  employment  of  a  portion  of  the  laborers  of  the  country  should  always  be 
in  mind  when  making  changes  in  the  tariff,  to  the  end  that  their  interests  may  not 
auffer  thereby. 

REGARD  FOR  INTERESTS  ESTABLISHED  UNDER  THE  LAW. 

Under  the  encouragement  offered  by  the  tariff  laws,  large  sums  of  money  have 
Taeen  invested  in  manufacturing  enterprises,  and  the  capital  thus  invested  must  also 
be  remembered,  for  it  is  important  to  the  country  that  it  should  receive  reasonable 
reward,  and  its  power  to  pay  fair  wages  to  the  labor  which  it  employs  depends 
upon  its  own  prosperity.  But  it  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  no  part  of 
the  alleged  compact,  nor  should  it  be  claimed  on  any  other  ground,  that  the  labor 
engaged  in  the  tariff-protected  industries  should  be  rewarded  beyond  the  general 
labor  of  the  country,  due  allowance  being  made  for  skill  and  experience,  or  that  the 
capital  invested  in  them  should  return  vast  fortunes  to  its  owners. 

The  country  was  promised  the  benefit  of  whatever  competition  might  naturally 
arise  among  the  manufacturers  when  they  should  be  once  established,  and  to  this  it 
has  a  right.  The  tariff  laws  are  the  country's  laws ;  they  do  not  belong  to  any 
section  or  to  any  class;  their  amendment  should  be  approached  in  a  spirit  of  justice, 
and  with  full  consideration  of  all  of  the  obligations  which  exist  between  sections  of 
the  country  toward  each  other,  and  of  those  engaged  in  one  pursuit  toward  those 
engaged  in  other  pursuits,  but  it  should  also  be  approached  with  courage,  and  with 
a  determination  to  dispose  of  this  business  in  the  same  way  that  other  business  is 
disposed  of,  and  with  full  regard  to  the  rights  and  equities,  as  well  as  the  interests 
of  all  concerned 


H 


I 

f 


DEMOCKATIC  SECRETAKIES  OF  THE  TREASURY.  14S 

IV. 

ECONOMIC  PRINCIPLES  "WHICH  GUIDED    ROBERT    J.  WALKER    IN  PREPARING 

THE   TARIFF    OF    1846. 


'  In  suggesting  improvements  in  the  revenue  laws  the  following  principles  have 
been  adopted : 

1.  That  no  more  money  should  be  collected  than  is  necessary  for  the  wants  of 
the  Go"vemment  economically  administered. 

3.  That  no  duty  be  imposed  on  any  article  above  the  lowest  rate  which  will 
yi^ld  the  largest  amount  of  revenue. 

3.  That  below  such  rate  discrimination  may  be  made,  descending  in  the  scale  of 
duties;  or,  for  imperative  reasons,  the  article  may  be  placed  in  the  list  of  those  free 
from  all  duty. 

4.  That  the  maximum  rate  of  duty  should  be  imposed  on  luxuries. 

5.  That  all  minimums,  and  all  specific  duties,  should  be  abolished  and  ad 
valorem  duties  substituted  in  their  place.  Care  being  taken  to  guard  against  fraud- 
ulent invoices  and  undervaluation,  and  to  assess  the  duty  upon  the  actual  market 
value. 

6  That  the  duty  should  be  so  imposed  as  to  operate  as  equally  as  possible 
throughout  the  Union,  discriminating  neither  for  nor  against  any  class  or  sec- 
tion. 

In  one  of  his  annual  messages  Mr.  Jefferson  recommended  to  Congress  "the 
suppression  of  the  duties  on  salt."  A  large  portion  of  this  duty  is  exhausted  in 
heavy  expenses  of  measuring  salt,  and  in  large  sums  paid  for  fishing  bounties  and 
allowances  in  lieu  of  the  drawback  of  the  duty,  both  which  expenditures  would  fall 
with  a  repeal  of  the  duty;  which  repeal,  therefore,  can  cause  no  considerable  reduc- 
tion of  the  revenue.  Salt  is  a  necessary  of  life,  and  should  be  as  free  from  tax  as  air 
and  water.  It  is  used  in  large  quantities  by  the  farmer  and  planter;  and  to  the  poor 
this  tax  operates  most  oppressively  not  only  in  the  use  of  the  article  itself,  but  as 
combined  with  salted  provisions.  The  salt  made  abroad  by  solar  evaporation  is  also 
most  pure  and  wholesome,  and,  as  conservative  of  health,  should  be  exempt  from 
taxation. 

THE  POWER  TO  LEVY  TAXES  FOR  REVENUES. 

The  whole  power  to  collect  taxes,  whether  direct  or  indirect,  is  conferred  by  the 
same  clause  of  the  Constitution.  The  words  are:  "The  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises."  A  direct  tax  or  excise,  not 
for  revenue  but  for  protection,  clearly  would  not  be  within  the  legitimate  object  of 
taxation,  and  yet  it  would  be  as  much  so  as  a  duty  imposed  for  a  similar  purpose. 
The  power  is  "to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises."  A  duty  must 
be  laid  only  that  it  may  be  collected;  and  if  it  is  so  imposed  that  it  can  not  be  col- 
lected in  whole  or  in  part  it  violates  the  declared  object  of  the  granted  power.  To 
lay  all  duties  so  high  that  none  of  them  could  be  collected  would  be  a  prohibitory 
tariff.  To  lay  a  duty  on  any  one  article  so  high  that  it  could  not  be  collected  would 
be  a  prohibitory  tariff  upon  that  article. 

If  a  duty  of  100  per  cent,  were  imposed  upon  all  or  upon  a  number  of  articles, 
so  as  to  diminish  the  revenue  upon  all  or  any  of  them  it  would  operate  as  a  partial 
prohibition.  A  partial  and  a  total  prohibition  are  alike  in  violation  of  the  true 
object  of  the  taxing  power.  They  only  differ  in  degree,  and  not  in  principle.  If 
the  revenue  limit  may  be  exceeded  by  1  per  cent.,  it  may  be  exceeded  b}'- 100.  If  it  may 
be  exceeded  upon  any  one  article,-  it  may  be  exceeded  on  all;  and  there  is  no  escape 
from  this  conclusion,  but  in  contending  that  Congress  may  lay  duties  on  all  articles 
so  high  as  to  collect  no  revenue  and  operate  as  a  total  prohibition.  The  Constitu- 
tion declares  that  "all  bills  for  raismg  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives." A  tariff  bill,  it  is  conceded,  can  only  originate  in  the  House,  because 
it  is  a  bill  for  raising  revenue.  That  is  the  only  proper  object  of  such  a  bill.  A 
tariff  is  a  bill  to  "lay  and  collect  taxes."    It  is  a  bill  for  "raising  revenue;"  and 


144  DEMOCRATIC  SECnp:TARIE9  OF  THE  TREASUrY. 

whenever  it  departs  from  that  object,  in  whole  or  in  part, either  by  total  or  partial 
prohibition,  it  violates  the  purpose  of  the  granted  power. 

A  FROTBCrnrB  tariff  WORKa  TO  THE  BENEFIT  OF  CAPITAL. 

A  protective  tariff  is  a  question  regarding  the  enhancement  of  the  profits  of 
•capital.  That  is  its  object,  aod  not  to  augment  the  wages  of  labor,  which  would 
reduce  those  profits.  It  is  a  question  of  percentage,  and  is  to  decide  whether 
money  invested  in  our  manufactures  shall,  by  Bpeciallegislation,  yield  a  profit  of  10. 
20  or  30  per  cent ,  or  whether  it  shall  remain  satisfied  with  a  dividend  equal  to  thiit 
accruing  from  the  same  capital  invested  in  agriculture,  commerce  or  navigation 

The  present  tariff  is  unjust,  and  unequal  as  well  in  its  details  as  in  the  principles 
upon  which  it  ia  founded.  On  some  articles  the  duties  are  entirely  prohibitory,  aod 
on  others  there  is  a  partial  prohibition.  It  discriminates  in  favor  of  manufactures, 
and  against  agriculture,  by  imposing  many  higher  duties  upon  the  manufactured 
fabric  than  upon  the  agricultural  product  out  of  which  i»  is  made.  It  discriminates  in 
favor  of  the  manufacturer,  and  against  the  merchant,  by  injuriousrestrictionsupon 
trade  and  commerce,  and  against  the  ship-building  and  navigating  interest  by  heavy 
duties  on  almost  every  article  ased  in  building  or  navigating  vessels.  It  discrimi- 
nates in  favor  of  manufactures,  and  against  exports,  which  are  as  truly  the  product  of 
American  industry  as  manufactures.  It  discriminates  in  favor  of  the  rich  and 
against  the  poor,  by  high  duties  upon  nearly  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  by  mini- 
mum and  specific  duties,  rendering  the  tax  upon  the  real  value  much  higher  oa  the 
•cheaper  than  upon  the  finer  article. 

If  the  marshal  were  sent  by  the  Federal  Government  to  collect  a  direct  tax 
from  the  whole  people,  to  be  paid  over  to  manufacturing  capitalists  to  enable  them 
to  sustain  their  business  or  realize  a  larger  profit,  it  would  be  the  same  in  effect  as 
the  protective  duty,  which,  when  analyzed  in  its  simplest  elements  and  reduced  to 
actual  results,  is  a  mere  substraction  of  so  much  money  from  the  people  to  increase 
the  resources  of  the  protected  classes.  Legislation  for  classes  is  against  the  doc- 
trine of  equal  rights,  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions,  and,  it  is  appre- 
hended by  many,  may  become  but  another  form  for  privileged  orders  under  the  name 
of  protection,  instead  of  privilege— indical(-d  here  not  by  rank  or  title,  bui  by 
profits  and  dividends  extracted  from  the  many,  by  taxes  upon  them,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  few. 


THB   STATE    DEPARTMENT.  145 


CHAPTER  XIY. 
THE  STATE  DEPARTMENT. 


THE   CAREFULNESS  AND   CONSERVATISM  WITH  WHICH   THE   FOREIGN 
RELATIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  HAVE  BEEN  MANAGED. 


Asserting  the  Rights  of  Citizens  in  Great  Britain  and  Other 

Countries.    The  Senate  Inserts  Offensive  Terms  in  the 

Extradition  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.    Exclusion 

of  the  Chinese  for  Twenty  Years  Defeated  hy 

Republican  Obstruction. 


When  the  "^Tnited  States  of  America  declared  their  independence,  and  assumed 
their  place  among  the  sovereign  states  of  the  world,  their  form  of  government  as 
well  as  their  geographical  position,  rendered  it  proper  and  expedient  that  they 
should  proceed  to  work  out  their  destiny  free  from  such  entanglements  with  the 
monarchies  of  the  old  world  as  would  prevent  the  new  Republic  from  freely  shaping 
its  policy  to  suit  the  needs  and  conditions  of  its  independent  and  unique  position. 
With  that  marvelous  foresight  which  characterized  their  proceedings,  the  founders 
of  our  Government,  seeing  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of  such  a  course,  did  not  fail, 
by  their  acts  and  declarations,  firmly  to  fix  our  policy  in  the  direction  of  independ- 
ence and  freedom  from  constraint.  "The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,"  said  Wash- 
ington, "in  regard  to  foreign  nations  is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to 
have  with  them  as  little  political  connection  as  possible.  *  *  *  Europe 
has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us  have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation." 

The  same  idea  was  tersely  expressed  by  Mr.  JeflTerson  in  his  first  inaugural 
address,  when  he  described  the  true  policy  of  his  government  as  "  peace,  comnaerce 
and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none." 

As  a  logical  result  of  this  policy,  a  Democratic  President,  jVIr.  Monroe,  promul- 
gated the  doctrine  which  bears  his  name,  that  as  we  would  not  intervene  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe,  the  United  States  should  not  consent  to  the  further  interference 
af  European  governments  in  the  affairs  of  this  continent  for  the  purpose  of  spread- 
ing their  system  here  and  of  controlling  the  destinies  of  the  United  States  and  of  its 
jister  Republics  in  America.    This  principle  was  adopted  by  the  Government  of  the 

(ted  States,  not  merely  as  a  matter  of  safety.   It  was  also  a  recognition  of  the  right 


146  THE  STATE    DEPABTMEI^T. 

of  those  Republics  to  manage  their  own  affairs  and  to  settle  their  own  disputes  as 
independent  States,  free  from  the  dictation  of  foreign  governments,  including  that  of 
the  United  States. 

CONFEREKCB  OP  AMERICAN  STATES. 

CJongress  has  recently  passed  an  act,  which  the  President  has  approved,  directing 
him  to  invite  representatives  of  the  Governments  of  America  south  of  the  United 
States  to  participate  in  a  congress  to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Washington  in  the  year 
1889,  to  consider  questions  of  common  concern.  The  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  success  of  that  conference  is  the  hostile  sentiment  created  in  the  peoples  to 
which  the  act  refers,  by  the  unwarrantable  and  reckless  course  of  a  Repubhcan 
Secretary  of  State,  who,  by  his  utter  disregard  of  the  doctrines  of  international  law, 
and  of  the  moral  principles  which  govern  the  intercourse  of  nations,  sowed  the  seeds 
of  discord  and  alienation  among  those  whom  nature  has  made  our  neighbors,  and 
whom  just  and  honorable  dealing  should  make  our  friends. 

To  "guano  diplomacy,"  the  name  popularly  given  to  that  unprecedented  thmg^ 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  a  foreign  policy  based  upon  fraudulent  claims,  the  dis- 
covery of  Mr.  Blaine,  we  are  indebted  for  a  condition  of  things,  which  would 
seem  incredible  if  it  were  not  proved  by  oflScial  records.  While  It  must  bring  the 
blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  every  true  American,  yet  it  is  a  fact  in  our  history 
which  we  are  compelled  to  face  when  we  consider  that  the  election  of  a  Republican 
President  would  probably  mean  the  revival  of  the  policy,  and  with  the  history 
of  which  the  country  was  made  familiar  during  the  Congressional  investigation  of 
the  matter  and  by  the  developments  of  the  last  campaign. 


IL 
BLAINE'S   PRESSURE   OF   BOGUS   CLAIMS. 

HOW  THE  STATE  DEPARTMENT  WAS  USED  TO  ANNOY  AND  OPPRESS  THE   8MALI* 
REPUBLICS  OP  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

Among  the  actors  under  Mr.  Blaine  in  this  reckless  and  disastrous  guano  spec- 
ulation was  Mr.  Levi  Morton,  then  United  States  Minister  to  France  and  now  the 
Republican  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

As  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  plunder  against  Peru  and  Chili,  Mr.  Blaine  had 
given  his  support  to  Garcia  Calderon  as  President  of  Peru  as  against  other  Peruvian 
aspirants,  and  had  instructed  the  American  Minister  to  recognize  his  government. 
No  sooner  was  Calderon  in  office  than  the  bogus  Shipherd  claims  which  have  been 
above  described,  were  presented  to  him  for  acceptance.  At  the  same  time,  as 
another  part  of  the  scheme,  a  French  company  called  the  **  Credit  Industrielle  " 
appeared  upon  the  scene  and  expressed  a  willingness  to  pay  the  Shipherd  claims 
and  take  from  Calderon  as  security  an  assignment  of  all  the  guano  and  nitrate 
deposits  of  Peru.  This  French  company  had  first  made  a  contract  with  the  bank- 
ing house  of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Co. ,  of  which  the  present  Republican  Vice-Presiden- 
tial candidate  was  then  President  as  well  as  United  States  Minister  to  France,  under 
which  that  house  was  to  have  a  monopoly  of  all  American  shipments  of  nitrate  and 


1 


THE    STATE    DEPAKTMENT.  147 

guano  from  Peru  on  a  commission  of  5  per  cent.  Being  thus  connected  wiih  ihe 
scheme,  ]\Ir.  Moriou  iheu  proceeded,  iinder  the  instructions  of  Mr.  B  aine,  to  induce 
the  Government  of  the  French  Republic  to  recognize  the  Calderon  Government. 
This  was  a  direct  invitation  to  a  European  Government  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of 
an  American  Republic  "  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  it,"  which  Mr.  Monroe,  in 
1823,  in  the  famous  doctrine  that  bears  his  name,  declared  that  the  United  States 
would  never  permit  any  E\iropean  Government  to  do.  The  Calderon  Government 
did  not  represent  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Peru,  and  Mr.  Morton  was  compelled 
to  report  that  the  French  Government  refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  plot  to  force  it 
upon  Peru  for  speculative  purposes.  In  a  letter  bearing  date  October  20.  1881,  Mr. 
Morton  reported  to  Mr.  Blaine  the  result  of  an  interview  with  President  Gr^vy  as 
follows: 

"I  remarked  that  the  United  States  and  many  other  oouatrit; ,  had  already  recogrnized 
the  Calderon  government,  to  which  he  replied  that  France  had  not  yet  done  so,  because  it 
seemed  to  her  that  the  Calderon  government  had  rather  the  support  of  the  Chilian  goverii- 
ment  than  of  the  people  of  Peru  ;  but  that  as  soon  as  it  appeared  evident  that  it  was  nationa 
in  its  character,  France  would  recognize  it  with  pleasure." 

Mr.  Blaine  did  not  even  then  give  up  the  hope  of  inducing  France  to  recogniae 
Calderon,  and  on  the  14th  of  November,  1881,  telegraphed  for  further  information. 
To  this  Mr.  Morton  hopelessly  replied :  "The  inaications  of  recognition  ol  the  Cal- 
deron government  seem  less  lavorable."  Thus  ended  the  endeavors  of  Messrs. 
Blaine  and  Morton  to  induce  France  to  enter  into  their  speculation. 

A  PREPOSTEROUS  CLAIM  FOR  $50,000,000. 

But  the  adventures  of  Mr.  Blaine,  as  a  promoter  of  bogus  claims,  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  west  coast  ol  South  America,  but  extended  all  the  way  around  to  Brazil 
against  the  government  of  which  country  he  presented,  "at  the  request  of  S.  B,  Elkins, 
Esquire,"  a  baseless  claim  for  $50,535,000.  The  original  claimant  was  a  man  named 
James  C.  Jewett,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  claim  are  fully  set  forth  in  Senate, 
Ex.  Doc.  No.  133,  48th  Congress,  1st  seesion.  As  appears  by  that  document  one  B. 
J.  Newburg,  hearing  of  what  Jewett  was  doing,  protested  to  the  Department  of 
State  that  Jewett  had  been  "stealing  his  thunder."  He  alleged  that  he  himself  was 
the  discoverer  of  the  guano  deposits  claimed  by  Jewett,  who  heard  him  talking 
about  them  and  proceeded  to  make  up  a  claim  to  them. 

The  case  was  first  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  State  Department  in  December, 
1879,  Mr.  Evarts  being  Secretary  of  State,  by  the  diplomatic  representative  of  Brazil 
in  Washington,  who  transmitted  to  the  Department  a  protest  in  which  he  stated  that 
Jewett  had  addressed  to  the  Brazilian  legation  a  copy  of  various  aflldavits  alleging 
the  discovery  in  the  territory  of  Brazil  of  certain  guano  deposits.  He  said  that 
Jewett  had  already  sent  a  vessel  to  bring  away  a  cargo,  and  still  another  was  about 
to  sail,  although  the  previous  consent  of  the  Brazilian  Government  to  the  removal 
of  the  guano  had  not  been  obtained. 

About  the  same  time  Jewett  presented  his  case  to  the  State  Department  in  the 
form  of  a  claim  against  Brazil,  but  Mr.  Evarts  declined  upon  the  evidence  to  do 
more  tban  instruct  our  Minister  to  Brazil  to  aid  Jewett  in  any  way  that  might  be 
convenient  and  proper  to  obtain  a  concession.  This  concession  Jewett  never 
received.  A  temporary  permit  for  the  removal  of  a  cargo,  issued  by  the 
Brazilian  Minister  of  Agriculture  nearly  four  months  after  Jewett  .  had 
10 


148  THE    STATB    DBPAHTMENT. 

MBit  out  the  vessels  above  referred  to,  and  after  they  had  been  to  the  guano 
deposits  and  departed,  was  withdrawn  before  it  was  acted  on  by  the  claimant. 
It  appeared  that  there  was  no  law  of  Brazil  given  to  alleged  discoverers  of  guano 
,  deposits  an  interest  therein,  and  that  no  part  of  the  public  domain  of  the  country  can 
be  alienated  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress.  Nevertheless  Mr.  Blaine,  "at  the 
request  of  S.  B.  Elkins,  Esq.,"  presented  a  claim  against  the  Government  of  Brazil  for 
the  alleged  value,  according  to  Jewett's  own  statement,  of  all  the  guano  deposits  on 
l^e  island  of  Fernando  de  Noronha,  on  Rocas  Island,  and  the  Abrolhos  Islands, 
embracing  Sand  Cay,  Guavita  Cay,  Santa  Barbara  Cay,  Redonda  Cay,  Seriba  Cay, 
and  South  West  Cay.  On  the  alleged  value  of  the  guano  so  claimed,  Jewett  gener- 
ously proposed  to  allow  the  Government  of  Brazil  $1.10  per  ton  on  the  mineral 
dj^posits  removed  from  their  territory,  but  he  included  a  charge  of  over  $20,000  for 
the  expenses  of  the  vessels  he  sent  out  before  he  had  even  a  temporary  permit  from 
the  Brazilian  Government. 

In  directing  Mr.  Osborn,  United  States  Minister  at  Rio,  and  his  own  appointee 
(Mr.  Hilliard,  who  held  the  position  when  Mr.  Blaine  came  in  and  had  protested 
against  the  whole  transaction,  having  been  displaced)  to  present  the  claim  to  the 
Brazilian  Government,  Mr.  Blaine  wrote  as  follows  : 

"I  am  not  sufficiently  informed  as  to  the  law  of  Brazil  to  know  how  far  its  formal 
requirements  as  to  the  mere  Qtiestion  of  right  and  ii<^«  would  nullify  this  action  by  its  Govern- 
ment (in  granting  a  temporary  permit),  but  I  do  know  that  in  justice  and  in  equity  a 
responsibility  has  been  incurred  which  cannot  be  escaped.  *  *  ♦  If,asMr.  Jewettseema 
to  apprehend,  advantage  is  to  be  taken  of  the  want  of  formal  regularity  in  his  application 
to  give  to  other  parties  the  benefit  of  the  concession,  you  can  represent  strongly  to  the 
Brazilian  Government  the  hardship  and  injustice  of  such  a  proceeding." 

It  does  not  appear  that  this  claim  was  ever  pressed  by  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  as 
to  whom  it  should,  in  justice,  be  said  that,  immediately  upon  assuming  the  oflQce  of 
Secretary  of  State,  he  reversed  Mr.  Blaine's  meddlesome  interference  between  Chili 
and  Peru, 

MR.   BAYARD   TO   MR.   JARVIS. 

When  the  present  administration  came  into  power  Jewett  appeared  again  and 
Wought  hi3  case  to  the  attention  of  Mr.  Bayard,  whose  treatment  of  the  case  is 
ahown  by  the  following  despatch  sent  by  him  to  our  Minister  to  Brazil : 

Dbpabtmhnt  of  State,  Washington,  September  8, 1886. 
♦         **'  ****•♦**♦• 

The  claim  of  Mr.  Jewett  had  been  previously  twice  adversely  reported  to  the  then  Sec- 
retary of  State  by  the  examiner  of  claims,  and  these  reports  approved  by  the  Secretary, 
who,  on  March  5, 1881,  announced  to  Mr.  Jewett  that  their  further  official  presentatloa 
oould  not  be  made  by  this  Government. 

The  views  subsequently  expressed  by  Mr.  Blaine,  Secretary  of  State,  under  a  subse- 
quent administration,  under  dates  of  August,  8, 1881,  and  December  17, 1881,  in  his  instruc- 
tions to  Mr.  Osborn,  youi  predecessor,  would  seem  to  be  a  practical  reversal  of  the 
opinion  and  action  of  his  predecessor  in  office,  Mr.  Evarts,  and  are  not  accepted  by  m« 
flither  as  to  the  conclusions  ot  law  or  fact  which  they  contain. 

I  fail  to  discover  in  the  papers  submitted  any  such  formal  or  unequivocal  con  jsssion  f 
Mr.  Jewett  by  the  Government  of  Brazil  as  is  plainly  requisite  under  the  laws  of  that 
•ountry  to  vest  in  him,  as  grantee,  the  right  to  excavate  and  use  mineral  or  other  natural 
deposits  of  phosphate  earths  which  may  have  been  discovered  within  its  territories,  jiij;, 
•a  the  contrary,  the  prompt  and  decided  refusal  of  Brazil  to  make  any  such  conoeseiOB  t* 
Mr.  Jewett  appears  with  entire  clearness  and  unmistakable  force. 


I 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  Ii9 

The  utmost  right  that  can  be  urged  on  behalf  of  Mr  Jewett  would  be  that  in  ignorance 
of  the  laws  of  Brazil  he  had  suffered  himself  to  be  misled  into  the  formation  of  sanguine 
but  groundless  speculations,  which  induced  the  outlay  of  some  money  by  him  in  fitting 
out  two  small  vessels  for  the  transportation  of  mineral  deposits  in  advance  of  a  legal  oon- 
oeasion  by  the  Government  of  Brazil,  which  he  was  notified  was  essential  and  requisite, 
but  which  he  never  received. 

MR.  BAYARD  TO  MR.  JEWBTT. 

With  every  desire  to  protect  the  interest  and  promote  the  Just  claims  of  Amerioan 
citizens  in  foreign  lands,  I  do  not  feel  justified  in  lending  the  countenance  or  aid  of  the 
United  States  ofiBcials  to  such  demands  as  are  set  forth  in  your  statement  of  claims  against 
the  Government  of  Brazil  accompanying  your  memorial,  dated  June  13,  1881,  to  this 
Department,  and  which  was  one  of  the  inclosures  of  Mr.  Blaine's  dispatch  of  December 
17, 1881,  to  Mr.  Osborn. 

This  claim  is  asserted  for  the  egregious  sum  of  f r)0,525,000,  and  when  its  alleged  basis  is 
examined  in  the  ex  parte  statements,  aflldavits  and  letters  presented  by  you  and  on  your 
behalf,  the  disproportion  between  any  possible  loss  incurred  by  you  and  the  amount 
claimed  by  you  from  Brazil  is  enormous.  Such  a  claim  so  stated  shocks  the  moral  sense, 
and  cannot  be  held  to  be  within  the  domain  of  reason  or  justice. 

It  would  be  an  act  of  international  unfriendliness  for  the  United  States  to  lend  them- 
^selves  in  any  way  or  to  any  degree  in  urging,  much  less  enforcing,  such  a  demand  upon  a 
country  with  whom  they  are  or  desire  to  remain  on  terms  of  amity. 

Propositions  have  been  made  and  are  pending  in  the  legislative  branch  to  invite  the 
South  American  Governments  and  people  to  enter  into  closer  ties  of  commercial  and 
political  intercourse  with  uf,  but  to  connect  our  Government,  even  remotely  or  unoffi- 
cially, with  the  favorable  presentation  or  d  mand  of  such  a  claim  as  this  of  yours  would  be 
utterly  inconsistent  with  professions  of  amity  or  the  desire  to  promote  closer  commercial 
relations. 

I  therefore  return  the  protest  as  inclosed  by  you,  and  decline  to  transmit  it  to  the 
U  nited  States  minister  at  Brazil,  or  to  instruct  him  to  present  it  oflacially  or  otherwise. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  Department  of  State  has  been  engaged  by  honorable  and 
just  methods  in  restoring  confidence  in  the  good  faith  of  the  United  States,  which 
such  conduct  as  that  above  described  had  done  so  much  to  destroy. 


III. 
THE  EQUALITY  OP  NATIONS. 

THE  ENCOURAGEMENT  WHICH    HAS    BEEN   GIVEN   TO  FRIENDLY  RELATIONS  WITH 
THE  SMALLER    STATES  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Not  only  has  the  State  Department  under  Mr.  Bayard  sought  in  this  manner  to 
preserve  the  good  faith  of  the  Government,  but  it  has  recognized  the  equal  right  of 
every  nation,  great  as  well  as  small,  weak  as  well  as  strong,  to  just  and  respectful 
treatment. 

No  better  evidence  of  this  can  be  found  than  in  Mr.  Bayard's  treatment  of  the 
Pelletier  and  Lazaie  awards  against  Hayti.  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  enter  into  an 
extended  examination  of  the  claim  of  Lazare.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  his  claim  waa 
based  upon  a  contract  which  he  made  with  the  Ilaytien  Government  to  assume  the 
management  of  a  bank  at  Port-au  Prince,  and  which  he  failed  to  perform.  The 
daim,  being  one  of  contract,  was  one  which  this  Government  was  precluded ,  by  the 
principles  of  international  law,  from  undertaking  to  collect  by  force,  to  say  nothing 


150  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

of  the  fact  that,  as  is  now  known ,  Lazare  utterly  failed  to  perform  his  obligations 
Indeed,  after  rendering  his  award,  Mr.  ex- Justice  Strong,  the  arbitrator,  asked  that 
the  award  be  reopened. 

It  should  be  observed  that  both  the  Pelletier  and  the  Lazare  claims  were  referrec 
to  arbitration  under  a  protocol  signed  by  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Mr.  Preston,  Minister  of  Hayti,  on  May  24,  1884.  This  agreement  was  never  sub 
mitted  to  the  Senate,  and  hence  never  became  a  law  of  the  land,  although  it  purported 
to  confer  judicial  powers  on  the  arbitrator,  including  the  power  to  take  testimony 
on  oath  before  him,  which  he  did. 

This  protocol  was  not  signed  by  the  representatives  of  Hayti  voluntarily.  On 
the  contrary,  Hayti  had  been  assured  by  Mr.  Evarts,  Secretary  of  State,  that  unless 
she  either  paid  or  arbitrated  the  claim  of  Pelletier,  the  United  States  would  inter- 
vene by  force.  These  instructions  of  Mr.  Evarts  were  communicated  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  Hayti  by  Mr.  Langston,  United  States  Minister  there  at  the  time,  in  the 
following  words : 

"I  am  instructed  then,  should  your  Government  desire  to  make  no  further  Answer  to  the 
justice  of  the  claim  of  Captain  Pelletier,  to  propose  to  it  a  prompt  and  impartial  arbitration 
of  the  matter,  and  in  default  of  such  arrangement,  I  am  instructed  further  to  state  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  will  require  its  satisfaction." 

This  claim  was  presented  to  the  Department  of  State  in  1863,  and  Mr.  Seward 
refused  to  take  it  up. 

In  1871  the  Department  again  refused  to  interfere.  In  1874  Pelletier  had  a  bill 
introduced  in  the  Senate  "  to  authorize  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  request 
the  Republic  of  Hayti "  to  indemnify  him.  The  bill  was  read  twice,  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  and  subsequently  reported  adversely.  Pelletier 
next  brought  his  claim  before  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1878,  presenting  a 
further  memorial  and  documents,  which  were  followed  by  a  resolution  of  that  body 
declining  to  offer  any  recommendation  as  to  his  claim.  He  then  appealed  again  to 
the  Department  of  State,  with  the  result  above  stated. 

HOW  THE  CASE  WAS    FINALLY  DEALT  WITH. 

When  the  case  came  before  Judge  Strong,  he  held  that  he  was  precluded,  by 
the  terms  of  the  protocol  under  which  he  sat,  from  considering  the  morality  of  the 
claim,  and  consequently  made  an  award  of  more  than  $50,000  in  favor  of  the 
claimant. 

Against  this  award  Hayti  appealed  to  Mr.  Bayard,  who  examined  the  case  and 
made  a  report  to  the  Senate,  in  which  the  facts  in  the  case  are  stated  as  follows : 

"  In  view  of  the  position  taken  by  Hayti,  as  exhibited  in  the  records  of  this  case,  it 
becomes  now  incumbeut  on  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  determine  whether  it 
will  enforce  the  payment  by  Hayti  of  this  award. 

"  Aside  from  the  exhausted  condition  of  her  treasury,  which  would  preclude  volun- 
tary payment  at  present,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  any  nation,  viewing  this  case  as  Hayti 
does,  could  make  such  payment  except  when  forced  to  do  so  by  the  application  of  a  supe- 
rior force.  Hayti  is  a  Republic  In  which  not  merely  the  Government  but  the  great  body 
of  the  population  are  of  negro  descent.  Pelletier  was  a  notorious  slave-trader,  and  the 
money  awarded  to  him  in  this  case  was  for  an  imprisonment  imposed  on  him  in  Hayti  for 
an  attempt  to  abduct  Haytian  citizens  and  sell  them  as  slaves.  To  pay  this  award  to  Pelle- 
tier would  be  not  merely  to  recognize  the  position  that  Hayti  had  no  jurisdiction  of  an 
attempt  in  her  own  territorial  waters  to  abduct  and  enslave  her  own  citizens,  but  that  the 
person  making  such  an  attempt  Is  to  receive  a  large  indemnity  for  the  punishment.  In  itself 
by  no  means  excessive,  inflicted  on  him  for   the  crime.  *  *  »  • 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  151, 

"  But  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  the  claim  of  Pelletier  is  one  which 
this  Government  should  not  press  on  Hayti,  either  by  persuasion  or  by  force,  and  I  come  to 
this  conclusion,  first,  because  Hayti  had  jurisdiction  to  inflict  on  him  the  very  punishment 
of  which  he  complains,  such  punishment  being  in  no  way  excessive  in  view  of  the  heinous- 
ness  of  the  offense,  and,  secondly,  because  his  cause  i^  of  itself  so  saturated  with  turpi- 
tude and  infamy  that  on  it  no  action,  judicial  or  diplomatic,  can  be  based." 

This  opinion  of  Mr.  Bayard  has  been  before  the  Senate  for  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half,  and  not  a  word  of  dissent  has  been  ventured  against  it. 

DEALINGS  WITH  VENEZUELA. 

The  principle  of  the  equality  of  nations  has  again  been  maintained  by  the  present 
administration  in  its  treatment  of  the  matter  of  the  awards  agamst  Venezuela  under 
the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  that  country,  of  1866.  Shortly  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  labors  of  the  commission,  under  that  treaty,  evidence  was  presented 
on  the  part  of  Venezuela,  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  tending  to  show 
that  some  of  the  commissioners  had  been  improperly  influenced.  For  a  long  time 
this  Government  refused  to  listen  to  this  evidence.  But  after  investigations  were 
made  by  committees  of  Congress,  the  suspicion  became  so  strong  that  the  United 
States  could  no  longer  afford  to  ignore  it.  The  present  administration  has  lately 
■concluded  a  new  treaty  with  Venezuela,  under  which  the  awards  of  the  impeached 
commission  are  to  be  re-examined,  and  the  United  States  is  to  escape  the  reproach 
of  refusing  to  do  justice  to  a  sister  Republic  of  South  America. 

KINDLY  RELATIONS  WITH    MEXICO. 

The  same  course  of  fair  dealing  has  been  pursued  with  the  neighboring  Repub- 
lic of  Mexico,  "^he  large  awards  made  by  the  last  claims  commission  between  the 
United  States  r  n.1  Mexico  against  the  government  of  the  latter  country,  in  the  well- 
kpo  '^K  cases  of  Benjamin  Weil  and  the  La  Ahra  Silver  Mining  Company,  have 
been  considered  by  the  present  administration  in  the  same  spirit  of  scrupulous 
regard  for  the  rights  of  other  nations  and  the  honor  of  the  United  States  as  the 
awards  against  Venezuela  ;  and  a  recommendation  has  been  made  to  Congress  to 
confer  jurisdiction  on  the  judicial  tribunals  of  the  United  States  to  investigate  the 
allegations  of  fraud  in  respect  to  the, two  claims  above  mentioned,  which  together 
amount  to  more  than  $1,000,000. 


IV. 
THE  PROTECTION  OF  AMERICAN  CITIZENS  ABROAD. 

VIGOROUS  AND  SUCCESSFUL  EFFORTS  TO  PROTECT  AMERICAN  CITIZENS  IN 
ENGLAND,   MEXICO   AND   SOUTH   AMERICA. 

While  the  present  administration  has  thus  been  just  in  its  dealings  with  other 
Qations,  it  has  been  vigilant  and  firm  in  maintaining  the  rights  and  interests  of 
American  citizens  in  foreign  lands. 

One  of  the  questions  of  foreign  affairs,  which  the  present  administration  was 
C5alled  upon  to  consider,  was  that  of  the  rights  of  the  United  States  upon  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  under  the  treaty  of  1846,  between  the  United  States  and  New  Granada 
[now  Colombia).    By  the  thirty- fifth  article  of  that  treaty,  the  Gk)vernment   of 


162  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

Colombia  is  bound  to  preserve  to  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States  the 
"free  and  open  transit "  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  by  any  means  of  communication 
across  it.  The  object  and  importance  of  this  stipulation  require  no  emphasis ;  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  always  claimed  the  right,  in  case  ot  tho 
failure  of  the  Government  of  Colombia  to  perform  her  guarantees,  to  protect  the 
transit  route  and  the  persons  and  property  of  its  citizens  thereon  with  its  own  forces^ 
In  December,  1884,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Colombia  and  soon  spread  to  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  where  rioting  occured  from  time  to  time.  The  lives  and  prop- 
erty of  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  transit  route  from  Colon  to  Panama  were 
placed  in  great  jeopardy,  and  considerable  property  was  destroyed  by  the  insurgents. 
In  this  alarming  state  of  affairs  war  vessels  were  sent  to  the  Isthmus  in  April,  1885,, 
and  order  was  restored. 

PROTECTION  OP  CITIZENS  IN  MEXICO  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

The  same  readiness  in  protecting  the  rights  of  American  citizens  was  shown  in 
the  case  of  Santos,  in  Ecuador,  and  of  Cutting,  in  Mexico.  The  former,  who  was 
arrested  and  imprisoned  in  Ecuador  in  December,  1884,  on  charges  which  were 
believed  by  this  Government  to  be  unfounded,  was  released  through  the  efforts  of 
the  present  administration. 

In  the  case  of  Cutting  this  Government  denied  the  right  of  Mexico  to  try  and 
imprison  an  American  citizen,  in  that  country,  for  words  spoken,  or  acts  done,  in 
the  United  States.  In  defining  the  position  of  this  Government  in  the  case,  Mr. 
Bayard  said : 

"  If  Mr.  Cutting  can  be  tried  and  imprisoned  in  Mexico  for  publishing  in  the  United 
States  a  criticism  on  a  Mexican  business  transaction  in  which  he  was  concerned,  there  is  not 
an  editor  or  publisher  of  a  newspaper  in  the  United  States  who  could  not,  were  he  f<dund  in 
Mexico,  be  subjected  to  like  indigaities  and  injuries  on  the  same  ground.  To  an  assump- 
tion of  such  jurisdiction  by  Mexico  neither  the  Government  of  the  United  States  nor  the 
governments  of  our  several  States  will  submit.  " 

One  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  contention  with  Mexico  has  been  her  law  in 
relation  to  the  matriculation  of  foreigners.  In  accordance  with  this  law  it  was  for 
a  long  time  held  by  the  Mexican  government,  that  if  a  foreigner  failed  so  to  register 
himself,  within  a  certain  time  after  coming  into  the  country,  he  lost  his  right  to  call 
upon  his  government  for  protection  in  case  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  remon- 
strate against  the  acts  of  the  Mexican  government.  Against  this  doctrine  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  protested.  The  response  of  the  Mexican  government 
is  contained  in  the  following  extract  from  the  letter  of  the  Mexican  Minister  t )  the 
Department  of  State  under  date  of  June  16, 1886 : 

**I  inform  you  that  a  law,  approved  during  the  last  period  of  the  sessions  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  Mexican  States,  in  relation  to  alienship  and  naturalization,  and  promulgated 
by  the  President  of  the  republic  on  the  28th  of  May  last,  published  in  the  Diario  Oflcial  on 
the  7th  instant,  repeals  by  its  thirty-ninth  article  the  laws  which  prescribed  the  matricu- 
lation of  foreigners,  leaving  it  optional  with  foreigners  residing  in  Mexico  to  request  a  cer- 
tificate of  their  nationality,  which  will  be  issued  to  them  by  the  secretary  of  foreign  rela- 
tions." 

PROTECTION  OP  CITIZBHt  IN   GREAT  BRITAIN. 

In  regard  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  imprisoned  in  foreign  countri«s,  under 
what  appeared  to  be  onerous  conditions,  the  present  administration  has  not  hew- 
tated  to  interpose  its  good  offices. 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  153 

Among  such  cases  may  be  mentioned  those  of  John  Curtin  Kent  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Gallagher,  naturalized  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who,  in  1883,  were 
jointly  charged  with  conspiring  with  other  persons  to  murder,  by  the  use  of  dyna- 
mite, persons  unknown.  Gallagher  and  Kent  were  both  convicted  and  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  for  life.  The  records  of  the  State  Department  show  that  no  report 
on  the  facts  of  Kent's  trial  and  conviction  was  at  that  time  made  to  that  Depart- 
ment by  the  United  States  representatives  in  London.  It  was  first  brought  to  \h.t 
attention  of  the  Department  by  Kent's  relatives  in  the  United  States  in  December, 
1887,  and  the  United  States  Consul  General  in  London  was  immediately  instructed 
to  make  investigation.  The  fact  that  the  prisoner  was  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the 
United  States  was  not  made  known  at  his  trial,  for  reasons  which  he  explaJaas  as 
follows : 

"I  did  not  apply  to  the  United  States  legation  before  or  during  my  trial,  for  the  reason 
that  an  American  lawyer,named  Tracy  G  ould,whom  I  supposed  was  attached  to  the  legation, 
came  to  see  me.  and  advised  about  my  case.  ♦  «  •  jjq  one  from  the  legation  came 
to  see  rae.  I  believe  if  my  case  had  been  taken  up  by  the  United  States  representative 
that  I  could  have  proven  who  I  was,  where  I  had  lived  in  the  United  States,  and  my  good 
character,  the  reason  for  my  coming  to  England,  and  thereby  have  secured  my  acquittal." 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Department  of  State,  Consul-General  Waller  at  Lom-. 
don  visited  the  prisoner  and  made  a  report,  from  which  the  following  extract  is 
taken : 

In  conclusion,  1  beg  to  suggest  that  the  fact  of  Kent's  American  citizenship  can.ea8lly 
be  determined  by  the  records  of  the  courts  of  naturalization  to  which  he  refers,  and  thiftt 
the  conviction  of  Kent,  whether  guilty  or  not,  considering  the  weakness  of  the  testimony 
against  him  (which  I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  read),  was  a  singular  success  for  the 
prosecution. 

THE  PRESIDENT  TAKES  UP  DB.    GALLAGHER'S  CASE. 

While  the  case  of  Curtin  Kent  was  thus  undergoing  investigation,  Dr.  Galla- 
gher's pardon  was  requested,  as  appears  by  the  following  correspondence  : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  March  17, 1887. 
Pkar  Sir  :    I  inclose  a  note  Just  received  from  the  S'^cretary  of  State,  by  which  yom 
see  tnat  prompt  action  in  th  3  lias  of  the  wishe3  of  yourself  and  other  friends  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Graliagher  has  been  taken  and  in  such  manner  as  affords  the  best  promise  for  suc- 
cessful mediation  in  his  behalf. 

Mr.  Bayard  informs  me  that  there  is  no  record  in  the  State  Department  of  any  corre»* 
pondence  heretofore  had  in  the  matter,  and  I  hope  very  soon  to  be  able  to  announce  the 
termination  of  Dr.  Gallagher's  imprisonment. 

ours,  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
Philip  J.  O'Hanlon,  Esq.,  Brooklyn,  N.  T. 

MR.  bayard  to  MR.  PHELPS. 

Department  op  State,  Washington,  March  11, 1887. 

Sir  ;  The  President  informs  me  that  he  has  been  earnestly  appealed  to  by  a  number  of 
worthy  and  influential  citizens  of  Brooklyn— among  them  the  Mayor  of  the  city— to  pro- 
cure, if  possible,  an  exercise  of  royal  clemency  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Thomas  Gallagher,  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States,  formerly  and  for  many  years  a  resident  of 
Brooklyn,  but  who  is  now  undergoing  judicial  sentence  in  England,  imposed  some  years 
ago,  for  an  offense  political  in  its  character. 

The  prisoner  is  represented  to  be  a  man  of  excellent  standing  in  his  profession  as  a 
physician,  and  in  his  domestic  life  to  have  endeared  himself  to  a  large  circle  by  his  perB^mai 
•virtues. 


154  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

An  aged  mother  and  invalid  sister  are  dependent  upon  him  for  their  sole  means  of 
support.  Mid  his  case  thus  presents  many  features  that  appeal  to  natural  sympathy. 

I  have  no  information  that  would  justify  any  suggestion  of  doubt  as  to  the  fairness  of 
his  trial  or  justice  of  his  sentence  ;  but  as  this  is  the  year  of  grace  and  jubilee— in  which 
generosity  and  charity  will  fill  the  hearts  of  British  subjects  and  their  Queen— I  feel  that  I 
may  yield  to  the  importunity  of  the  prisoner's  friends  and  family  and  bring  the  case  to  your 
attention  unoflacially. 

If.  by  Dr.  Gallagher's  pardon,  anger  should  be  lessened  and  hostility  to  Her  Majesty's 
Oovemment  disarmed,  we  should  all  be  gratified ;  and  when  to  that  is  superadded  the  joy 
to  the  wide  circle  of  his  personal  friends  and  relatives  here,  it  would  seem  that  the  act 
would  indeed  be  "twice  blessed,"  and  that  in  giving  liberty  to  this  captive  no  danger  could 
"rush  upon  the  State." 

If,  therefore,  unofficially,  you  could  find  a  proper  occasion  to  suggest  the  general  pur- 
port of  this  note  to  Her  Majesty's  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  I  hope  you  will  not  lose  the 
opportunity,  for  the  act  of  clemency  would,  I  believe,  bear  good  fruit. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

T.  F.  BAYARD. 

PROTECTION  OF  MISSIONARIES. 

Tbe  Department  of  State  under  the  present  administration  has  shown  great 
TMsii  and  efficiency  in  protecting  those  engaged  in  mission  V70rk  in  foreign  countries. 
This  has  been  done  in  China,  where  indemnities  have  been  obtained  for  the 
destruction  of  property  of  American  missionaries,  and  also  In  Corea.  But  nowhere 
has  the  present  administration  gone  further  in  advance  of  its  predecessors  in 
asserting  the  rights  of  American  missionaries,  of  whatever  denomination,  than  in 
Turkey  Not  content  with  vague  and  uncertain  claims,  the  present  Secretary  of 
State  has  placed  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  American  missions  in  Turkey 
upon  the  solid  foundation  of  the  ancient  usage  and  of  the  Turkish  legislation  prior 
and  consequent  to  the  treaties  of  Paris  and  Berlin  of  1856  and  1878,  respectively. 
In  assuming  this  position  the  Department  has  expressly  discarded  every  appearance 
of  sectarianism  and  declared  that  its  efforts  would  be  exerted  with  equal  earnestness 
in  support  of  one  as  of  another  of  American  charitable  or  religious  associations. 


V. 

THE  NEW  CHINESE  TREATY. 

HOW  A  NEW  CONVENTION  WITH  CHINA  FOR   PREVENTING  THE  IMPORTATION 
OF  COOLIES  WAS  DEALT  WITH  IN  THE    SENATE. 

The  policy  of  the  Cleveland  administration  has  been  to  pay  special  regard  to 
the  affairs  of  the  countries  of  the  East.  With  China  in  particular  our  relations 
have  been  most  important  and  delicate  in  their  character.  The  great  question  of 
Chinese  immigration  has  been  settled  by  a  treaty,  the  main  features  of  which  are 
set  forth  in  the  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the 
President,  under  date  of  March  16, 1888 : 

MR.  BAYARD'S  LETTER. 

By  this  arrangement  we  have  secured  the  co-operation  of  China  in  the  main  purpose 
and  object  of  the  treaty,  which  is  plainly  stated  in  the  first  article  of  the  convention  to  be 
the  absolute  prohibition  of  Chinese  laborers  from  coming  Into  the  United  States  for 
twenty  years,  and  its  renewal  thereafter  for  a  similar  period,  unless  notice  shall  have  been 
given  as  provided  in  Article  TI. 


I 


THE    STATE    DEPABTMBNT.  155 


This  precludes  the  return  of  any  Chinese  laborers  who  are  not  now  in  this  country,  and 
forbids  the  coming  into  the  United  States  of  Chinese  laborers  from  any  quarter  whatsoever. 

Prom  this  inhibition  are  excepted  any  Chinese  laborer  who  has  a  lawful  wife,  child  or 
parent  in  the  United  States,  or  property  therein  of  the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars 
<f  1,000),  or  debts  of  like  amount  due  him  and  pending  settlement.  *  *  ♦  • 

Judging  by  the  statistics  of  the  class  in  question  and  from  general  experience,  such 
excepted  cases  will  be  practically  few  in  number,  infrequent,  and  easily  capable  of  such 
regulations  as  will  prevent  abuse. 

The  regulation  and  control  of  the  issue  of  such  certificates  of  return  will  be  wholly  In 
the  hands  of  United  States  officials,  and  power  to  prescribe  other  laws  at  discretion  may 
be  exercised  by  the  United  States. 

Such  right  to  return  is  for  a  limited  period,  and  the  certificates  are  invalidated  by  the 
perpetration  of  fraud  in  connection  with  their  procurement  or  use,  and  the  United  States 
are  free  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  become  advisable  to  check  or  punish  any  abuse. 

In  'he  course  of  late  litigation  in  the  United  States  courts  in  California,  arising  out  of 
the  contested  claims  of  certain  Chinese  laborers  to  return  to  the  United  States  under  the 
certificates  now  provided  by  law,  it  has  been  pertinently  suggested  by  the  learned  judges 
before  whom  the  cases  were  tried  that  the  detailed  information  contained  In  the  certifl- 
oates  thenoselves,  as  now  issued  to  the  Chinese,  furnishes  the  means  of  fraudulent  entry  of 
Chinese  laborers,  to  whom  such  certificates  have  been  fraudulently  transferred  and  who 
are  not  entitled  to  come  to  the  United  States.  And  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  if  all  the 
facts  requisite  for  complete  Identification  ot  the  departing  Chinaman  were  retained  in  the 
United  States  official  custody,  and  a  paper  containing  only  a  simple  number,  and  properly 
marked,  signed  and  countersigned  by  the  officers,  were  furnished,  the  means  of  detecting 
and  preventing  fraud  in  the  transfer  of  the  certificate  would  be  given,  and  the  present 
abuses  made  almost  impossible  of  recurrence. 

Existing  treaty  privileges  of  travel  and  sojourn  in  the  United  States  to  Chinese  offl- 
oials,  teachers,  students,  merchants,  and  travelers  for  curiosity  and  pleasure  remain  undis- 
tubcd.  as  well  as  the  transit  right  of  laborers  strictly  to  be  exercised  under  United  States 
regulations. 

The  stipulations  of  the  3d  article  of  the  treaty  of  1880  provided  for  the  extension  of  the 
full  protection  to  the  person  and  property  of  Chinese  subjects  of  all  classes  that  is  given 
by  laws  of  the  United  States  to  the  most  favored  nation,  and  by  the  terms  of  that  article 
the  United  States  also  agreed  "to  exert  all  its  power  to  secure  such  protection"  to  the  per- 
sons and  property  of  Chinese  subjects  In  the  United  States. 

Under  the  same  date  the  President  transmitted  the  treaty  to  the  Senate  accom- 
panied by  the  foUowing  message : 

THE  PRESIDENT  TO  CONGRESS. 
To  the  Senate: 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith,  and  recommend  for  your  constitutional  appro- 
val, a  convention  signed  and  concluded  in  this  city  on  the  12th  instant,  under  my  direction, 
between  the  United  States  and  China  for  the  exclusion  hereafter  of  Chinese  laborers  from 
coming  into  this  country. 

This  treaty  is  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State  in  recital  of  its 
provisions  and  explanatory  of  the  reasons  for  its  negotiation,  and  with  it  are  transmitted 
sundry  documents  giving  the  history  of  events  connected  with  the  presence  and  treatment 
of  Chinese  subjects  in  the  United  States. 

In  view  of  the  public  interest  which  has  for  a  long  time  been  manifested  in  relation 
to  the  question  of  Chinese  immigration,  it  would  seem  advisable  that  the  full  text  of  this 
treaty  should  be  made  public,  and  I  respectfully  recommend  that  an  order  to  that  effect  be 
made  by  your  honorable  body.  ^^^^^^^  CLEVELAND. 

That  body  hoping  to  gain  some  partisan  advantage,  inserted  some  insignificant 
amendments,  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  return  the  treaty  to  China  for  ratifica- 
tion. Had  it  not  been  for  this  delay  the  new  treaty  providing  for  the  stringent  pro- 
hibition of  Chinese  immigration  into  this  country  during  the  term  of  twenty  years 
would  have  become  a  law  early  in  the  present  year. 


I 


156  THi:    STATE    DEPARTMENT, 

The  claims  against  the  United  States  growing  out  of  the  killing  and  destructioa 
of  property  of  Chinese  subjects  in  the  northwestern  Territories  have  been  adjusted 
and  disposed  of  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Chinese  government,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  Department  of  State  has  taken  care  in  its  correspondence  with  the  Chinese 
plenipotentiaries  to  preserve  the  principle  of  the  non-responsibility  of  the  United 
States  for  the  losses  and  injuries  of  foreigners  by  mob  violence. 


VI. 

RESENTING  RELiaiOUS  INTOLERENCE. 

HOW   AUSTRIA  WAS   TOLD    THAT   RELIGIOUS   DISTINCTIONS    COULD  NOT   BE 
RECOGNIZED   IN   THIS   COUNTRY. 

In  May,  1885,  President  Cleveland  appointed  Anthony  M.  Keiley,  a  distin- 
guished and  accomplished  citizen  of  Virginia,  without  reproach,  to  succeed  Joha 
M.  Francis  as  ihe  Envoy  Extratjrdinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  at  Vienna,  to  Austria  and  Hungary. 

The  appointment  was  officially  communicated  to  Baron  Schaeflfer,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Austrian  government  in  Washington,  by  Secretary  Bayard.  It  was 
answered  by  the  transmission  to  our  State  Department  of  a  telegram  received  from 
Count  Kalnoky,  for  the  Austrian  government,  which  objected  to  receiving  Minister 
Keiley,  and  asked  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  appointment  on  the  ground  that  his 
wife  was  of  Semitic  birth,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  dispatch,  *'  the  position  of  a 
foreign  envoy,  wedded  to  a  Jewess  by  civil  marriage,  would  be  untenable,"  and  even 
impossible  in  Vienna.  Mr.  Keiley  having  already  set  sail  for  Europe,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  inform  him  of  the  objection  made  before  he  reached  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean ;  but  the  American  Secretary  of  State  was  quick  to  resent  the  objection  taken 
to  the  appointment  and  to  deny  the  validity  of  the  grounds  upon  which  it  was  based. 
In  a  note  to  Baron  Schaefler,  dated  May  18, 1885,  he  said  : 

The  question  thus  raised  by  your  government  involves  principles  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance, and  has  no  precedent  as  yet  discoverable  to  me  in  modern  times  and  in  intercourse 
■between  friendly  nations ;  and  having  submitted  the  matter  to  the  consideration  of  th» 
President,  I  am  instructed  by  him  to  inform  your  government,  through  you,  that  the 
ground  upon  which  it  is  announced,  that  the  usual  ceremonial  courtesy  and  formal  respect 
are  to  be  withheld  from  this  envoy  of  the  United  States  to  your  government,  that  is  to  say, 
because  his  wife  is  alleged  or  supposed  by  your  government  to  entertain  a  certain  religious 
faith,  and  to  be  a  member  of  a  certain  religious  sect,  cannot  be  absented  to  by  the  Execu- 
tive of  the  Government  of  the  American  people,  but  is  and  must  be  emphatically  and 
promptly  denied. 

The  supreme  law  of  this  land  expressly  declares  that  "  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be 
required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States,"  and  by  the 
same  authority  it  is  declared  that "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment. 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 

This  is  a  government  of  laws,  and  all  authority  exercised  must  find  Its  measure  and" 
warrant  thereunder. 

It  is  not  within  the  power  of  the  President  nor  of  the  Congress,  nor  of  any  judicial 
tribunal  in  the  United  States,  to  take  or  even  hoar  testimony,  or  in  any  mode  to  inquire  into 
or  decide  upon  the  religious  belief  of  any  official,  and  the  proposition  to  allow  this  to  be 
done  by  any  foreign  gevernment  Is  necessarily  and  a  fortiori  Inadmissilble. 


I 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  15T 

To  suffer  an  Infraction  of  this  essential  principle  would  lead  to  a  disfranchisement  of 
our  citizens  because  of  their  religious  belief,  and  thus  impair  or  destroy  the  most  import- 
ant end  which  our  constitution  of  Government  was  intended  to  secure.  Religious  liberty 
is  the  chief  coroer-stone  of  the  American  system  of  government,  and  provisions  for  Its 
security  are  imbedded  in  the  written  charter  and  interwoven  in  the  moral  fabric  of  its  laws. 

Anything  that  tends  to  invade  a  right  so  essential  and  sacred  must  be  carefully  guarded 
against,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  my  countrymen,  ever  mindful  of  the  suffering  and  sacrifices 
necessary  to  obtain  it,  will  never  consent  to  its  impairment  for  any  reason  or  under  any 
pretext  whatsoever. 


EXACTING  DEFERENCE  TO  AMERICAN  WOMEN. 


In  harmony  with  this  essential  law  is  the  almost  equally  potential  unwritten  law  of 

erican  society  that  awards  respect  and  delicate  consideration  to  the  women  of  the 
United  States  and  exacts  deference  in  the  treatment  at  home  and  abroad  of  the  mothers, 
wives,  and  daughters  of  the  Republic 

The  case  we  are  now  considering  is  that  of  an  envoy  of  the  United  States,  unquestion- 
ably fitted,  morally  and  intellectually,  and  who  has  been  duly  accredited  to  a  friendly  gov- 
ernment, towards  which  he  is  thoroughly  well  affected ;  who  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  this  country,  has  long  since  contracted  and  has  maintained  an  honorable  marriage,  and 
whose  presence  near  the  foreign  government  in  question  is  objected  to  by  its  agents  on  the 
sole  ground  that  his  wedded  wife  is  alleged  to  entertain  a  religious  faith  which  is  held  by 
very  many  of  the  most  honorf  d  and  valued  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  not  believed  by  the  President  that  a  doctrine  and  practice  so  destructive  of  reli- 
gious liberty  and  freedom  of  conscience,  so  devoid  of  catholicity,  and  so  opposed  to  the- 
spirit  of  the  age  In  which  we  live,  can  for  a  moment  be  accepted  by  the  great  family  of  civi- 
lized nations  or  be  allowed  to  control  their  diplomatic  intercourse. 

Certain  it  is,  it  will  never,  in  my  belief,  be  accepted  by  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
nor  by  any  administration  which  represents  their  sentiments. 

Permit  me,  therefore,  being  animated  only  by  the  slncerest  desire  to  strengthen  the  ties 
of  friendship  and  mutual  respect  between  the  governments  we  respectively  represent,  most 
earnestly  and  respectfully  to  crave  careful  consideration  of  this  note,  and  to  request  your 
government  to  reconsider  the  views  you  have  communicated  to  me  in  respect  of  the  pos- 
sible reception  of  Mr.  Reiley  on  the  mission  of  amity  and  mutual  advantage  which,  in  the- 
amplest  good  faith,  he  was  selected  by  this  government  to  perform. 

Into  the  religious  belief  of  its  envoy,  or  that  of  any  member  of  his  family,  neither  thia 
government  nor  any  oflScer  thereof,  as  I  have  shown  you,  has  any  right  or  power  to  inquire, 
or  to  apply  any  test  whatever,  or  to  decide  such  question,  and  to  do  so  would  constitute  an 
Infraction  of  the  express  letter  and  an  invasion  of  the  pervading  spirit  of  the  supreme  law 
of  this  land. 

While  thus  making  reply  to  the  only  reason  stated  by  your  government  as  the  cause  of 
its  unreadiness  to  receive  Mr.  Keiley,  permit  me  also  to  remark  that  the  President  fully 
recognizes  the  highly  important  and  undoubted  right  of  every  government  to  decide  for 
Itself  whether  the  individual  presented  as  the  envoy  of  another  State  is  or  is  not  an  accept- 
able person,  and  in  the  exercise  of  its  own  high  and  friendly  discretion,  to  receive  or  not 
the  person  so  presented.  This  right  so  freely  accorded  by  the  United  States  to  all  other 
nations,  its  Government  would  insist  upon  should  an  occasion  deemed  to  be  proper  arise. 


^m  DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  NOT  TO  BE   CONSIDERED. 

Upon  the  position  taken  in  this  communication,  in  favor  of  the  right  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  lo  have  their  political  and  social  relations  determined  irrespective  of 
their  race  origin  or  religious  beliefs,  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  resolutely 
insisted.  The  Austrian  government  avowed  its  purpose  to  reject  Mr.  Keiley,  and 
reiterated  as  its  chief  reasons  the  fact  that  "nis  **  domestic  relations  "  would  "  pre- 
clude that  reception  of  him  by  Vienna  society,"  which  was  judged  desirable  for  sat 
American  envoy. 


I 


158  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

In  a  letter  to  Minister  Francis,  dated  July  1, 1885,  Mr.  Bayard  among  other 
things  said : 

The  only  objection  stated  by  Count  Kalnoky  Is  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Kelley  to  a  Je\7ess, 
•which  may  or  may  not  be  true.  To  this  an  answer  was  promptly  given,  and  by  that  answer 
this  administration  stands,  and  so,  I  trust  and  believe,  will  the  people  of  the  Xj  nited  States. 
It  seems  to  me  quite  impossible  that  Count  Kalnoky  could  have  understood  the  utter  Ina- 
bility of  this  Government  to  entertain  such  a  ground  of  objection  in  the  face  of  the  express 
prohibition  of  religious  tests  by  our  fundamental  law,  nor  how  offensive  to  American  minds 
is  the  impeachment  of  the  husband  on  the  ground  of  the  wife's  supposed  disability  for  her 
religious  creed. 

While  I  cannot,  under  the  distinct  inhibition  of  the  Constitution,  apply  or  take  oflacial 
cognizance  of  any  religious  tests  in  Mr.  Keiley's  case  to  prove  or  disprove  the  allegations 
made,  1  may  observe  that  voluntary  statements  to  me  by  those  well  qualified  to  judge  are 
to  the  effect  that  Mrs.  Keiley,  al  though  of  Hebrew  ancestry,  has  never  herself  professed  the 
Jewish  faith,  and  that  the  marriage  had  the  sanction  of  the  highest  ecclesiastical  Roman 
Catholic  authorities  in  the  United  States,  many  of  whom,  moreover,  joined  most  warmly  In 
commending  Mr.  Keiley's  appointment.  I  merely  mention  this,  for  it  may  turn  out  that 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Government  is  in  serious  error  in  accepting  and  acting  upon 
unproven  and  perhaps  false  premise. 

I  will  ask  you  to  present  your  letter  of  recall  after  you  have  had  your  Interview  with 
the  minister  for  foreign  affairs  in  relation  to  Mr.  Keiley.  You  will  thereupon  turn  over 
the  legation  to  the  secretary,  Mr.  Strong,  as  charge  d'affaires  ad  interim,  and  he  can  act  in 
that  capacity  until  he  is  relieved,  either  by  Mr.  Keiley,  or  by  the  arrival  of  a  new  secretary 
of  legation,  to  whom  he  will  relinquish  both  his  regular  oflace  and  his  temporary  charge. 

A  REBUKE  TO   RELIGIOUS  BIGOTRY. 

Subsequently  the  Austrian  Government  positively  and  finally  refused  to  receive 
Mr.  Keiley ;  and  Mr.  Bayard  in  another  letter  to  Mr.  Francis  stated  clearly  the  posi- 
tion of  our  Government  in.  having  declined  to  withdraw  its  appointment  on  the 
grounds  advanced  by  Austria.    The  secretary  in  his  letter  of  August  31, 1885,  said : 

Whilst  this  Government  concedes  as  freely  as  it  exercises  the  right  to  refuse  to  receive 
an  envoy,  yet  when  that  right  is  so  exaggerated  and  expanded  as  to  become  a  virtual  claim 
of  the  function  of  selection  as  well  as  of  rejection  we  must  demur.       •       •       •       • 

I  cannot  close  this  Instruction  without  referring  to  the  remark  addressed  to  you  by 
•Count  Kalnoky,  that "  the  antisemitic  soci  al  feeling  here  (in  Vienna)  was  a  fact ;  that  a 
person  of  proximate  Semitic  descent  would  be  excluded  both  by  the  social  and  diplomatic 
circles  of  Vienna,  and  that  fact  was  beyond  the  control  of  his  Government."  This  fact,  if 
laeyond  the  control  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government,  is  equally  beyond  the  cog- 
nizance of  the  executive  power  of  this  Republic,  which  could  not  admit  a  princIpl.T 
which,  through  the  exclusion  of  "persons  of  proximate  Semitic  descent,"  and  others 
married  to  "persons  of  proximate  Semitic  descent,"  would  establish  a  religious  test,  and 
disfranchise  from  holding  public  oflBce  a  very  large  and  important  body  of  our  citizens. 

It  is  a  cause  of  astonishment  that  in  an  era  of  advanced  civilization,  in  which  musty 
prejudice  and  illiberal  discrimination  among  religious  sects  and  races  of  mankind  are 
giving  such  gratifying  proofs  of  their  rapid  extinction,  when  throughout  the  wide  world 
the  death  of  the  venerable  and  philanthropic  Monteflore  is  so  genuinely  mourned,  when  the 
council  of  highest  rank  and  most  exclusive  privilege  of  the  British  Empire  is  glad  to  enroll 
In  its  peerage  a  member  of  the  noted  house  of  Rothschild,  that  from  so  enlightened  a 
Government  as  that  of  Austria-Hungary  should  proceed  the  declaration  that  "  proximate 
Semitic  descent "  will  be  sufficient  to  proscribe  individuals  of  admittedly  blameless  and 
virtuous  personality  from  appearing  at  that  court  clothed  in  the  representative  character 
of  a  friendly  power. 

And  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Keiley  the  Secretary  of  State  said  : 

*'I  will  not  believe  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  ever  consent  to  the 
creation  or  enforcement  of  such  tests  as  have  been  insisted  upon  by  the  Government  of 
Austria- Hungary  as  conditions  precedent  and  quaUflcations  for  the  selection  of  their 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  15^ 

representatives  In  foreigTi  courts  by  tbe  United  States.  Such  action  must  naturally 
awaken  widespread  amazement,  coupled  with  indignation  and  resentment,  when  the 
history  of  the  case  is  made  public,  nor  do  I  believe  that  these  sentiments  will  be  confined 
to  our  own  country,  but  that,  wherever  religious  liberty  is  valued  and  respected,  a  common 
judgment  will  be  formed." 

THE  president's  METHOD  OF  DEALING  "WITH  IT. 

Having  thus  put  upon  the  Austrian  Government  the  entire  responsibility  for 
an  anti- American  discrimination  on  race  and  religious  minds  against  a  citizen 
of  unquestionable  and  unobjectionable  character,  the  State  Department  emphasized 
its  resentment  of  the  action  of  Austria  by  allowing  the  mission  to  remain  entirely 
unfilled  for  a  twelve  month. 

Referring  to  this  incident  in  his  next  annual  message,  December  8,  1885,  the 
President  said : 

Question  has  arisen  with  the  Government  of  Austria -Hungary  touching  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  United  States  at  Vienna.  Having,  under  my  constitutional  prerogative, 
appointed  an  estimable  citizen  of  unimpeached  probity  and  competence  as  minister  at 
that  court,  the  Government  of  Austria-Hungary  invited  this  Government  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  certain  exceptions,  based  upon  allegations  against  the  personal  acceptability  of 
Mr.  Keiley,  the  appointed  envoy,  asking  that,  in  view  thereof,  the  appointment  should  be 
withdrawn.  The  reasons  advanced  were  such  as  could  not  be  acquiesced  in,  without  viola- 
tion of  my  oath  of  office  and  the  precepts  of  the  Constitution,  since  they  necessarily  involved 
a  limitation  in  favor  of  a  foreign  government  upon  the  right  of  selection  by  the  Executive, 
and  required  such  an  application  of  a  religious  test  as  a  qualification  for  office  under  the 
United  States  as  would  have  resulted  in  the  practical  disfranchisement  of  a  large  class  of 
our  citizens  and  the  abandonment  of  a  vital  principle  in  our  Government.  The  Austro- 
Hungarian  Government  finally  decided  not  to  receive  Mr.  Keily  as  the  envoy  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  gentleman  has  since  resigned  his  commission,  leaving  the  post  vacant.  I 
have  made  no  new  nomination,  and  the  interests  of  this  Government  at  Vienna  are  now  in 
the  care  of  the  secretary  of  legation,  acting  as  charge  d'affaires  ad  interim. 


vn. 

EXTRADITION  TREATY  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


HOW  THE  REPUBLICAN  SENATE  INSERTED  OFFENSIVE  PROVISIONS,  THUS  LEAVING- 
THE  DOORS  OPEN  TO  DEFAULTERS. 

An  eflfort  has  been  made  by  Republican  politicians  to  mislead  the  public  as  to  the 
character  of  the  extradition  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
now  pending,  unratified,  before  the  Senate  in  executive  session.  The  extra- 
dition treaty  now  in  force  between  the  two  countries  constitutes  the  10th 
article  of  the  treaty  signed  by  Mr.  Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton  on  the  9th  of 
August,  1842,  and  is  the  oldest  of  the  existing  extradition  treaties  of  the  United 
States.  It  provides  for  the  surrender  of  persons  only  for  the  crimes  of  murder, 
assault  with  intent  to  commit  murder,  piracy,  arson,  robbery,  forgery,  and  the  utter- 
ance of  forged  paper — seven  crimes  in  all.  Thus,  with  the  country  with  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  i^he  most,  and  the  easiest  communication,  and  which 
is,  therefore,  the  most  convenient  x^efuge  for  our  criminals,  the  United  States  has  the 
most  inefficient  and  restricted  extradition  arrangement,  with  the  single  exception  of 
the  old  treaty  of  1849,  with  the  Hawaian  Islands. 


I 


160  THE    STATE    DEPARTMBNT. 

Nearly  all  our  treaties  contain  the  crimes  of  burglary,  embezzlement  and  coun- 
terfeiting, in  addition  to  the  offenses  enumerated  in  the  treaty  of  1842  with  Great 
Britian  ;  and  many  of  the  treaties  contain  various  other  crimes.  For  example,  the 
treaty  with  Spain,  concluded  in  1877,  contains  fourteen  crimes.  This  list  was  still 
further  extended  by  a  supplementary  convention  in  1882,  until  it  embraces  twenty 
ofFenses.  The  treaty  concluded  with  Belgium,  in  1882,  includes  fifteen  crimes.  The 
treaty  with.  France,  made  in  1843,  has  twice  been  extended  in  scope ;  first  in  1845, 
and  second  in  1858. 

Various  efforts  have  been  made  during  previous  years  to  give  a  very  large 
increase  to  the  list  of  extraditable  offenses  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  when,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1886,  Mr.  Phelps  and  Lord  Rosebery,  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs  under  Mr.  Gladstone's  last  government,  signed  a  treaty  which 
added  only  five  offenses  to  the  list  of  seven  already  existing.  These  are :  1.  Man- 
slaughter; 2.  Burglary;  3.  Embezzlement  or  larceny  of  Itie  value  of  $50  or  £10 
and  upwards;  4.  Malicious  injuries  to  property  whereby  the  life  of  any  person  shall 
be  endangered,  if  buch  injuries  constitute  a  crime  according  to  the  laws  of  both  the 
high  contracting  parties. 

The  treaty  also  contains  the  following  provision: 
*^  No  fugitive  criminal  shall  be  surrendered  under  the  provisions  of  the  said  treaty  {of  1842),  or  of 
this  convention,  if  the  crime  in  respect  of  which  his  surrender  is  demanded  be  one  of  a  political 
character,  or  if  he  prove  to  the  competent  authority  that  the  requisition  for  his  surrender  has  in  fad 
^teen  made  with  the  view  to  try  or  punish  him  for  a  crime  of  apolitical  character."' 

The  above  provision  was  made  to  cover  extraditions  under  the  treaty  of  1842, 
as  well  as  under  the  new  convention,  because  the  treaty  of  1842  contains  no  inhibi- 
tion against  surrender  of  political  fugitives.  The  Phelps-Rosebery  convention, 
therefore,  in  making  an  express  prohibition  against  such  a  surrender,  make  it  broad 
enough  to  embrace  every  possible  case  of  extradition  between  the  two  countries* 
both  under  the  new  treaty  and  under  the  old. 

But,  in  order  further  to  guard  against  any  abuse  of  extradition  process,  the  new 
<X)nvention  contains  another  provision,  which  is  as  follows  : 

"  A  fugitive  criminal  surrendered  to  either  of  the  High  Contracting  Parties  under  th4  provi- 
sions of  the  said  Treaty  (1S42J,  or  of  this  Convention,  shall  not,  until  he  has  had  an  opportunity  of 
returning  to  the  State  by  which  he  has  been  surrendered,  be  detained  or  tried  for  any  crima  com- 
mitted prior  to  his  surrender  other  than  the  extradition  crime  proved  by  the  facts  on  which  Ms  sur- 
render was  granted." 

HOW   THE  SENATE    DEALT  WITH  IT. 

When  this  Treaty  reached  the  Senate,  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations,  which  reported  it  with  amendments,  which  appear  to  have  pre- 
vented any  action  upon  it ;  and  it  has  now  been  laid  aside  until  next  December, 
after  the  elections.  During  all  this  period,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  the  guarantees 
which  it  creates,  now  for  the  first  time  (including  the  prohibition  of  surrender  for 
political  offenses),  against  the  abuse  of  extradition  process  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  are  prevented  from  assuming  a  solemn  conventional  form, 
binding  upon  both  countries. 

Since  the  Treaty  was  reported  by  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee,  Republi- 
can politicians  and  newspapers  have  been  industriously  endeavoring  to  create  the 
impression  that  one  of  its  original  stipulations  provided  for  the  surrender  of  persons 
who  may  use  an  explosive  as  an  implement  of  political  warfare.    The  falsity  and 


THE   STATE    DEPARTMENT.  161 

groundlessness  of  this  charge  have  already  been  proved,  and  it  will  now  be  shown 
that  the  first  suggestion  of  the  kind  came  from  the  Republican  Senate  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations,  and  that  tlie  Republicans  have  been  trying  to  shift  the  respon- 
sibility for  what  their  committee  did  to  the  Democratic  Administration. 

On  the  6th  of  Febmary  last  Senator  Riddleberger,  referring,  in  the  course  of 
■debate  in  the  Senate,  to  the  British  extradition  treaty,  said  : 

"  I  have  asked  the  Senate  to  consider  a  resolution  to  change  Rule  XXXVITof  the 
Senate,  which  would  allow  us  to  consider  in  open  session  the  proposed  treaty  with  Great 
Britain.  I  have  had  a  motive  beyond  that,  which  has  not  appeared  up  to  this  time,  and 
that  motive  is  to  draw  from  the  Ctommittee  on  Foreign  Relations  the  amendment  which 
they  have  proposed  to  the  treaty.  If  we  have  here  a  message  from  the  President  trans- 
mitting a  treaty  or  a  stipulation,  and  it  is  proposed  to  be  amended  by  any  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  it  is  proper  that  it  should  be  known  which  of  those 
committeemen  favor  the  amendment. 

"  I  can  not  state  what  the  amendment  is,  because  I  have  not  the  terms  of  It  at  my 
command  now,  but  I  do  say  this  :  1  do  not  believe  there  is  one  single  member  of  the  Cnmwlftee 
on  Foreign  Relations  who  ivUl  rise  to-day  in  open  session  and  advocate  the  amendment  which  cmies 
from  that  committee. 

"  I  have  here  the  treaty,  but  I  can  not  discuss  it— I  can  only  discuss  the  joint  resolu- 
tion ;  but  I  ask  in  the  light  of  what  has  been  suggested  here,  whether  I  can  not  have  that 
amendment  read  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  ask  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  who  I  know  upon  every  occasion  has  endeavored 
to  bring  this  treaty  before  us  in  executive  session,  whether  he  can  not  rise  and  tell  the 
people  what  the  amendment  is. 

"  Mr.  Shkrman.  Being  personally  appealed  to,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  make  a  point  of 
orderagainst  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  which  T  do  with  great  reluctance.  He  asks  me 
that  I,  in  violation  of  the  rules  of  the  Senate,  shall  do  what  I  regard  to  be  improper  and 
ungentlemanly  in  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  Senate  against  Its  will.  When  he  asks  me 
to  answer  that  question.  It  is  as  much  as  if  he  should  ask  me  to  steal,  or  rob,  or  do  anything 
else  wrong  or  forbidden  by  law.  As  a  matter  of  course,  I  can  not  state  what  the  rules  of 
the  Senate  prohibit  me  from  saying,  and  1  make  the  point  of  order  that  the  Senator  from 
Virginia  Is  himself  violating  the  rules.  Whether  It  should  be  enforced  against  him  or  not 
Is  for  the  Senate  to  say.  I  simply  make  the  point  of  order  because  I  cannot  answer  the 
question  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia  without  violating  the  rules." 

WHAT  THE  AMENDMENTS  PROPOSED. 

It  was  not  until  the  5th  of  April  last  that  the  amendments  referred  to  by  Sena- 
tor Riddleberger  were  officially  made  public.  This  was  some  time  after  they  had 
been  published  in  the  newspapers.  They  are  shown  by  italics  in  the  following  para- 
graph: 

"  Malicious  injuries  to  persons  or  property  by  the  use  of  explosives,  or  malicious 
injuries  or  obstructions  to  railways  whereby  the  life  of  any  person  shall  be  endangered, 
if  sucb  injuries  constitute  a  crime  according  to  the  laws  of  both  the  high  contracting 
parties,  or  according  to  the  laws  of  that  political  division  of  either  country  in  which  ths 
offense  shaU  have  been  committed,  and  of  that  political  division  of  eith^  country  in  which 
the  offender  shaU  be  arrested.^'' 

The  original  provision  of  the  treaty,  as  it  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  may  for  conye- 
nient  reference  be  repeated.    It  was  as  follows: 

'^Malicious  injuries  to  property  whereby  the  life  of  any  person  shall  be  endangered,  if 
•uch  injuries  ooastltute  a  orime  aooordiog  to  the  laws  of  both  the  high  oontractinff 
parties." 


162  THE    STATE    DEPARTMKNT. 

This  provision,  which  is  simple  and  plain,  is  substantially  identical  with  the 
thirteenth  clause  of  the  second  article  of  the  extradition  treaty  with  Japan,  ratified 
by  the  Senate  on  the  2l8t  of  June,  1886,  four  days  before  the  Phelps-Rosebery  treaty 
was  signed. 

The  clause  in  the  Japanese  treaty  reads  as  follows: 

"  Malicious  destruction  of,  or  attempt  to  destroy,  railways,  trains,  vessels,  bridges, 
dwellings,  public  edifices,  or  other  buildings,  when  the  act  endangers  human  life." 

Similar  offenses  are  included  in  other  treaties  of  the  United  States. 

Now  the  amendment  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Senate 
introduces  a  wholly  new  provision,  viz  :  "  Malicious  injuries  topc^yi^ns  or  property 
by  the  use  of  explosives.''^ 

This  carries  the  scope  of  extradition  beyond  anythingito  be  found  in  the  original 
Phelps-Rosebery  arrangement,  or  in  any  other  of  our  treaties.  That  arrangement, 
as  has  been  seen,  provided  for  extradition  for  "malicious  injuries  to  property," 
whereby  "  the  life  of  any  person  shall  be  endangered."  The  amendment  makes  any 
malicious  injury  "  to  persons  or  property,"  however  trivial,  whether  endangering 
life  or  not,  an  extraditable  offense,  when  it  is  committed  "  by  the  use  of  explosives." 
Under  this  provision  the  throwing  of  a  toy  torpedo,  a  firecracker,  or  any  similai* 
device,  with  intent  to  make  a  noise,  or  to  irritate  the  nerves  of  another,  might  be 
held  to  be  extraditable,  while  the  burning  or  other  destruction  of  property,  endan- 
gering human  life,  would  secure  complete  immunity. 


EFFECT  OF  THE  PROPOSED  AMENDMENTS. 

This  provision  would  not  only  carry  extradition  beyond  anything  heretofore 
known,  but  it  would  create  a  new  offense  in  criminal  law,  that  of  injuries  to  persons 
or  property  "by  the  use  of  explosives."  Such  a  thing  is  beyond  the  proper  scope  of 
an  extradition  treaty.  The  object  of  such  a  treaty  is  to  give  effect  to  the  criminal 
law,  not  to  create  it. 

The  introduction  by  Republican  Senators  of  a  further  amendment  to  the  treaty 
to  make  it  include  offenses  against  special  laws,  applicable  only  to  particular 
"political  divisions"  of  either  country,  such  as  the  crimes  act  in  Ireland,  was  a  most 
objectionable  action,  and  tends  to  render  the  whole  subject  of  extradition  odious. 
Such  a  proposition  is  wholly  opposed  to  the  provisions  and  purpose  of  the  treaty, as 
signed,  and  must  tend  to  defeat  any  proper  arrangement ;  an  end  doubtless  desired 
and  secretly  promoted  by  the  colony  of  wealthy  American  defaulters  and  embezzlers 
now  living  in  ease  and  security  in  Canada. 

By  such  vicious  and  indefensible  amendments,  republican  Senators  have 
obstructed  the  course  of  justice,  and  every  day  we  hear  of  a  new  defaulter  or  embez- 
zler fleeing  from  the  United  States  to  Canada,  or  from  Canada  to  the  United  States. 
In  a  petition  of  the  New  York  Surety  Company,  presented  not  long  ago  to  the 
Senate,  it  was  stated  that  during  the  single  year  1887  embezzlers  to  the  amount  of 
$4,000,000  had  found  a  safe  refuge  in  Canada  from  the  United  States.  The  great 
incentive  of  such  a  convenient  refuge  to  the  commission  of  crime  cannot  be  overes- 
timated. 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT,  163 

VIII. 

THE  FISHERIES  TREATY. 

THE     MISREPRESENTATIONS     WHICH     HAVE     BEEN     INDULGED     IN    BY     THE    UllW 
ENGLAND     REPUBLICAN     SENATORS     ABOUT     IT. 

The  same  policy  of  misrepresentation  and  obstruction  displayed  by  the  Repujb- 
lican  majority  in  the  Senate  in  the  matter  of  the  Chinese  and  extradition  treaties 
has  also  been  exhibited  in  their  treatment  of  the  Fisheries  Treaty. 

When  the  Cleveland  administration  came  into  office  one  of  the  first  quee* 
tions  with  which  it  was  confronted  was  that  of  the  Northeastern  Fisheries  The 
termination  of  the  fisheries  articles  of  the  Treaty  of  1871  came  in  the  midst  of  the 
fishing  season  of  1885,  and  no  provision  had  been  made  by  the  previous  Republican 
administration  for  that  emergency.  President  Arthur,  in  his  last  annual  message 
to  Congress  in  1884,  had  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  commission.  Owing» 
however,  to  the  fact  that  his  administration  was  nearing  its  close  and  another  of  a 
different  political  complexion  was  about  to  enter  office,  no  action  was  taken  oh  this 
recommendation,  but  it  met  with  no  word  of  dissent. 

Finding  matters  in  this  condition,  Mr.  Bayard,  in  the  spring  of  1885>  nego- 
tiated an  arrangement  with  the  British  minister  whereby  the  American  fishermen 
were  to  continue  to  enjoy,  for  the  rest  of  the  year  1885,  without  compensation  to 
the  Canadian  government,  all  the  privileges  for  which,  under  the  Treaty  oJ  1871, 
the  United  States  gave  Canada  free  fish  and  more  than  half  a  million  dollars  a  year. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  President  agreed  to  renew  President  Arthur's  recommenda- 
tion to  Congress. 

THE  COURSE  OF  THE  SENATE. 

When  Congress  met  m  December,  1885,  Mr.  Frye  and  other  Republican  Sen- 
ators began  to  denounce  the  President  and  his  Secretary  of  State  for  renewing  that 
recommendation,  and  succeeded  in  preventing  its  adoption     Consequently  the  fish- 
ing season  of  1886  was  entered  upon  without  any  understanding  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada  on  the  subject  of  the  old  controversies  as  to  the  rights  of 
American  fishermen  under  the  Treaty  of  1818,  and  many  cases  of  dispute  ensiled, 
giving  rise  to  great  irritation.    As  a  result  Congress,  in  March,  1887,  on  the  very  eve 
of  its  dissolution,  passed  a  so-called  Retaliatory  Act  to  meet  future  emergencies. 
This  Act  was  drawn  by  Mr.  Edmunds  and  passed  by  him  and  his  Republican  asso- 
ciates in  the  Senate,  to  the  exclusion  of  a  much  more  efficient  measure  introduced 
Dy  Mr.  Belmont  in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  passed  by  that  body  with  a 
practically  unanimous  vote.    The  Act  of  Mr  Edmunds  is  vague  in  terms  and  hope- 
essly  obscure  and  inaccurate  in  its  definition  of  the  rights  which  it  professes  to  pro- 
ect,  and  of  the  conditions  under  which  its  supporters  pretended  that  it  should  he 
!nforced.    That  it  never  was  intended  by  them  to  be  enforced ;  that  they  intended,  by 
aaking  its  language  obscure,  to  render  it  difficult  for  the  President  to  construe  his  duty 
a  respect  to  its  enforcement ;  and  that  they  purpose  to  make  the  President's  action 
.  ground  of  attack,  whether  he  enforced  it  or  not,  are  shown  by  their  whole  sntoe- 
>uent  conduct. 
11 


164  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

Although  every  case  of  complaint  that  has  arisen  since  the  first  of  January, 
1886,  was  before  the  Senate  when  Mr.  Edmunds  brought  forward  his  bill  and 
pressed  it  through,  leaving  it  discretionary  with  the  President,  in  certain  contin- 
gencies, to  issue  a  proclamation,  he  has  been  constantly  attacked  by  Republican 
orators  for  not  enforcing  the  Act  immediately  upon  its  passage.  The  simple  reply 
to  such  language  is  that  if,  in  the  opinion  of  Republican  Senators,  the  acts  already 
committed  when  their  bill  was  proposed  constituted  a  ground  for  retaliation,  the 
measure  they  presented  involved  a  clear  evasion  of  their  duty,  did  not  represent 
their  views,  aad  could  not  honestly  have  been  put  forward. 

THE   CONCLUSION  OF   THE  PENDING  TREATY. 

la  view  of  the  uncertain  condition  of  affairs,  Sir  Charles  Tupper,  in  the  spring 
of  1887,  being  thea  Canadian  Minister  of  Finance,  came  to  Washington  to  ascer- 
tain whether  an  effort  could  not  be  made  to  settle  the  questions  at  issue  by  negotia- 
tion.   What  followed  is  well  known  to  the  country. 

On  the  15th  of  February  last,  a  treaty  was  concluded  which  was  duly  sub- 
mitted by  the  President  to  the  Senate,  with  a  message  from  which  are  taken  the 
following  extracts : 

The  treaty  meets  my  approval,  because  I  believe  that  it  supplies  a  satisfactory,  practi- 
cal and  flual  adjustment,  upon  a  basis  honorable  and  just  to  both  parties,  of  the  difficult 
and  vexed  question  to  which  it  relates. 

A  review  of  the  history  of  this  question  will  show  that  all  former  attempts  to  arrive  at 
a  common  interpretation,  satisfactory  to  both  parties,  of  the  flr^t  article  of  the  treaty  of 
October  2D,  1818,  have  been  unsuccessful ;  and  with  the  lapse  of  time  the  difficulty  and 
obscurity  have  only  increase. 

The  negotiations  in  1854  and  again  in  1871  ended  in  both  cases  in  temporary  reciprocal 
arrangements  of  the  tariffs  of  Canada  and  Newfoundland  and  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  payment  of  a  money  award  by  the  United  States,  under  which  the  real  questions  in 
difference  remained  unsettled,  in  abeyance,  and  ready  to  present  themselves  anew  just  so 
goon  as  the  conventional  arrangements  were  abrogated. 

The  situation,  therefore,  remained  unimproved  by  the  results  of  the  treaty  of  1871,  and 
a  grave  condition  of  affairs,  presenting  almost  identically  the  same  features  and  causes  of 
complaint  by  the  United  States  against  Canadian  action  and  British  default  in  its  correo- 
tioo,  confronted  us  in  May,  1886,  and  bas  continued  until  the  present  time. 
*************** 

The  proposed  delimitation  of  the  lines  of  the  exclusive  fisheries  from  the  common 
fisheries  will  give  certainty  and  security  as  to  the  area  of  their  legitimate  field ;  the  head- 
land theory  of  imaginary  lines  is  abandoned  by  Great  Britain,  and  the  specification  in  the 
treaty  of  certain  named  bays  especially  provided  for  gives  satisfaction  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  shores,  without  subtracting  materially  from  the  value  or  convenience  of  the  fishery 
rights  of  Americans. 

The  uninterrupted  navigation  of  the  Strait  of  Canso  is  expressly  and  for  the  time 
afflrmed,and  the  four  purposes  for  which  our  fishermen  under  the  treaty  of  1818  were  allowed 
to  enter  the  bays  and  harbors  of  Canada  and  Newfoundland  within  the  belt  of  three  marine 
miles  are  placed  under  a  fair  and  liberal  construction,  and  their  enjoyment  secured  without 
such  conditions  and  restrictions  as  In  the  past  have  embarrassed  and  obstructed  them  so 
seriously. 

The  enforcement  of  penalties  for  unlawfully  fishing  or  preparing  to  fish  within  the 
Inshore  and  exclusive  waters  of  Canada  and  Newfoundland,  Is  to  be  accomplished  under 
safeguard  against  oppressive  or  arbitrary  action,  thus  protecting  the  defendant  fishermen 
from  punishment  in  advance  of  trial,  delays,  and  inconvenience  and  unnecessary  expense. 

The  history  of  events  in  the  last  two  years  shows  that  no  feature  of  Canadian  adminis- 
tration was  more  harrassing  and  injurious  than  the  compulsion  upon  our  Asking  vessels 
make  formal  entry,  and  clearance  on  every  occasion  of  temporarily  seeking  shelter  in  < 
diiui  ports  and  harbors. 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  165 

Such  inconvenienoe  is  provided  against  in  the  proposed  treaty,  and  this  most  frequent 
and  just  cause  of  complaint  is  removed. 

The  articles  permitting  our  fishermen  to  obtain  provisions  and  the  ordmary  supplies  of 
trading  vessels  on  their  homeward  voyages,  and  under  which  they  are  accorded  the  further 
and  even  more  Important  privilege  on  all  occasions  of  purchasing  such  casual  or  needful 
provisions  and  supplies  as  are  ordinarily  granted  to  trading  vessels,  are  of  great  import- 
ance and  value. 

The  licenses  which  are  to  be  granted  without  charge  and  on  application,  in  order  to 
enable  our  fishermen  to  enjoy  these  privileges,  are  reasonable  and  proper  checlis  in  the 
hands  of  the  local  authorities  to  Identify  the  recipients  and  prevent  abuse,  and  can  form  no 
Impediment  to  those  who  intend  to  use  ihem  fairly. 

The  hospitality  secured  for  our  vesseJs  in  all  cases  of  actual  distress,  with  liberty  to 
unload  and  sell  and  tranship  their  cargoes,  is  full  and  liberal. 

These  provisions  will  secure  the  substantial  enjoyment  of  the  treaty  rights  for  our  flsh- 
ermen,[under  the  treaty  of  1818,  for  which  contention  has  been  steadily  made  in  the  corres- 
pondence of  the  Department  of  State,  and  our  minister  at  London,  and  by  the  American 
negotiators  of  the  present  treaty. 

The  right  of  our  fishermen  under  the  treaty  of  1818,  did  not  extend  to  the  procurement 
of  distinctive  fishery  supplies  in  Canadian  ports  and  harbors ;  and  one  item  supposed  to  be 
essential,  to  wit,  bait,  was  plainly  denied  them  by  the  explicit  and  definite  words  of  the 
treaty  of  1818,  emphasized  by  the  course  of  the  negotiation  and  express  decisions  which  pre- 
ceded the  conclusion  of  that  treaty. 

The  treaty  now  submitted  contains  no  provision  affecting  tariff  duties,  and,  indepen- 
dently of  the  position  assumed  upon  the  part  of  the  United  States,  that  no  alteration  in  our 
tariff  or  other  domestic  legislation  could  be  made  as  the  price  or  consideration  of  obtaining 
the  rights  of  our  citizens  secured  by  treaty,  it  was  considered  more  expedient  to  allow  any 
change  In  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  to  be  made  by  the  ordinary  exercise  of 
legislative  will,  and  In  promotion  of  the  public  interests.  Therefore,  the  addition  to  the  free 
list  of  fish,  fish -oil,  whale  and  seal-oil,  etc.,  recited  in  the  last  article  of  the  treaty,  Is  wholly 
left  to  the  action  of  Congress ;  and  In  connection  herewith  the  Canadian  and  Newfoundland 
right  to  regulate  sales  of  bait  and  other  fishing  supplies  within  their  own  jurisdiction  is 
recognized,  and  the  right  of  our  fishermen  to  freely  purchase  these  things  Is  made  contin- 
gent, by  this  treaty,  upon  the  action  of  Congress  in  the  modification  of  our  tariff  laws. 
******* 

The  treaty  now  submitted  to  you  has  been  framed  in  a  spirit  of  liberal  equity  and  recip- 
rocal benefits,  in  the  conviction  that  mutual  advantage  and  convenience  are  the  only 
permanent  foundation  of  peace  and  friendship  between  States,  and  that  with  the  adoption 
of  the  agreement  now  placed  before  the  Senate,  a  beneficial  and  satisfactory  Intercourse 
between  the  two  countries  will  be  established  so  as  to  secure  perpetual  peace  and  har- 
mony. 

In  connection  with  the  treaty  herewith  submitted,  I  deem  it  also  my  duty  to  transmit 
to  the  Senate  a  written  offer  or  arrangement,  in  the  nature  of  a  modus  Vivendi,  tendered. 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  British  plenipotentiaries,  to  secure 
kindly  and  peaceful  relations  during  the  period  that  may  be  required  for  the  consideration 
of  the  treaty  by  the  respective  governments  and  for  the  enactment  of  the  necessary  legis- 
lation to  carry  its  provisions  into  effect  if  approved. 

This  paper,  freely  and  on  their  own  motion,  signed  by  the  British  conferees,  not  only 
extends  advantages  to  our  fishermen,  pending  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  but  appears  to 
have  been  dictated  by  a  friendly  and  amicable  spirit. 

MR.  BAYARD  ON  THE  TREATY. 

The  general  features  of  the  treaty  are  clearly  set  forth  in  a  .eiter  from  Mr. 

Bayard,  which  was  written  in  response  to  an  invitation  to  make  a  speech  in  Boston, 

and  which  was  as  follows : 

Washington,  D.  C,  March  14, 1888. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  note  of  the  9th  Inst.,  with  which  you  sent 
me  an  Invitation  to  visit  Boston  and  "  deliver  an  address  on  the  scope  and  purpose  of  the 
treaty  recently  submitted  to  the  United  States  Senate  for  ratification." 


I 


166  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

The  "settlement  upon  just  and  equitable  terms  ef  the  questions  In  dispute  bet weetk 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  concerning  the  rights  of  American  fishermen  in  British. 
North  American  waters  and  parts,"  is  a  subject  upon  which  I  have  bestowed  assiduous  care 
ever  since  I  assumed  the  duties  of  my  present  office,  and  the  results  of  the  efforts  to  pro- 
mote such  a  settlement  is  embodied  in  the  treaty  now  before  the  Senate.  But  the  treaty 
has  been  preceded  by  a  voluminous  correspondence,  and  the  time  for  complete  publica- 
tion has  properly  arrived,  audits  printing:  has  been  ordered  by  the  Senate.  The  whole 
matter  will  thus  be  laid  before  the  American  people,  and  I  trust  will  be  fully  and  publicly 
debated  by  the  Senate. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  welfare  and  true  interests  of  our  country  and  a  just  and  wlse^ 
treatment  of  the  British- American  population  on  our  Northern  frontier  alike  counsel  the 
adoption  of  the  treaty.  In  its  initiation ,  negotiation  and  conclusion  I  can  truly  say  for  my 
associates  and  myself,  no  views  but  those  of  single-minded,  patriotic  Intent  have  been 
allowed  place  or  expression,  nor  can  a  trace  or  suggestion  of  partisanship  be  justly  alleged. 

The  sole  and  difficult  question  to  which  the  treaty  relates—'*  The  fishery  rights  of  one 
nation  in  the  jurisdictional  waters  of  another  "—began  with  the  first  dawn  of  our  recog- 
nized independent  existence  as  a  nation,  and  ever  since  has  conspicuously  presented  itself 
at  Intervals,  exceeding  bitter  controversy,  and  never  has  been  satisfactorily  or  permanently 
disposed  of.  Meanwhile,  the  surrounding  circumstances  have  importantly  changed  and 
advanced  with  rapid  and  vast  growth,  but  tho  treaty  of  1818  is  unaltered,  and  remaina 
unaffected  In  Its  terms  by  seventy  years  of  such  material  progress  and  development  in  this 
continent,  as  we  of  to-day  are  the  winesses. 

Unless  the  treaty  of  1818  shall  be  wholly  abrogated  and  recurrence  necessarily  had  to 
the  dangerous  status  that  John  Quincy  Adams  so  ably  but  unavaillngly  discussed  with  the 
Earl  of  Bathurst  in  1815— and  which  had  resisted  all  efforts  of  the  negotiators  at  Ghent  in 
the  year  previous— It  Is  manifest  that  a  joint  and  equitable  construction,  in  consonance 
with  their  existing  relations  and  mutual  needs,  must  be  agreed  upon  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  and  this  I  affirm,  is  done  by  the  present  treaty.  There  is  not  a 
recorded  cause  of  just  and  reasonable  complaint  by  an  American  fisherman  against 
Canadian  administration  since  1868  for  which  this  treaty  does  not  provide  a  remedy  and 
promise  a  safeguard  In  the  future.  You  will  receive  the  published  record  of  the  two  years, 
that  have  elapsed  since  the  abrogation— on  June  30, 1885— of  the  fishery  articles  of  the  treaty 
of  1871,  when  we  were  obliged  to  fall  back  upon  the  treaty  of  1818,  and  you  can  select  any 
case  or  cases  of  unjust  treatment  of  our  fishermen  so  reported  and  test  my  statement  by 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  now  proposed. 

MANY  OF  THE  CANADIAN  DEMANDS  WITHDBAWN. 

Many  Canadian  contentions  heretofore  put  forth  with  more  or  less  Insistence,  are 
Withdrawn.  Imaginary  lines  upon  the  sea,  drawn  from  one  distant  headland  to  another— 
neither  being  visible  from  tho  other— can  no  longer  cause  doubt  and  anxiety  to  the  fisher- 
man, for  the  demarcation  of  his  fishing  limits  is  made  by  objects  plainly  in  view,  and  if  he 
encroaches  upon  the  waters  renounced  In  1818,  he  will  do  so  wilfully ;  and  from  no  bay 
Where  flsh  are  found,  and  purse  seines  can  be  profitably  used,  are  our  fishermen  excluded 
by  the  present  treaty.  Every  privilege— shelter,  repairs,  wood,  water— reserved  to  him 
under  ttie  treaty  of  1818,  and  which  In  the  past  have  been  so  hampered  and  restricted  by 
Canadian  conditions,  can  hereafter  be  freely  enjoyed  without  cost  or  molestation. 

Hospitality  and  comity,  as  defined  by  civilized  nations,  are  secured,  and  facilities  for- 
ooaverdent  and  needful  supplies  "  on  all  occasions,"  and  relief  against  casualty,  and  la 
oaoos  of  distress,  are  all  amply  provided  for.  Conciliation  and  mutual  neighborly  conoes- 
Slcaj  have  together  done  their  honorable  and  honest  work  In  this  treaty,  and  paved  the  way 
for  relations  of  amity  and  mutual  advantage.  All  this  Is  accomplished  by  no  enforced 
changes  in  our  tariff,  nor  the  payment  of  a  penny  as  the  price  of  a  concession,  nor  for  the 
enjoyment  of  a  right. 

Neither  the  consolenoe,  nor  self-respect,  nor  the  pocket  of  any  American  has  been, 
invaded  by  any  provision  of  the  pending  treaty.  That  the  Canadians  possess  jurisdictional 
rights  no  fair  man  would  wish  to  deny— and  among  such  rights,  to  decide  what  may 
be  lawfully  bought  or  sold  within  their  own  limits.  This  home  rule  orlocal  self -govern- 
ment is  theirs  as  much  as  we  claim  It  for  ourselves. 

The  share  of  responsibility  of  myself  and  my  respected  and  able  associates  in  f  ramlngr 
th^B  meaeure  for  the  settlement  of  a  difficult  and  dangerous  public  question  has,  I  belleyen 


THE    8TATE    DEPARTMENT.  167 

"been  fulfilled,  but  still  in  view  of  the  far-reachlngr  results  which  may  attend  a  rejection  9t 
our  work,  I  am  anxious  to  have  all  the  light  possible  thrown  upon  the  treaty  and  its  opera- 
tive effects  upon  the  well-being  and  happiness  of  our  country.  To  this  end  I  desire  to  give 
every  information,  respond  to  every  inquiry  and  to  remove  every  doubt.  But  the  duties  of 
the  office  I  hold  are  manifold  and  press  daily  for  attention,  so  that  I  do  not  fe6l  warranted 
in  leaving  my  post,  even  for  the  pleasure  of  discussing  before  such  an  audience  a  subject 
flo  Interesting  and  closely  associated  with  the  interests  and  local  historic  pride  of  New 
England. 

I  shall  send  as  soon  as  possible  a  copy  of  the  printed  documents  and  the  treaty  to  each 
•of  the  gentlemen  who  signed  the  invitation,  and  I  am,  with  sincere  respect. 

Most  truly  yours,  T.  F.  BAYARD, 

^o  the  Hon.  H.  L.  Pibbge,  Boston,  Mass. 

POSITION     OF   THE  DEMOCRATIC    SENATORS. 

The  conduct  of  the  Republican  majority  of  the  Senate  in  regard  to  this  treaty 
since  it  came  before  that  body  was  described  by  Senator  Saulsbury,  of  Delaware,  in 
a  speech  in  the  Senate,  as  follows: 

Mr.  President,  before  proceeding  to  discuss  the  treaty  under  consideration  I  maybe 
tillowed  to  refer  to  a  matter  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  merits  of  the  treaty,  but  which 
it  is  necessary  shall  be  placed  right  before  the  country. 

It  is  known  by  the  published  proceedings  of  the  secret  executive  session,  relating  to 
the  treaty  that  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Senate  voted  against  a  motion  made  by  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  to  consider  the  treaty  in  open  executive  session,  and  that  the 
Republican  side  of  this  Chamber  voted  for  that  motion.  This  fact  has  been  made  the  basis 
for  the  assertion  by  the  Republican  press  that  the  Democratic  Senators  so  voted  because 
they  believed  the  treaty  indefensible  and  desired  to  prevent  a  public  exposure  of  Its  real 
character.  Indeed,  it  has  been  intimated  upon  this  floor  that  our  opposition  to  a  public  dis- 
cussion of  the  treaty  proceeded  from  that  cause.  These  statements  may  have  prejudiced 
some  persons  against  the  treaty  who  know  nothing  of  its  merits,  and  will  justify  a  brief 
statement  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  consideration  of  the  treaty  in  open  executive  session* 
Soon  after  this  treaty  was  sent  to  the  Senate  the  Senator  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Riddleber 
ger)  offered  a  resolution  providing  for  the  consideration  of  the  treaty  with  open  doors, 
which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  That  committee  at  the  proper 
time  took  the  resolution  into  consideration  and  reported  it  back  adversely. 

"When  it  came  up  in  this  body  the  Senator  from  Maseachusetts  (Mr.  Hoar)  made  aa 
able  speech  in  opposition  to  an  open  discussion  of  the  treaty  and  depicted  in  a  most  solemn 
manner  the  danger  of  discussing  treaties  with  foreign  powers  in  open  executive  sessiOQ. 
He  was  followed  by  the  Senator  from  Vermont  in  an  equally  able  and  elaborate  argument 
on  the  same  side,  deprecating  the  injury  which  would  be  inflicted  on  the  country  by  dls- 
aussing  in  public  treaties  negotiated  with  foreign  countries.    Mr.  Hawley,  of  Connecticuti 
ibly  presented  the  same  view  of  the  matter,  and  upon  a  yea-and-nay  vote  only  three  Sena- 
tors voted  for  open  discussion.    In  less  than  forty-eight  hours  thereafter  (I  believe  on  the 
/ery  next  day)  a  Republican  caucus  was  held,  and  it  was  determined  by  the  caucus  that  the 
j-eaty  should  be  considered  with  open  doors.    Then  the  humiliating  sight  was  presented  of 
jvery  Republican  Senator,  with  one  exception  (Mr.  Hale,  of  Maine),  coming  into  the  Senate 
ind  voting  for  an  open  executive  session,  reversing  their  own  action  upon  the  Riddleberger 
•esolution.    No  more  humiliating  sight  was  ever  witnessed  in  the  American  Senate :  Senai- 
ors  who  had  declared  that  the  interest  of  the  country  in  its  foreign  relations  would  be  sao» 
•iflced  by  repealing  or  suspending  the  rule  of  the  body  which  had  existed  from  the  foun* 
lation  of  the  Government,  requiring  the  consideration  of  treaties  in  secret  session,  at  the 
oandate  of  a  party  caucus  for  a  partisan  purpose,  deliberately  bartering  their  expressed 
ionvictions  and  surrendering  thfir  opinions  upon  a  matter  of  public  duty  in  order  to  obtain 
V  supposed  party  advantage. 

Senator  George  spoke  to  the  same  effect  in  the  following  forcible  words : 

I  believe,  sir,  it  is  an  open  secret  that  this  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  Senators  on 

he  other  side,  resulting  in  a  consequent  change  in  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Senate,  was 

rought  about  by  the  action  of  a  caucus  or  conference  of  Republican  Senators  from  which 

11  the  world  was  excluded.    What  arguments  were  urged,  what  reasons  presented,  which 


I 


16B  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

worked  this  extraordinary  chang'e  are  unknown  to  me,  unknown  to  the  world.  The  Repub- 
lican Senators  became  in  some  unknown  way,  in  secret  council,  from  which  the  Ameiican 
people  were  excluded,  convinced— solemnly  convinced— by  argrumenti^  and  on  reasoning 
Which  they  dared  not  or  would  not  commit  to  the  American  people,  thai  secrecy  In  affaire, 
secrecy  In  making  treaties,  was  all  wrong ;  that  the  universal  practice  of  our  fathers  on 
this  subject  was  all  wrong.  The  inconsistency  between  the  methods  used  and  the  end 
attained,  the  repugnance  between  the  principles  of  these  methods  and  the  principles 
Involved  in  this  end,  are  so  patent  that  it  requires  a  large  share  of  charity  in  judging  man- 
kind to  believe  that  both  are  sincere. 

The  result— a  declaration  that  secrecy  in  deliberations  in  conducting  negotiations  with 
a  foreign  power  is  all  wrong,  the  exclusion  of  that  power  from  our  counsels  is  un-Ameri- 
can, is  reached  in  a  secret  caucus  from  which  the  America  n  people  themselves  are  excluded ! 
It  Is  not  to  be  forgotten,  however,  that  this  change  in  regard  to  secret  sessions  of  the 
Senate  is  not  by  any  means  the  result  of  a  conviction  that  such  secrecy  is  in  general  wrong. 
The  change  is  limited  to  this  very  treaty ;  for  since  the  vote  to  consider  this  treaty  in  open 
session  we  have  been  considering  all  other  executive  business  in  secret,  including  not  only 
treaties,  but  matters  of  nominations  to  public  oflBce,  which  are  purely  of  domestic  concern. 
Thus  we  take  into  our  confidence,  admit  to  our  secret  counsels,  Great  Britain  when  we 
consider  matters  which  seriously  affect  our  relations  with  that  empire,  and  we  exclude 
from  our  confidence  the  American  people  when  considering  matters  affecting  them  alone. 

The  Bame  charge  of  partisan  conduct  in  regard  to  the  treaty  on  the  part  of 
Republican  Senators  has  been  made  by  almost  every  Democratic  Senator  who  has 
spoken  on  the  treaty,  and  no  Republican  Senator  has  Jared  to  deny  it.  The  "prac- 
tical politics"  of  the  matter  were  managed  by  Senator  Chandler,  of  New  Hampshire, 
of  Electoral  Fraud  fame,  in  1876,  who  reduced  Senators  Edmunds  and  Hoar  to  obe- 
dience and  to  the  repudiation  of  their  own  arguments,  which  they  bave  never  pub- 
licly renounced. 

WHAT   THE  NEGOTIATORS   SAY   OF   IT. 

Mr.  W.  L.  Putman,  of  Maine,  one  of  the  United  States  Commissioners  to  nego- 
tiate the  treaty,  said  of  it : 

The  treaty  next  seeks  to  alleviate  the  hardships  of  the  legal  proceedings  which  various 
Statutes  of  the  province  and  the  Dominion  have  imposed  on  foreign  vessels.       *       *       » 

As  already  explained,  these  had  been  allowed  to  thrive  so  long  without  any  successful 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  prevent  their  growth,  that  they  had  become  too 
deeply  rooted  in  the  general  mass  of  Canadian  legislation  to  permit  their  being  entirely 
drawn  out.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  so  far  as  this  article  may  fail  to  remove  all  these 
diflBculties  detail  by  detail,  its  limitation  of  penalties,  except  for  illegal  fishing  or  prepara- 
atlon  therefor,  will  do  very  much  to  prevent  injustice  under  any  circumstances ;  while  as  to 
vessels  poaching,  it  is  for  the  interest  of  each  government  that  they  shall  be  restrained  by 
severe  punishments. 

To  follow  out  the  matter  more  in  detail :  A  fishing  vessel  is  seized  in  the  Bay  of  St. 
Ann's  or  up  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Under  existing  statutes,  first  of  all,  and  before 
she  can  claim  a  trial  or  take  testimony  or  other  steps  towards  a  trial,  she  is  required  to 
furnish  security  for  costs  not  exceeding  $240.  The  practical  experience  is  that  fishing  vessels 
taken  into  strange  ports  are  rarely  provided  with  funds  or  credit,  and  therefore  they  are 
compelled  to  communicate  with  their  owners  for  assistance,  and  by  reason  of  the  conse- 
quent delay  are  unable  to  take  even  the  preliminary  steps  before  the  sharesmen  scatter 
and  the  witnesses  are  lost ;  because  sharesmen,  not  being  ordinarily  on  wages,  cannot  be 
held  to  a  vessel  moored  to  a  pier. 

This  provision  of  the  Canadian  law  is  not  singular ;  in  our  own  admiralty  courts  no  per- 
son can  ordinarily  claim  a  fishing  vessel,  or  whatever  vessel  she  may  be,  without  furnishing 
like  security.  Under  the  treaty  this  disappears ;  and  In  practice  this  relief  will  be  found 
to  be  of  great  benefit  to  our  fishermen.  Next,  the  courts  into  which  all  the  cases  of  these 
fishing  vessels  have  been  brought  are  not  provincial,  but  are  imperial  vice-admiralty  courts, 
established  and  governed  by  the  uniform  rules  of  the  imperial  statute,  although  presi 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  189 

over  by  a  local  judge  designated  for  that  purpose.  As  a  consequence,  all  the  parapher- 
nalia and  fees  of  imperial  courts  are  met,  and  the  progress  of  the  trial  requires  the  early 
disbursement  of  large  sums  of  money  common  in  all  of  them,  but  unknown  in  our  own 
and  in  the  provincial  courts. 

These  are  necessarily  so  large  that  our  consular  correspondence  shows  the  burden  of 
securing  the  costs  and  advancing  fees  was  alone  sufQcient  in  some  Instances  to  oompel 
owners  to  abandon  the  defense  of  vessels  of  moderate  value.  The  statutes  to  wbi^h  we 
have  already  referred,  moreover,  stipulated  that  no  vessel  should  be  released  on  bail  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  seizing  oflacer ;  and,  although  It  must  be  admitted  that  in  practice 
this  has  not  yet  been  found  to  create  diflBculty,  it  is  annulled  by  the  treaty.  While  it  is 
impossible  to  anticipate  or  prevent  all  causes  of  legal  delays  and  expenditures,  yet  there 
is  no  reasonable  ground  for  denying  that  this  thirteenth  article  will  essentially  moderate 
these  enumerated  rigors. 

The  punishment  for  illegally  fishing  In  the  prohibited  waters  has  always  been  for- 
feiture of  the  vessel  and  the  cargo  aboard  at  the  time  of  seizure.  It  was  not  possible,  nor 
was  it  for  the  interests  of  either  country,  to  demand  that  the  penalty  imposed  on  actual 
poachers  should  not  be  severe ;  but  this  article  provides  that  only  the  cargo  aboard  at  the 
time  of  the  offense  can  be  forfeited,  and  the  provincials  cannot  lie  back  until  a  vessel  has 
taken  a  full  cargo,  and  then  sweep  in  the  earnings  of  the  entire  trip  for  an  offense  com- 
mitted perhaps  at  its  inception.  Moreover,  the  article  provides  the  penalty  shall  not  be 
enforced  until  reviewed  by  the  Governor-General  in  council,  giving  space  for  the  passing 
away  of  temporary  excitement  and  for  a  calm  consideration  of  all  mitigating  circumstances. 
Also,  from  the  passage  of  the  statute  of  1819,  the  penalty  for  illegally  "preparing  to  fish" 
has  been  forfeiture.  This  has  at  times  been  construed  to  extend,  not  only  to  preparing  to 
fish  illegally,  but  also  to  a  preparation  within  the  Dominion  waters  for  fishing  elsewhere. 
The  J.  H.  Nickerson,  already  referred  to,  was  forfeited  in  A.  D.  1870  on  this  principle, 
without  any  specific  protest  from  the  United  States  or  any  subsequent  reclamation. 

COMMISSIONER  ANGELL'S    OPINION. 

The  Detroit  Tribune  of  February  24, 1888,  contained  an  interview  "with  rresi- 
Angell,  of  the  State  University,  who  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  recent  Fish- 
eries Commission,  giving  his  views  with  reference  to  the  treaty  which  they  nego- 
tiated and  which  had  iust  been  sent  to  the  Senate : 

When  the  representatives  of  the  different  governmen's  firs^  met  and  compared  views 
they  differed  so  widely  in  their  propositions  and  methods  that  it  seemed  almost  hopeless 
to  anticipate  that  they  would  ever  come  together.  Now,  I  want  <o  point  out  to  you  a  feW 
of  the  benefits  which  1  think  we  have  gained  or  will  have  gained  when  the  treaty  submit- 
ted by  the  commission  is  ratified  by  all  the  panics  in  in  erest.  The  chief  source  of  trouble 
to  our  fishermen  here  has  been  that  when  ihey  ran  within  three  miles  of  the  Canadian 
shore  for  shelter  they  were  obliged  to  sail  their  vessels  at  times  a  distance  to  some  custom- 
house and  en  er  and  clear.  By  the  treaty  of  1818  our  vessels  were  allowed  the  privilege  of 
entering  to  port  for  four  objects,  sheler,  repairs,  wood  and  water.  Bu-  this  section  of  the 
treaty  was  encumbered  and  lumbered  by  the  laws  of  the  Dominion  government  that  the 
privilege  was  entirely  stripped  of  its  value.  These  conditions  by  the  treaty  wiU  all  be 
taken  off  and  charges  for  dues,  pilotage  fees,  &c.,  have  all  been  dispensed  wi  h.  Why, 
when  our  vessels  ran  into  a  port  in  distress  they  were  not  allowed  to  purchase  a  single  arti- 
cle of  food  or  sell  a  dollar's  worth  of  their  cargo.  This  is  now  changed,  and  they  can  sell 
and  buy  food,  and  get  all  casual  and  needful  supplies  the  same  as  other  vessels.'  The  judi- 
cial procedure  was  one  of  the  greatest  annoyances  and  troubles  to  our  fishermen.  Now 
this  is  all  simplified  and  made  inexpensive.  Formerly  our  fishermen  did  not  know  and 
couldnotell  when  they  were  wi  bin  the  three-mile  limit.  This  is  to  be  rec  ifled  flo  that 
they  will  all  be  able  to  know  their  whereabouts  by  charts  and  buoys. 

We  left  the  matter  of  selling  bait  optional,  as  our  men  say  they  don't  have  to  buy  bait 
in  Canada,  while  the  Canadians  do  have  to  buy  our  bait.  For  this  reason  we  left  that  point 
optional,  as  we  might  wish  some  time  to  restrict  them  from  buying.  We  were  a  long  time 
getting  down  to  the  real  work  of  the  commission,  the  interests  of  all  parties  being  86  varied. 
The  British  and  Canadian  consumers  were  especially  anxious  to  make  a  reciprocal  free 


179  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

trade  a  part  of  this  negotiation  before  they  would  settle  on  the  fishery  qwesUon.  Mwe  than 
half  the  time  was  occupied  in  this  endeavor.  The  real  work  has  been  done  within  the  past 
raoiitllx.  We  told  them  over  and  over  again  that  the  tariff  was  a  matter  which  must  be  set- 
tled by  Congress,  that  we  could  do  nothing  about  it.  I  must  say  that  if  the  treaty  is  not  rat- 
ified by  the  Senate  they  will  make  a  great  mistake  in  my  judgment.  What  adds  decidedly 
to  the  strength  of  my  opinion,  in  that  we  have  been  able  to  get  decidedly  the  best  of  the 
case  in  the  treaty,  is  that  the  radical  Canadian  papers  are  all  so  opposed  to  it. 

Oommissioner  Angell  is  the  president  of  Michigan  University,  the  largest  edu- 
cational institution  in  the  United  States  except  Harvard.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  character  and  attainments,  a  Republican,  and  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Evarts, 
when  Secretary  of  State,  our  Plenipotentiary  to  China,  and  was  the  senior  member 
of  the  commission  which  negotiated  the  treaty  at  Peking,  of  Nov.  17,  1880,  placing 
restrictions  on  immigration  into  the  United  States  of  Chinese  laborers. 

WHAT  THE  TREATY  SECURED. 

The  truth  is  that  the  Fisheries  Treaty  secures  for  the  fishermen  far  more  than 
Republican  Senators  said  they  needed  before  it  was  made.  In  1887  Mr.  Edmunds 
made  a  report,  in  which  Mr.  Frye  and  all  the  other  members  of  the  Foreign  Rela- 
iiODB  Committee  of  the  Senate  joined,  and  in  which  it  was  declared  that  "there  is  no 
necessity  whatever  for  American  fishermen  to  resort  to  Canadian  waters"  for  bait. 
In  the  Boston  Journal  in  June,  1887,  Mr.  George  Steele,  President  of  the  America 
Fishery  Union,  wrote  as  follows : 

"Qloucester,  Provinceton  and  Portland  never  felt  better  than  now  their  ability  to  do 
without  Canadian  bait ;  and  the  Ottawa  Government  will  find  that  its  measures  of  retalia- 
tioji  and  esrclusion  have  injured  its  own  fishermen  without  doing  the  least  damage  to  the 
Uiilted  States." 

He  also  testified  before  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations  as  follows  : 

"Q  Taking  the  cod-fishery,  then,  what  in  your  opinion  is  the  value  to  the  American 
fishing  interest  of  the  right  to  get  bait  on  British  shore  ?    A.  Nothing  whatever. 

"  Q.  You  would  not  care  anything  about  it?    A.  No,  sir. 

•'(^.  In  your  halibut  fishery  you  carry  the  ice  out  from  here  always,  do  you  not?  A. 
Yes,  f^r 

''  Q.  And  stand  right  straight  off  for  the  halibut  fishing  ground  ?  A.  Yes,  sir.  We  take 
twenty -five  to  forty  tons  to  a  vessel. 

*'  Q.  Taking  the  cod-fishery,  the  mackerel-fishery  and  the  whole  thing  together,  how 
far  do  you  regard  as  of  any  practical  value  to  American  fishing  interests  the  right  to  g© 
ashore  or  inside  the  three-mile  limit,  except  for  shelter  and  for  fresh  water  ?  A.  I  should 
not  think  it  was  of  any  value  whatever," 

Mr,  O.  8.  Whitten  of  Portland,  Vice-President  of  the  Fishery  Union,  said  November 
last,  in  a  local  paper,  that  Canada  has  nothing  to  give  us  to  offset  free-trade,  "no  privileges, 
baiter  fish,' 

He  also  testified  before  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations  as  follows : 

*' Q.  Ija  fishing  in  Canadian  waters  for  halibut— I  do  not  mean  in  waters  within  their 
jurisdiction  but  off  their  coast  on  the  banks— what  necessity  is  there  for  our  fisher- 
mea  to  go  into  their  ports  for  bait  ?    A.  Not  any  whatever. 

"  Q.  Is  there  any  necessity  of  going  into  the  ports  of  Canada  to  get  fresh  bait?  A.  It 
is  not  necessary;  they  can  get  it  here  and  take  It  with  them.  There  are  thousands  and 
thousands  of  barrels  caught  no  further  otf  than  Wood  Island. 

'*  Q.  Do  you  consider  valuable  the  privilege  of  going  into  Canadian  ports  to  buy  bait  ? 
A.  I  do  uot  consider  it  of  any  value  at  all." 

"  Q.  Then  so  far  as  the  Canadian  ports  are  concerned,  other  than  for  purposes  of 
shelter,  water,  wood  and  repairs  of  damages,  it  would  be  better  for  the  fishermen  of  Maine 
If  tiiey  were  uot  permitted  to  go  In  at  all  ?    A.  I  think  so." 


i 


THK   8TATB    DEPARTMENT.  171 


SENATOR  FRTE  BEFORE  TIE   HAD   A  PARTISAN  POINT  TO  MAKE. 




said: 

The  testimony  of  the  owners  and  fishermen  taken  at  Gloucester,  also  at  Boston, 
Provlncetown  and  Portland,  was  entirely  agrreed  on  the  following:  points: 

First— That  there  is  no  necessity  at  all  for  our  flshlngr  vessels  to  enter  porta  of  Canada 
for  any  purposes  except  those  provided  for  in  the  treaty  of  1818,  viz.,  for  shelter,  wood* 
water  and  repairs;  that  while  the  Canadians  admit  our  rights  to  these  privileges,  they  are 
unnecessarily  and  without  excuse  interfering  continuously  with  our  enjoyment  of  them. 
If  one  of  our  vessels  runs  Into  a  Canadian  port  in  a  storm  for  shelter,  they  insist  upon 
Immediate  entry,  no  matter  how  inconvenient  it  may  be  to- the  captain  of  the  vessel.  They 
will  not  permit  him  to  land  a  man,  though  he  be  a  citizen  of  that  country,  send  his  clothing 
ashore,  send  for  treatment  in  sickness,  purchase  anything  whatever.  A  score  of  our  fishing 
vessels  have  already  been  seized  by  them  and  fined  $400,  for  what  they  determined  to  bo 
infractions  of  the  peculiar  rules  and  regulations  of  their  customs  laws,  which  have  been 
obsolete  for  more  than  forty  years.  In  fact,  they  do  not  permit  us  to  enjoy  any  of  the  rights 
which  they  admit  to  be  secured  to  us  by  the  treaty  of  1818,  without  putting  us  to  more 
inconvenience  and  trouble  than  the  right  is  worth. 

Second— They  refuse  our  fishermen  absolutely  and  unqualifiedly  all  oommerciallrighta 
whatever,  and  refuse  to  recognize  as  valid  our  customs  permits  to  touch  and  trade.  Their 
ports  are  almost  as  effectually  closed  against  all  of  our  fishing  vessels  as  if  there  was  to-day 
a  condition  of  war  between  us  and  Great  Britain.  The  fishermen  also  concur  in  saying  that 
these  commercial  privileges  are  of  no  value.  It  has  been  generally  understood  that  the 
right  to  purchase  bait  was  a  very  valuable  one ;  but  the  testimony  not  only  shows  that  it  is 
of  no  value,  but  the  preponderance  of  testimony  is  that  the  right  exercised  does  more  harm 
than  good,  that  the  time  consumed  in  going  into  and  out  of  the  port,  and  going  thence  to 
the  banks  again,  costs  the  fishermen  more  than  the  value  of  the  bait. 

Third— Both  fishermen  and  owners  agree  with  great  unanimity,  that  they  require  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  Canada  other  than  the  treaty  rights  of  1818 ;  that  it  Is  better  for  them 
when  they  start  on  their  cruises  to  provide  their  vessels  with  everything  that  is  necessary 
for  the  cruises,  bait  and  all,  than  to  leave  anything  to  be  provided  for  in  Canada. 

Fourth- They  agree  that  the  privilege  of  fishing  iaside  of  the  three-mile  limit  is  abso- 
lutely worthless,  and  has  been  for  flftet a  years ;  that  nearly  ail  the  fish,  both  mackerel  and 
cod,  have  been  taken  outside  ;  that  fishing  with  purse  seines  within  three  miles  of  the  shore 
never  brings  compensation  enough  to  make  up  for  the  damage  to  the  seines  in  shoal  water 
and  on  the  rocks. 

Fifth— There  seems  to  be  no  difference  in  opinion  about  the  result  of  a  treaty  with  Can- 
ada which  would  give  them  our  markets  or  alter  our  tariff  by  making  fish  free.  They  believe 
it  would  be  certain  to  destroy  in  ten  or  fi  teen  years  the  fishing  industry  of  New  England 
and  transfer  to  Canada  the  fishing  fleet ;  that  there  is  nothing  which  Canada  can  give  them 
as  a  compensation  for  this. 

Sixth— Their  remedy  for  existing  troubles  with  their  business  is  a  higher  duty  on  salt 
fish,  also  a  duty  on  fresh  fish." 

Under  the  new  fisheries  treaty  should  the  tax  on  salt  fish  be  at  any  time,  in 
the  pleasure  of  the  United  States,  removed,  the  already  largely  increased  privileges 
of  American  fishing  vessels  in  Canadian  waters  would  be  still  further  expanded. 

THE   president's   LETTER   TO   THE   FISHERY    UNION. 

Before  the  negotiation  of  the  Fisheries  Treaty,  when  arrangements  were  being 
made  for  the  fisking  season  of  1887,  the  President  wrote  to  the  president  of  the 
Fishery  Union  the  following  letter : 


173  THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  7,  1887. 
Gboboe  Stexlx,  EBQm 

President  American  Fishery  Union^  and  others,  Oloucesier,  Mass. 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  received  your  letter  lately  addressed  to  me,  and  have  given  full 
ooneideration  to  the  expression  of  the  views  and  wishes  therein  contained,  in  relation  ta 
the  existing  differences  between  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
growing  out  of  the  refusal  to  award  to  our  citizens  engaged  in  fishing  enterprises  the 
privileges  to  which  they  are  entitled,  cither  under  treaty  stipulations  or  the  guarantees  of 
international  comity  and  neighborly  concession. 

I  sincerely  trust  the  apprehension  you  express,  of  unjust  and  unfriendly  treatment  of 
American  fishermen  lawfully  found  in  Canadian  waters,  will  not  be  realized.  But  if  such 
apprehension  should  prove  to  be  well  founded,  I  earnestly  hope  that  no  fault  or  incon- 
siderate action  of  any  of  our  citizens  will  in  the  least  weaken  the  just  position  of  our 
Government,  or  deprive  us  of  the  universal  sympathy  and  support  to  which  we  should  be 
entitled. 

The  action  of  this  administration  since  June,  1886,  when  the  fishery  articles  of  the 
treaty  of  1871  were  terminated  under  the  notification  which  had  two  years  before  been 
given  by  our  Government,  has  been  fully  disclosed  by  the  correspondence  between  the 
representatives  and  the  appropriate  departments  of  the  respective  governments,  with 
which  I  am  apprised  by  your  letter  you  are  entirely  familiar.  An  examination  of  this  cor- 
respondence bas  doubtless  satisfied  you  that  in  no  case  have  the  rights  or  privileges  of 
American  fishermen  been  overlooked  or  neglected,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  have 
been  seduously  insisted  upon  and  cared  for  by  every  means  within  the  control  of  the 
executive  branch  of  the  Government. 

The  act  of  Congress  approved  March  3, 1887,  authorizing  a  course  of  retaliation  through 
executive  action,  in  the  event  of  a  continuance  on  the  part  of  the  British- American 
authorities  of  unfriendly  conduct  and  treaty  violations  affecting  American  fishermen,  ha« 
devolved  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  exceedingly  grave  and  solemn  responsi- 
bilities, comprehending  highly  important  consequences  to  our  national  character  and 
dignity,  and  Involving  extremely  valuable  commercial  intercourse  between  the  British 
Possessions  in  North  America  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

I  understand  the  main  purpose  of  your  letter  is  to  suggest  that.  In  case  recourse  to  the 
retaliatory  measures  authorized  by  this  act  should  be  invited  by  unjust  treatment  of  our 
fishermen  in  the  future,  the  object  of  such  retaliation  might  be  fully  accomplished  by 
"prohibiting  Canadian-caught  fish  from  entry  into  the  ports  of  the  United  States." 

The  existing  controversy  is  one  in  which  two  nations  are  the  parties  concerned.  The 
retaliation  contemplated  by  the  act  of  Congress  is  to  be  enforced,  not  to  protect  solely  any 
particular  interest,  however  meritorious  or  valuable,  but  to  maintain  the  national  honor, 
and  thus  protect  all  our  people.  In  this  view,  the  violation  of  American  fishery  rights,  and 
unjust  or  unfriendly  acts  towards  a  portion  of  our  citizens  engaged  in  this  business,  is  but 
the  occasion  for  action,  and  constitutes  a  national  affront  which  gives  birth  to,  or  may 
justify,  retaliation.  This  measure,  once  resorted  to,  its  effectiveness  and  value  may  well 
depend  upon  the  thoroughness  and  extent  of  its  application ;  and  in  the  performance  of 
International  duties,  the  enforcement  of  international  rights,  and  the  protection  of  our 
citizens,  this  government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  must  act  as  a  unit^all  intent 
upon  attaining  the  best  result  of  retaliation  upon  the  basis  of  a  maintenance  of  national 
honor  and  duty. 

A  nation  seeking  by  any  means  to  maintain  its  honor,  dignity,  and  integrity  is  engaged 
in  protecting  the  rights  of  its  people ;  and  if  in  such  efforts  particular  interests  are  injured 
and  special  advantages  forfeited,  these  things  should  be  patriotically  borne  for  the  public 
good. 

An  immense  volume  of  population,  manufactures  and  agricultural  productions,  and  the 
marine  tonnage  and  railways  to  which  these  have  given  activity,  all  largely  the  result  of 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  British  America,  and  the  natural  growth  of  a 
full  half  century  of  good  neighborhood  and  friendly  communication,  form  an  aggregate  of 
material  wealth  and  incidental  relations  of  most  impressive  magnitude.  I  fully  appreciate 
these  things,  and  am  not  unmindful  of  the  great  number  of  our  people  who  are  concerned 
In  such  vast  and  diversified  interests. 


THE    STATE    DEPARTMENT.  173 

In  the  performance  of  the  serious  duty  which  the  Congress  has  Imposed  upon  me,  and 
In  the  exercise  upon  just  occasion  of  the  power  conferred  under  the  act  referred  to,  I  shall 
deem  myself  bound  to  Inflict  no  unnecessary  damage  or  injury  upon  any  portion  of  our 
people ;  but  I  shall,  nevertheless,  be  unflinchingly  guided  by  a  sense  of  what  the  self- 
respect  and  dignity  of  the  nation  demand.  In  the  maintenance  of  these  and  in  the  support 
of  the  honor  of  the  government  beneath  which  every  citizen  may  repose  in  safety,  no  sacri- 
fice of  personal  or  private  interests  shall  be  considered  as  against  the  general  welfare. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

GROVBR  CLEVELAND. 


PRACTICAL  WORKINGS  OP   THE  DEPARTMENT. 

Under  the  Cleveland  administration,  the  Bervice  of  the  Department  has  been 
brought  up  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  A  committee  of  the  Senate,  engaged  in 
investigating  the  manner  in  which  the  Department  busmessis  at  present  conducted, 
has  lately  made  a  report  in  which  no  criticism  was  offered.  Much  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  consular  branch  of  our  foreign  service.  Its  condition  has  been 
greatly  improved,  and  among  the  things  sought  to  be  accomplished  through  it,  is 
the  prevention  of  frauds  upon  our  customs  laws  by  undervaluations. 


174  THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF  TKE  TREASURY. 


1 


CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


HOW    THIS    GREAT     DEPARTMENT    HAS     BEEN     ADMINISTERED    FOR 
THE     BENEFIT     OP    THE     COUNTRY. 


Under  Democratic  Management  the  Debt  Has  Been  Paid 
Rapidly  and  Business  Interests  Promoted. 


The  most  important  work  of  this  Department  obviously  consists  of  the  collec- 
tion of  the  revenues  and  the  management  of  the  national  finances. 

In  the  matter  of  the  coUection  of  the  revenue,  which  is  mainly  derived  from 
receipts  for  customs  dues  and  from  internal  taxes,  there  has  been  a  steady  and 
decided  increase  of  revenue,  and  a  steady  and  decided  decrease  of  the  cost  of  collec- 
tion under  the  present  Administration.  The  fiscal  year  ends  on  the  30th  day  of 
June,  and  the  present  year,  therefore,  completes  three  full  fiscal  years  of  this  admin- 
istration of  the  Department;  and,  beginning  with  the  fiscal  year  1884,  which  was 
the  first  year  after  the  tarifi"  law  of  1883  went  into  effect,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
receipts  from  customs  for  that  year  were,  in  round  numbers,  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  millions  of  dollars ;  for  1885,  one  hundred  and  eighty  one  millions  of 
dollars;  for  1886,  one  hundred  and  ninety- three  millions  of  dollars— being  tho  first 
year  of  this  administration— an  increase  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars;  and  in  1887 
they  were  two  hundred  and  seventeen  millions  of  dollars,  a  further  increase  of 
twenty-five  millions ;  and  for  1888,  two  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  a 
further  increase  of  three  millions,  making  a  total  increase  during  the  three  years  of 
over  forty  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  cost  of  collection  for  1884  was  03.44  per 
eent. 

1885,03.77; 

1886,03  30; 

1887,03.16; 
and 

1888.  02.98. 

CARE    IN   THE   TRANSACTION  OP  BUSINESS. 

The  same  results  are  shown  in  the  receipts  from  internal  revenue  and  the 
expenditures  in  that  branch  of  the  service,  the  collections  for  the  fiscal  year  1885 
being,  in  round  numbers,  one  hundred  and  twelve  millions  ;  1886,  one  hundred  and 


THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF   THE   TREASURY.  175 

ieventeen  millions ;  1887,  one  hundred  and  nineteen  millions ;  1888,  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  millioDS,  a  total  increase  of  thirteen  millions  of  dollars,  while  the 
cost  of  collection  has  decreased  from  3.963  per  cent,  for  1885  to  3- 03  per  cent,  in 
1888.  This  has  been  accomplished  notwithstanding  the  work  of  collecting  the  tax 
upon  oleomargarine  and  the  enforcement  of  the  law  against  the  illicit  production 
and  traffic  in  that  article  has  during  this  period  devolved  upon  the  Internal  Rev- 
enue Bureau. 

In  both  the  customs  and  internal  revenue  service  great  vigilance  has  been  dis- 
played in  the  detection  and  suppression  of  frauds  upon  the  revenue.  In  the  cus- 
toms department  especial  attention  has  been  given  to  the  subject  of  undervaluations, 
which  had  grown  to  be  so  great  an  abuse  that  loud  complaints  were  constantly 
made  by  the  domestic  manufacturer  and  the  honest  importer  that  their  business  was 
seriously  imperiled  in  consequence  of  it.  The  result  has  been  that  this  abuse  has 
been  practically  eradicated,  and  save  in  rare  instances  are  complaints  now  made 
either  to  the  Department  or  in  the  public  press  on  that  account.  Greater  prompt- 
ness in  the  transaction  of  customs  business  has  also  been  secured.  Two-thirds  of 
the  revenue  from  c^istoms  are  collected  at  the  port  of  New  York,  and  two  years  ago 
the  work  of  the  Liquidating  Division  at  that  port  was  over  two  years  behind,  and 
the  Division  of  Protests  and  Appeals  was  equally  in  arrears,  but  at  the  present  time 
the  work  of  both  divisions  has  been  so  far  advanced  that  by  the  end  of  this  calendar 
year  all  arrears  of  business  will  have  been  disposed  of,  and  the  work  will  be  up  to 
current  date. 


n. 

BUYING   BONDS   FOR   THE   SINKING   FUND. 

EFFORTS  TO  REDUCE  THE   SURPLUS  BY   RELEASING   PUBLIC  MONEY  TO  TUB 
COUNTRY  FOR  THE   PURPOSES  OP  BUSINESS. 

In  the  matter  of  the  management  of  the  national  finances,  a  brief  review  of 
some  of  the  difficulties  which  had  to  be  encountered,  and  of  the  dangers  which 
threatened  the  country,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  avoided  and 
averted,  will  satisfy  every  candid  and  impartial  mind  that  this  branch  of  the  public 
service  was  never  more  ably  or  more  faithfully  administered. 

On  the  30th  of  June,  1887,  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury,  according  to  the  Treas- 
tirer's  statement  of  assets  and  liabilities,  was  $45,698,59415.  The  expenditures, 
actual  and  estimated,  including  the  Sinking  Fund,  for  the  fiscal  year  1888  were 
$316,817,785.48,  and  the  revenues  of  the  Government  for  the  same  period  under  ex- 
isting tariff  and  revenue  laws  were  estimated  to  be  approximately  $383,000,000. 
Thus  an  addition  to  the  surplus  during  the  fiscal  year  of  $66,182,214.53  was  ex- 
pected, makmgthe  total  surplus  on  the  30th  of  June,  1888,  $111,880,808,67.  This 
was  the  situation  as  it  appeared  one  year  ago.  It  will  be  seen  from  what  follows 
that  the  estimate  was  far  below  the  reality. 

Early  in  August,  1887,  it  became  apparent  that  the  rapid  accumulation  of 
money  in  the  Treasury,  which  had  already  created  a  feeling  of  great  anxiety  and 
uneasiness  in  business  centres,  would  soon  cause  severe  stringency  in  the  money 
markets.    The  time  was  approaching  when  the  annual  shipments  of  money  to  Um 


I 


176  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OP  THE  TREASURY. 

West  for  the  purpose  of  moving  the  crops  would  deplete  the  reserves  in  the  great 
cities.  This  depletion,  which  in  good  years  is  always  great  enough  to  increase  the 
loaning  rate  to  7  per  cent,  and  upward,  threatened  to  be  so  great  as  to  cripple  the 
movement  of  money  so  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  country,  particularly  of  the 
great  grain-raising  sections  of  the  West,  and  the  constantly  increasing  surplus  in  the 
Treasury  was  daily  adding  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

At  this  juncture  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  wisely  determined  that,  instead 
of  distributing  the  purchases  for  the  Sinking  Fund  over  the  whole  fiscal  year,  as  he 
would  do  in  ordinary  circumstances,  he  would  invest  the  entire  amount,  nearly 
twenty-eight  millions,  at  once,  or  as  rapidly  as  possible,  hoping  thereby  to  so  far  re- 
lieve the  impending  distress  as  to  tide  over  the  period  of  moving  the  crops,  and  so 
prevent  business  disturbances  during  that  critical  time.  To  this  end  he  published 
the  circular  of  August,  1887,  and  later  the  circular  of  September,  1887,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  bonds  for  the  Sinking  Fund.  The  first  circular  proposed  to  receive  offers 
weekly  at  prices  to  be  named  by  the  owners,  and  when  all  which  were  ofiered  at  fair 
prices  had  been  obtained  by  that  method,  the  second  circular  was  published  fixing  a 
price  at  which  they  would  be  received. 

Under  these  two  circulars  the  Secretary  purchased  $24,844,650  bonds  at  a  cost 
of  $27,842,237.10.  No  comment  is  needed  to  emphasize  the  importance  and  vast 
benefit  of  this  operation.  The  Secretary  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people  nearly 
twenty- eight  millions  of  money  with  which  to  carry  on  the  most  important  business 
transactions  of  the  year.  The  wisdom  and  success  of  this  measure  is  best  shown  by 
the  fact  that  throughout  the  period  when  the  greatest  trouble  has  heretofore  occurred, 
not  the  slightest  disturbance  of  business  was  recorded,  and  the  average  rate  paid  for 
money  on  call  in  New  York,  the  great  banking  centre  of  the  country,  was  never 
lower. 

Upon  completing  the  purchase  of  bonds  for  the  Sinking  Fund,  the  question  of 
disposing  of  the  further  additions  to  the  surplus  was  carefully  considered.  The 
authority  to  purchase  bonds  in  addition  to  the  Sinking  Fund  requirements  was  not 
considered  to  be  so  clear  and  unequivocal  as  to  justify  the  Secretary  in  making 
purchases. 

DISTRIBUTING   GOVERNMENT  MONET  THROUGH  THE  BANKS. 

The  authority  to  do  this,  such  as  it  was,  was  contained  in  a  paragraph  in  the 
Legislative  Appropriation  Bill,  approved  March  3, 1881,  and  after  a  careful  survey 
of  all  the  circumstances  it  was  decided  that  doubt  existed  and  that  all  other  lawftil 
means  should  first  be  exhausted  before  resorting  to  other  purchases.  The  only  re- 
source left  appeared  to  be  in  the  Secretary's  authority  to  use  National  Banks  as  de- 
positories of  public  money.  Prior  to  this  time  the  deposits  in  National  Banks  had 
been  somewhat  restricted  by  the  unprofitable  nature  of  the  terms  offered  to  the 
banks.  They  were  limited  to  a  deposit  of  90  per  cent,  of  the  par  value  of  the  bonds 
deposited  by  them  as  security,  so  that  from  18  to  36  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the 
bonds  was  practically  locked  up.  In  view  of  the  high  premium  which  these  bonds 
commanded  as  an  investment,  it  was  decided  to  allow  a  deposit  of  the  par  value  of 
41  per  cent,  bonds  held  as  security  and  a  deposit  of  110  per  cent,  against  4  per  cent, 
bonds  held.    The  result  is  best  shown  by  the  following  statement. 

On  the  let  of  July,  1885,  there  were  141  National  Banks  whose  designations 
as  depositories  were  in  force  and  the  deposits  of  public  moneys  in  their  hands 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THB  TREASURY.  177 

amounted  to  $12,928,264.47.  On  the  Ist  of  July,  1888,  there  were  294 
banks,  holding  public  deposits  of  $59,979,039.63.  This  is  an  increase  of 
153  banks  and  an  increase  of  deposits  in  their  hands  of  $47,050,775.16. 
In  other  words,  there  are  more  than  twice  as  many  banks  now  acting  as  deposito- 
ries as  there  were  three  years  ago,  and  they  hold  nearly  five  times  as  much  public 
money  as  they  did  three  years  ago.  This  great  sum  of  forty-seven  millions 
ot  dollars  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  people  as  the  result  of  the  wise  and  liberal 
policy  of  the  Secretary,  instead  of  remaining  locked  up  in  the  Treasury,  as  it  would 
have  remained  under  the  policy  formerly  in  operation,  and  the  security  held  for  the 
safe  return  to  the  Treasury  of  the  money  deposited,  is  at  times  ample,  for  the 
4i  per  cent,  bonds  held  by  the  Treasury  have  at  all  times  been  worth  at  least  seven 
per  cent,  more  than  the  deposit,  and  the  4  per  cent,  at  least  15  per  cent.  more. 
Either  class  of  bonds  can  be  sold  at  a  day's  notice,  so  that  no  possible  contingency 
could  result  in  loss  to  the  Government. 

DISTRIBUTION  OP  PUBLIC  MONEY  BY  SECTIONS. 

The  total  amount  of  public  deposits  in  depository  banks  June  30,  1888,  ex- 
clusive of  sums  to  the  credit  of  disbursing  officers,  was  $54,950,501.15.    More  than 
five  times  the  amount  held  June  30, 1885,  when  the  balances  were  $10,924,418.64. 
These  amounts  were  distributed  as  follows : 

Eastern  Division,  comprising  the  New  England  States,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware : 

June  30,  1885 $  3,164.405.06 

.June  30,  1888 30,068,033.63 

Central  Division,  comprising  Michigan,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Ken- 
tucky: 

June  30,  1885  $  4,351,660.34 

June  30,  1888 11,188,644.81 

Northwestern  Division,  comprising  Colorado,  Montana,  Kansas,  Dakota, 
Nebraska,  Missouri,  "Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa : 

June  30,  1885 $1,920,220.12 

June  30,  1888 ...  5,958,770.63 

Southern  Division,  comprising  New  Mexico,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Georgia,  &c.,  &c. : 

June  30,  1885 $1,201,562.66 

June  30,  1888 6,705,852.49 

Pacific  Slope,  comprising  Utah,  Idaho,  Washington,  Nevada,  California,  and 
Oregon : 

June  30,  1885 $  285,570.46 

June  30,  1888 1,029,199.59 

NO  CONTRACTION  OP  THE  CIRCULATING  MEDIUM. 

There  has  prevailed  the  belief  that  the  accumulation  of  the  surplus  revenues 
in  the  Treasury  and  the  retirement  of  National  Bank  Notes  by  banks  reducing 
circulation  must  result  in.contraction  of  the  circulation  of  the  country.  So  far  the 
wise,  prudent,  and  skillful  management  of  the  Government  finances  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  has  averted  all  trouble  from  this  source.  Indeed,  the  amount 
of  money  in  circulation  among  the  people  to-day  is  greater  than  it  was  two 
years  ago. 


178  THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF  THE   TREASURY. 

The  total  circulation  January  1,  1886,  was  |1,385,173,012,  while  the  amoun* 
June  30,  1888,  was  $1,372,627,868,  an  increasa  of  $87,454,856. 

The  following  table  shows  how  this  increase  is  effected  : 

CHA2IGB8.  Increase.  Decrease. 

Gold  Coin $  38,625,381 

Silver  Dollars 8,287,733 

Subsidiary  Coin 8,207,372 

Gold  Certificates , 14,527,769 

Silver  Certificates 107,207,911 

United  States  Notes $10,042,004 

National  Bank  Notes 69,359,305 

Total. $166,856,165        $79,401,309 

BUYING  BONDS  UPON  OFFERS  FROM  THE  PUBLIC. 

The  efforts  of  the  Secretary  to  keep  down  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  were  ef- 
fectual during  the  fall  and  early  winter,  but  the  time  soon  came  when  something 
more  must  be  done,  for  the  surplus  continued  to  grow  and  the  measures  which  had 
been  so  effective  earlier  in  the  fiscal  year,  were  now  inoperative,  which  were  clearly 
foreseen,  and  to  which  the  present  Secretary  and  his  able  predecessor,  Mr.  Manning, 
had  repeatedly  called  the  attention  of  Congress,  without  avail.  The  absorption  of 
public  moneys  by  the  depository  banks  had  reached  its  limit,  and  the  sinking  fund 
requirements  had  been  supplied,  so  that  nothing  remained  to  be  done  but  to  await 
the  action  of  Congress.  There  had  been  discussion  of  the  subject  in  both  Houses, 
but  no  material  progress  towards  a  settlement  of  the  question  had  been  made  In 
April,  however,  the  House  passed  a  resolution  declaratory  of  its  judgment  that  the 
clause  in  the  appropriation  bill  of  March  3,  1881,  was  still  in  force,  and  a  similar 
resolution  was  passed  a  few  days  later  in  the  Senate. 

The  sanction  of  Congress  having  thus  been  practically  given  to  the  policy  of 
purchasing  unmatured  obligations  at  a  premium,  the  Secretary  promptly,  on  the 
day  after  the  passage  of  the  Senate  resolution,  published  a  circular  dated  April  17, 
1888,  inviting  daily  offerings  of  bonds  to  the  Government.  This  circular,  like  those 
which  precedel  it  in  August  and  September,  1887,  invited  the  people  to  deal  di- 
rectly with  the  Government  in  selling  their  bonds,  being  a  marked  departure  from 
the  policy  of  former  administrations  in  this  respect.  All  previous  purchases  had 
been  made  through  the  Sub-Treasury  in  New  York,  and  a  deposit  as  a  guarantee 
of  good  faith  was  required.  This  restriction  placed  the  business  of  selling  bonds  to 
the  Government  exclusively  in  the  hands  ot  the  professional  dealers  in  securities, 
and  consequently  placed  individual  holders  at  their  mercy.  Under  the  present 
system  the  humblest  citizen  of  the  United  States,  owner  of  a  bond  for  $50,  can  deal 
directly  with  the  Government,  and  his  proposal  for  the  sale  of  his  bond  receives 
from  the  Secretary  the  same  consideration,  and  if  his  bond  is  accepted  the  same 
prompt  payment  as  that  accorded  the  dealer  who  sells  his  millions  at  a  time. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  BOND  PURCHASES. 

Under  this  circular  of  April  17 ,  1888,  the  Secretary  had  purchased  up  to  June 
30, 1888,  $18,383,800,  4  per  cent,  bonds,  at  a  cost  of  $23,347,744.20,  and  $8,393,050 
4i  per  cent,  at  a  cost  of  $9,039,056.30,  making  a  total  disbursement  on  account  of 
purchase  of  $32,386,800.40. 


THE  ADMINIsrilATION   OF  THE  TllEASURY.  179 

The  bonds  so  purchised,  it  should  be  rentietnbered,  were  not  redeemable,  the  4^ 
per  cent4.  baiiig  payable  after  Siptember,  1801,  and  th3  4  per  cents,  not  until  after 
July  1,  1907.  The  am  m  it, therefore,  which  tlie  GoveramBns  would  pay  in  interest 
and  principal  on  tuc  bouds  if  o  Jtstaadiog  till  maturity,  would  be  for  the4i  per  cent 
$9,705,158.31,  and  for  tbe  4  per  cents.  $32,589,336,  makiag  a  total  of  $42,244,484  31. 

The  ditfertuce  between  this  amount  and  the  amount  actually  paid  results  in  a 
direct  saviog  to  the  Government  of  §0,857,683.111,  which  added  to  savings 
in  1887  of  4i4,832,6{j8.62,  makes  a  total  saviog  of  $f  4,790,352.53,  so  that  at 
the  sa  ne  lime  Ihit  the  Secretary  of  lh3  Treasury  \las  relieving  the  people  by  dis- 
bursing the  money  they  so  badly  needed,  h'3  was  saving  to  them  nearly  fifteen  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  and  making  possible  a  still  further  reduction  of  taxation  to  that 
amount. 

Notwithstanding  the  utmost  endeavors  of  the  Secretary  to  diminish  the  sur- 
plus, statements  published  at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1888,  show  that  it  is  larger 
than  at  the  commencement  of  the  purchases  in  August,  1887.  According  to  the 
statements  of  assets  and  liabilities  for  August  1,  1887,  the  surplus  was  then 
$45,698,59415,  and  on  July  1,  1888,  it  was  $103,220,464.71,  which  is  an  increase  of 
$57,521,870.56,  no'.wthstandingthepurchise  during  the  intervd  of  U.  S.  bonds.cosi- 
ing  over  thirty -two  millions  of  dollars,  in  addition  to  those  purchased  in  August  for 
the  sinking  fund,  and  Vv'hich  were  included  in  the  estimated  expenditures  for  the 
fiscal  year. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  estimates  made  on  June  20,  1887,  fo*  the 
ensuing  fiscal  year,  indicated  a  probable  surp'us  of  $lll,880,80S.67  during  tbe  year. 
The  actual  surplus  wms  $135,607,265.11,  onsisling  of  $103,220,464.71  still  in  the 
Trea.sury,  and  $32,386,800.40  paid  for  bonds  purchased.  This  is  an  increase  oyer 
the  estimate  of  $23,726,456.44. 

GIVING   SMALL  HOLDERS  A  CHANCE. 

When  tbe  circular  of  April  17, 1888,  was  published  inviting  proposals  for  the 
sale  of  bonds  to  the  Government,  public  notice  was  given  to  the  country  through 
the  press  that  the  names  of  the  persons  otTeYing  bonds  to  the  Government  would 
not  be  published.  This  action  was  taken  in  consequence  of  the  unwillingness  of 
the  owners  of  bonds  to  have  their  private  alfairs  made  public.  It  was  thought  that 
this  course  would  encourage  the  owners  to  deal  directly  with  the  Department, 
thereby  saving  the  commissions  and  profits  which  dealers  would  acquire  if  the 
bonds  should  get  into  their  hands,  and  at  the  same  time  increase  the  amounts 
offered  and  sold  to  the  Government.  The  wisdom  of  this  course  was  apparent 
from  the  outset.  Notwithstanding  the  scarcity  of  bonds  for  sale  and  the  fact  that 
the  Government  declined  to  encourage  any  strong  advance  in  the  price,  the  Secre- 
tary succeeded  up  to  June  13,  1838,  in  purchasing  4  per  cent.  $15,471,350,  and 
$76,477  50  4i  per  cents.,  at  a  total  cost  of  $27,859,888.15. 

At  this  point,  however,  a  serious  obstacle  to  further  successful  operation  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  shape  of  a  resolution  from  the  United  States  Senate,  calling  on 
the  Secretary  for  a  full  statement  of  his  purchases,  including  names  of  owners, 
amounts  and  prices.  This  resolution  was  introduced  by  a  Republican  Senator, 
who  affected  to  believe  that  questionable  transactions  had  taken  place  in  connec- 
tion with  these  purchases.  It  was  made  clear  to  the  Senate  during  debate  that  the 
12 


180  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OP  THE  TREASURY. 

passage  of  the  resolution  would  restrict  and  perhapa  entirely  prevent  further  pur- 
chases, but  by  a  party  vote  the  resolution  was  carried,  and  in  obedience  tliereto  ihe 
Secretary  furnished  the  information  called  for,  which  was  promptly  printed  by 
order  of  the  Senate  and  so  made  public. 

An  examination  of  the  published  statement  showed  that  there  was  not  the 
slightest  basis  for  the  insinuations  so  freely  thrown  out  daring  the  Senate  debate 
on  the  resolution,  but  the  attack  on  the  policy  of  the  administration,  which  was 
probably  the  real  motive  for  the  resolution,  proved,  as  had  been  feared,  very  effec- 
tive. Prior  to  the  passage  of  the  resolution  the  purchases  had  amounted  to 
$28,119,100,  an  average  of  $503,390  daily.  Since  that  time  they  have  been 
$3,88i3.900.  an  average  of  only  $125,350  daily. 

A  distinctive  feature  of  the  purchases  of  bonds  during  the  fiscal  year  is  the 
relatively  large  nuaiber  of  small  holders  who  have  offered  their  bonds  to  the 
Government.  Heretofore,  when  purchases  were  made  through  the  Assistant 
Treasurer  at  New  York,  the  bonds  were  offered  by  regular  dealers  in  large  amounts, 
bufethe  offerings  up  to  July  17,  under  the  circular  of  April  17,  1838,  numbered  733, 
Involving  a  total  amount  of  $107,307,100,  and  428  of  these  offers  were  in  sums  of 
less  than  $50,000,  separated  as  follows:  61  of  less  than  $1,000,  113  of  less  than 
$5,000,  70  or  less  than  $10,000,  and  184  of  less  than  $50,000.  These  figures  show 
the  widespread  popularity  of  the  Secretary's  plan  of  purchasing  bonds. 


REDUCTION  OF   THE   PUBLIC  DEBT. 

The  reduction  of  the  public  debt  during  the  three  years  ended  June  30,  186$, 
compared  favorably  with  the  reduction  during  a  corresponding  earlier  period. 
The  debt,  less  cash  in  the  Treasury : 

June  30,  1882,  was $1,783,979,151.\4 

January  30, 1885,  it  was 1,485  234,149.05 

And  Jane  30, 1888, 1,165,584,656  64 

The  reduction  during  the  first  period  of  these  years  was,  therefoie,  $298,745,- 
001.0a,  and  during  the  second  $319,649,493.01. 


III. 

REDUCING  THE  PUBLIC  DEBT. 

*?!rB   RAPIDITY   WITH   WHICH   THIS   HAS  BEEN  DONE   BY   A  DEMOCRATIC 
ADMINISTRATION  BINGE  THE  4th  OF  MARCH,  1885. 

Every  American  citizen  is  justly  proud  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  great 
d^t  of  the  country  is  reduced  from  year  to  year,  and  the  record  of  this  administra- 
tion far  surpasses  all  its  predecessors  in  this  respect.  The  average  annual  reduction 
of  the  public  debt  during  the  three  years  precediog  June  30,  1885,  being  $99,500,000, 
and  during  the  three  years  succeeding  the  same  date  $106,500,000. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE   TKEASUKY. 


181 


Statement  showing  the  increase  and  decrease  and  total  redaction  of  the  public 
debt,  each  month,  from  March  1, 1885,  to  July  1, 1888: 


Decrease.   I  Increase.     D^^Sie. 


March I i  $89,356  18 

April *4.837,;J39  71 

May 3,350,833  63 

June 9,156,861  63; 

July I     8,663,789  96 

August I     2,879,053  171 

September I  12,757,965  25! 

October i    13,276,774  18] 

November 


4,887,198  47 


$64,011.5r>6  37! $4,976,454  65  $59,035,101  78 


January '  $8,6^2,553  81 

February ,     2,70:J  153  31 

March !    14,087,^84  Ot» 

10.5)65,387  95 
8.838,585  91 
9,061,898  34. 
9,0t9,10;j  85 
1.910.699  02 


April. 
May  ... 
June... 
July.... 
August . 

September '   10627,013  Vt 

October I    13,201.619  50!. 

November . 
December. 


3,005,249  57 
9,358,202  33! 


1887. 


$101,470,33075; 


January... 
February  . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August.... 
September 
October.... 
November, 
December 


$101,470,33075 


$9,515,687  08' . 

1,436  783  57  ■ 
13.80^.467  71  . 
13,0-3,098  77  . 

8,888,997  65; . 
16  852,725  17i . 

4,844.894  8;{I . 

4,809.475  41  . 
14,24T.9b9  80i . 
16,833,695  80 


GOLD  AND  SILVER  CmCULATION. 


At  the  time  the  present  administration  assumed  the  charge  of  the  Treasury 
Department  very  grave  apprehensions  were  entertained  by  eminent  financiers  that 
gold  and  silver  could  not  be  maintained  as  currency  upon  equal  footing,  and  it  was 
believed  in  many  quarters  that  they  must  soon  part  company  and  that  gold  would 


I 


183 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OP  THE  TREASURY. 


become  the  sole  standard  of  value  in  the  commerce  of  the  country.  It  was  claimed 
thai  such  a  result  must  follow  from  the  act  requiring  the  compulsory  purchase  and 
coinage  of  silver  by  the  Government  at  the  rate  of  at  least  two  millions  dollars  per 
month,  and  it  may  be  fairly  urged  that  such  would  have  been  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence had  it  not  been  for  the  determination  of  the  Treasury  Department  to  use  all 
lawful  expedients  to  maintain  the  equality  of  the  two  metals  as  to  their  purchasing 
power,  and  the  wise  policy  inaugurated  and  pursued  by  it  in  this  respect.  How 
completely  successful  it  has  been  the  above  exhibit  will  show.  There  has  been  an 
increase  in  eighteen  months  of  over  $110,000  000  in  the  silver  circulation  of  the 
country,  thereby  not  only  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  people  the  $36,000,000  of  sil- 
ver corned  during  that  period,  but  also  over  $74,000,000  of  the  accumulated  silver  in 
the  treasury. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  CREDIT. 

Table  showing  the  average  monthly  prices  of  United  States  4  per  cent,  bonds,  and  the 
corresponding  rates  of  Interest  realized  to  Investors  at  different  periods,  from  March,  1885, 
to  June,  1888,  Inclusive : 


Datb. 


i  Average 
IPlat  Price. 

I  48. 


March,  1885 

April.  1885 

May,1885 

June,  1885 

December,  1885. . 

December,  1886.. 

December,  1887.. 

June,  1888 


131.8028 
122  0450 
123.1625 
134.0231 

128.9937 

126.1615 

137.9385 


Average 

Rate  Kealized. 

4s. 


3.731 
3.721 

2.722 
2.679 
2.614 

2.297 

3.376 

3.245 


IV. 


AUDITING  THE  PUBLIC  ACCOUNTS. 


THE  CARE   AND  ECONOMY   WTTH   WHICH  THIS  BUSINESS  HAS  BEEN  CONDUCTED 
BY   TirK  0OMPTUOI-LER8  AND  AUDITORS  OP  THE  TREASURY. 

Another  important  branch  of  the  work  of  the  Treasury  Department  is  the 
auditing  and  adjustment  of  public  accounts.  The  annual  expenditures  of  the  Gov- 
ernment for  all  purposes  exceed  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  not  a  dollar  of 
which  expenditure  can  be  legally  allowed  until  an  account  therefor  has  been  ren- 
dered to  the  proper  accounting  officers  of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  the  same 
has  been  approved  and  certified  by  them  to  be  correct.  This  work  is  mainly  done 
b5%the  six  Auditors,  two  Comptrollers,  Commissioner  of  Customs  and  the  various 
divisions  of  the  Secretary's  Office.  When  the  present  administration  undertook 
this  work  it  was  in  many  bureaus  and  divisions  very  largely  in  arrears.  It  will  be 
impossible  in  the  brief  space  allotted  to  give  anything  like  a  detailed  or  tabulated 
statement  of  the  results  which  have  been  accomplished  here  during  the  past  three 
years.    A  few  prominent  facts  only  can  be  mentioned 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


183 


FIRST    comptroller's   OFFICE. 

In  the  oiHce  of  the  First  Comptroller,  which  reviews  in  part  the  accounts 
examined  and  certified  by  the  First  Auditor,  and  also  the  accounts  of  the  Fifth 
Auditor,  there  has  been  an  average  annual  increase  during  the  same  period  in  the 
number  of  accounts  of  7,700,  and  an  increase  in  the  amount  involved,  as  shown  by 
the  footings  of  the  accounts  examined,  of  nearly  one  billion  dollars  annually,  and 
the  average  decrease  of  cost  of  work  has  been  about  21  percent,  annually. 

Business  of  this  Bureau  during  the  two  periods  of  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and  of  1886,  1887 
and  1888  (the  year  1885  omitted)  contrasted  : 

=  ■■■< 


Character  of  Business. 


1883-3-4. 


1886-7-8. 


Accounts  examined 

Vouchers  examined 

Amount  involved 

Letters  written 

Requisitions  examined,  etc 

Warrants  examined,  etc 

Letters  received,  etc 

Bonds,  Contracts  and  Powers  of  Attorney  examined, 


etc. 


Internal  Revenue  Stamp  Books  examined  and  counted 

Folios  copied 

Number  of  clerks  and  employes 

Cost  of  clerks  and  employes 


Accounts  examined 

Vouchers  examined 

Letters  written 

Requisitions  examined,  etc 

Warrants  examined,  etc I 

Letters  received,  etc I 

Bonds,  Contracts  and  Powers  of  Attorcey  examined..! 
Internal  Revenue  Stamp  Books  examined  and  countedj 
Folios  copied j 


66,513 

9,917,980 

$7,566,971,153  50 

40,345 

13,683 

171,386 

17,743 

4,844 

82,666 

30,673 

55 

$243,420  00 

AVERAGE 

82,137 
3,305,993 

13,448 
4,560 

57,113 
5,9  4 
1,414 

27,555 

10,334 


89,699 

8,139,416 

$10,463,381,163  94 

59,503 

16,493 

194,534 

23,310 

12,563 

101,237 

65,465 

58 

$256,940  00 


29,900 
2,709,805 

19,834 
5,497 

64,841 
7,770 
3,154 

33,745 

21,831 


SECOND  comptroller's  OFFICE. 

The  work  of  the  Second  Comptroller's  office  exhibits  exceptionally  good  results. 
This  office  has  the  final  revisioa  and  adjustment  of  all  claims  and  accounts,  which 
are  first  examined  in  the  offices  of  the  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Auditors,  and  tho 
supervision  of  the  expenJitures  of  all  the  appropriations  for  tlie  Army,  the  Navy, 
the  Indian  Service  and  the  Pension  Roll,  aggregating  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
million  of  dollars  am  ually.  The  average  number  of  claims  and  accounts  annually 
adjusted  during  the  past  three  years  is  over  fifty-one  thousand,  while  the  number 
was  but  twenty-two  thousand  annually  during  the  three  years  prior  to  1885,  an 
Increase  of  133  per  cent.,  and  the  number  of  vouchers  examined  and  compared  dur- 
ing the  former  period  was  7,300,000,  and  only  3,600,000  during  the  years  1883, 1883 
and  1884,  and  the  official  letters  written  were  twenty  two  thousand,  as  against 
fifty-two  hundred  during  the  same  periods  respectively,  while  at  the  same  time  th^ 
force  of  clerks  actually  employed  in  the  office  has  been  reduced  one-third. 


184 


THK  ADMINISTRATION   OK  T1£K   TKEASDUy. 


Business  of  the  years  1883,  lS8:j  aud  1884,  and  of  the  years  1886,  1887  and  1888,  coa- 
irasied.     (1885  omitted). 


Character  of  Business. 


Accounts  and  claims  examined. 

Single  vouchers  examined 

Amounts  involved 

Letters  written 


1883—3—4. 


Number  of  clerlvs  (Average  per  year). 

Salaries  (Average  per  year) .' 

Accounts  and  claims  examined 

Single  vouchers  examined 

Letters  written 


76,995 
3,590,914 
«308,876,086.00 
5,252 

Average 
75 
$101,911.48 

35,665 

1,196,971 

1,750 


1886—7-8. 


153,694 
7,394,536 
$513,336,990.00 
33,080 


PER  Year 

/ 


71 

*|;103,434.36 
51,331 
3,431,513 
7,360 


*In  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1888,  there  were  employed  63  clerics,  at  salaries  aggre- 
gating $93,634.75. 


FIRST  AUDITOR  S  OFFICE. 

In  the  office  of  the  First  Auditor,  where  the  accounts  accruing  in  the  Treasury 
Department  are  first  examined,  during  the  three  years  subsequent  to  1885,  there 
has  been  an  average  annual  increase  of  3,000  in  the  number  of  accounts  examined 
and  certified  as  compared  with  the  three  years  immediately  preceding,  and  an 
average  decrease  of  the  cost  of  the  office,  on  the  basis  of  the  amount  of  work  done, 
of  nearly  1 1  per  cent,  annually. 


Business  of  the  years  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and  of  the  years  1886,  1887  and  1888,  con 
trasted.    (1885  omitted.) 


Character  of  Business. 


Auditor's  reports  on  accounts 
Letters  written  and  recorded.. 


Auditor's  reports  on  accounts 

Average  increase  per  year 

Letters  written  and  recorded 

Average  increase  per  year 

Clerks  employed,  average  number 

Average  number  of  accounts  per  clerk.. 

Average  increase  per  year 

Average  cost  of  the  whole  oftice,  per  ac- 
count reported 

Decrease  of  cost 


1883—3—4. 


54,1.56 
15,130 

Average 
18,053 


6,043 


49.06 
367 


$4.63 


1886—7—8. 


63,057 
17,494 


per  Year. 


31,019 

3,967 

5,831 

788 

51.59 

407 

40 


$4. 13 
$0.49 


^  SECOND  auditor's  OFFICE. 

In  the  Second  Auditor's  Office  are  first  examined  the  accounts  of  the  dis 
bursing  officers  of  the  army,  and  all  claims  for  the  ba:;k  pay  and  bounty  of  soldiers 
in  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  all  disbursements  in  the  Indian  service  for  supplies 
and  the  pay  of  agents  aud  other  officers.  During  the  past  three  ye.irs  there  liaj 
been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  claims  and  accounts  adjusted  of  over  30  per  cent., 
and  an  increase  of  over  40  per  cent,  in  the  amount  involved  over  a  corresponding 
period  prior  to  June  30, 1885,  and  the  amount  allowed  and  paid  out  for  the  bact 


THE  ADMINISTRATION   OF  THK  TREASURY. 


185 


p»y  and  bounty  due  soldiers  during  the  last  tbrce  years  has  been  over  |2,700,eW, 
as  against  only  |1, 350,000,  allowed  in  the  previous  three  years,  showing  Ihat  the 
interests  of  the  soldiers  in  the  Union  Army  have  received  special  attention  and  o©n- 
feideration. 

Business  of  the  years  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and  of  tl»e  years  1886,  1887  an<I  1888,  con- 
trasted (1885  omitted). 


Character  of  Business, 

1882-S-4. 

1886-7—8. 

Accounts  and  Claims 

'M,im 

31  112 

Increase 

21  871 

Amounts  involved      .       •   .......... 

$73,575,  t}41. 02 

$108,888,543.77 
31,303,903.15 

16,753 

12,287 
7  516 

luci'ease 

Requisitions  and  Settlrmknts  : 
Registered,  etc 

15,547 

11,955 

f),160 

430,254 

Paacs  of  Journals  and  Registers  used  

668*334 

238,080 
01  038 

Inquiries  ausAvered 

42,315 

19,371 
18,720 
13,2:35 

605,813 

309,087 
40,963 

Certificates  of  non-indebtedness  issued 

5,485 

Increase 

Accounts,  rolls  and  vouchers  withdrawn  and  ) 

returned  to  tile \  " 

Increase 

296,  T36 

27,162 

J  ncrease 

13,801 
3,687,049 
1,190,349 

5,256 

Vouchers  re-exaniiued  and  verified 

116,000 

Cases  disp()sed  of  in  the  Division  for  the  investi- ) 

2,969 

Increase 

2,a87 

Average  per  Year. 


Character  op  Business. 

1882— 3-A 

1886—7-8. 

Accounts  and  Claims 

8,330 
frM,5r35,213.67 
14.3,418 
11,105 

1,828 

5)8,908 

9,054 
38,f»67 

989 

10J70 

Averatic  amount  involved....       .        ..            • 

$31,901,514.50 
238,080 

Letters  written 

Inquiries  answered 

CertilJcates  of  non-indebtedness 

20,544 
6,240 

Accounts,  rolls  and   vouchers  withdrawn  and  ) 
returned  to  liles |  ' ' 

201,937 

13,654 

Vouchers  re-examined  and  veritied 

Cases  disposed  of  in  the  Division  for  investiga- 
ting fi  aud )  ■  ■ 

1,229,010 
l,7.'->3 

THIRD   auditor's  OFFICK. 

The  Third  Auditor  has  the  examination,  iu  the  first  instance,  of  all  clairas  and 
accounts  arising  in  ttie  Qaarter:Tia.ster's  and  Commissary  Departments  of  the  Army, 
including  horse  claims  and  miscellaneous  claims  and  accounts,  and  all  disburse- 
ments on  account  of  pensions.  The  exhibit  of  work  done  in  this  olBce  during  the 
past  three  years,  it  is  believed,  is  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  Department. 
In  the  Claims  Division  over  forty-one  thousand  claims  have  been  disposed  of  dar- 


ISfi 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


ing  that  period,  while  during  the  three  years  previously  only  eleven  thousand  were 
adjusted,  making  an  increase  of  over  350  per  cent.,  and  the  amount  involved  was 
100  per  cent,  greater.  In  the  Horse  Claims  Division  over  9,000  claims  were  dis- 
posed of  during  the  past  three  years,  and  but  2,300  in  the  three  years  previously,  an 
increase  of  over  400  per  cent.  In  State  War  Claims  there  has  been  an  increase  of 
nearly  700  per  cent,  in  the  amount  of  claims  disposed  of  during  the  same  periods 
respectively,  and  in  the  Pension  Division  there  has  been  an  average  increase  in  the 
work  of  the  division  of  254  per  cent,  during  the  past  three  years  over  the  work  of 
the  three  previous  years,  and  an  average  decrease  in  the  force  amounting  to  31  per 
cent.  During  the  past  three  years  the  number  of  clerks  employed  have  been 
reduced  21  per  cent.,  and  great  improvement  is  noted  in  the  attendance  of  clerks. 
The  absences  in  the  fiscal  years  1884-5  aggregated  over  6,000  days,  while  in  1887-8 
it  was  only  3,750  days,  and  during  the  same  years  the  absences  on  account  of  sick- 
fell  oflf  from  1 ,780  to  357  days. 

Businchfi  of  the  years  1883,  1884  and  1885,  and  of  1886,  1887  and  1888. 


CeAttACTKR  OF  BUSINHSS. 


Claims  disposed  of  in  Claims  Division 

Amount  involved 

Claims  disposed  of  i»  Horse  Claims  Division. 

Claims  Bettlcd  for  re-imbursement  of  deceased 
pensioners , 

Amount  allowed 

Ittcrease  in  number  of  claims  disposed  of,  as 
above 

Amouut  involved  in  settlements  made  of  State 
Wm  Claims 

Vouchers  examined  in  settling  Pension  Agents' 

Accounts 

Increase 

Number  of  Pensioners  recorded,  transferred,  in- 
creased, restored,  re-issued,  etc 

Number  of  clerks  employed 

Reduction  of  force 

Avei-flge  annual  compensation  of  clerks  and  em- 
ployes  

Saving  in  salaries 

Days  of  absence  of  clerks 

Sick  days  absence 


Claims  disposed  "of  in  Claims  Division 

Claims  disposed  of  In  Horse  Claims  Division 

Claims  settled  for  re-imburseraent  of  deceased 

pensioners 

Amount  of  State  War  Claims 

Pension  Vouchers  examined 

Number  of  pensioners  recorded,  etc 


1883—4—5. 


11,268 
19,878,068  76 
2,230 

4,044 
$387,363  61 


$1,943,111  45 
3,747,593 


121,059 
159 


$237,335  30 


6,016 

1,780 

AVERAGB 

3,7.56 
743 

1,340 
$647,370  48 
1,249,197 
40,353 


188e-7— 8. 


41,055 
$19,530,034  90 
9,756 

7,005 
$333,657  36 

40,374 

$12,247,381  39 

5,041,097 
1,393,504 

440,443 
136 


$198,339  96 
$38,995  34 
3,7.50 
357 

PER  TEAR. 

13,685 
3,353 

2,335 
$4,083,333  *6 
1,680,365 
146,814 


FOURTH  auditor's  OFFICE. 

In  the  office  of  the  Fourth  Auditor,  where  all  the  disbursements  in  the  nayal 
service  are  first  examined,  there  has  been  an  average  annual  increase  of  40  per 
cent,  in  the  number  of  claims  and  accounts  adjusted,  and  of  over  nme  millions  in 
the  amount  involved,  while  the  average  annual  expenses  of  the  office  have  been 
over  $2,000  less,  and  an  average  decrease  in  the  cost  of  work,  according  to  the 
amount  done,  of  35  per  cent,  annually. 


THE  ADMIKISTRATTON  OF  THK  TIJEASURY. 


187 


Business  of  the  years  1882,  1883  and  1884  and  of  1886, 1887  and  1888,  compared, 
(1885  omitted.) 


Character  of  Business, 


Accounts^nd  claims  settled 

Cash  vouchers  examined 

Amount  involved 

Summary  statements  received  and  entered,  and  pay 

and  repay  requisitions  registered 

Allotmeuts  registered  

Allotments  discontinued 

Accounts  journalized  and  balanced 

Letters  received 

Letters  written 

Inquiries  answered 

Cost  of  work 

Savini;  in  cost  of  work , . . , 


Accounts  and  claims  settled 

Cash  vouchers  examined 

Summary  statements  received  and  entered,  pay  and 
repay  requisitions  registered,  allotments  regis- 
tered, allotments  discontinued,  and  accounts 
journalized  and  balanced 

Letters  received 

Letters  written 

Inquiries  answered ^ 

Cost  of  work 


1882—3—4. 

1886-7-8. 

8,617 

11,969 

170,911 

167,664 

$53,513,458.03 

$80,589,789.47 

11,075 

15,117 

3,296 

3,500 

3,376 

3,421 

2,883 

6,377 

49,875 

64,311 

52,664 

69,624 

10,525 

13,740 

$207,322.77 

$200,319.67 

$7,003.10 

AVERAGE 

PER  TEAR. 

2,872 

3,989 

56,970 

.5.5,888 

6,876 

9,471 

16,625 

21,437 

14,421 

23,208 

3,508 

4,580 

$69,107.-59 

$66,773.22 

SIXTH  auditor's  OFFICB. 

In  the  office  of  the  Sixth  Auditor,  where  all  the  accounts  of  the  Post  Office 
Department,  and  the  expenditures  of  the  Postal  Service,  amounting  to  over  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  annually,  are  finally  adjusted,  a  corresponding  improvement  ia 
the  methods  of  transacting  the  public  business  has  been  eflected.  Much  money  has 
been  saved  to  the  public  treasury  by  the  more  rigid  scrutiny  to  which  the  accounts 
passing  through  this  office  have  been  subjected.  As  an  illustration  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  number  of  cases  in  which  orders  have  been  made  by  the  Postmaster 
General,  upon  the  report  of  the  Auditor,  withholding  commissions  because  of  false 
reports  of  Postmasters  to  increase  their  compensation,  is  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
one,  charging  back  an  aggregate  of  $328,815,  and  it  is  evident  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the  books  that  the  loss  to  the  Government  during  the  period  from  1878  to 
1P85  was  more  than  one  million  of  dollars  from  this  single  channel  of  fraud. 

Business  of  the  years  1833,  1884  and  1885,  and  of  the  years  1886,  1887  and  1888 
contrasted  : 


Character  of  Business. 

Postmasters,  mail  contractors  and  miscella- 
neous accounts  adjusted 

Amount  involved 

Number  of  warrants  and  drafts  countersigned 
and  registered , 

Number  of  letters  written  and  mailed 

Number  of  money  orders  and  postal  notes 
issued  and  checked 

Amount  involved 


1883-1884-1885. 


1,046,745 
$140,553,739.91 

215,915 
489,955 

34,510,062 
$396,964,833.52 


1886-1887-1888. 


1,230,530 
$159,608,943.59 

268,872 
800,486 

46,683,192 
$415,395,130.83 


188 


THE  ADMINISTIIATION   OF  THE  TREASUBY. 


COMMISSION  EU  OF  CUSTOMS. 

In  the  office  of  the  Oommissioner  of  Customs  there  has  been  an  increase  of  1 1 
per  cent,  in  the  average  number  of  accounts  annually  adjusted  per  capita,  and  in 
the  Division  of  Customs,  in  the  Secretary's  Office,  in  which  all  the  appeals  in  cus- 
toms cases  from  the  decision  of  collectors  are  examined  and  reported  upon,  there 
were  examined  and  decided  during  the  fiscjil  year  ending  June  30.  1886,  25,537  ap- 
peals, while  the  total  number  for  the  three  years  immediately  precediog  only 
aggregated  26,536,  it  thus  appearing  that  the  work  for  the  entire  three  5'^ears  was 
only  slightly  in  excess  of  that  of  the  single  year  1886. 

Business  transacted  dui-iug  the  two  periods  of  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and  of  1886,  1887 
and  1888  (the  year  of  188S  omitted). 


Character  of  Business. 


1882—3—4. 


J— 7- 


Accounts  settled 

Amounts  involved 

Letters  written 

Letters  recorded 

Cost  of  maintaining  Bureau 

Average  number  of  clerks 

Average  number  of  accounts  per  year  per  clerk. . . 
Average  number  letters  written  per  year  per  clerk 

Average  number  of  accounts  settled  per  j-ear 

Average  amounts  involved  per  year 

Average  number  of  letters  written  per  year 

Average  number  of  letters  recorded  per  year 


18,243 
$699,164,302.80 
29,834 
41,526 
1151,802.96 
30 
200 
259 
6,081 
$233,054, 767.60 
9,944 
13,843 


18,708 
$710,965,969.12 
35,829 
89,103 
$145,158.41 
27 
221 
368 
6,236 
$236,988,656.37 
11,943 
29,701 


Customs  Dtvisiox— Secretary's  Office. 

Aggregates  of  the  business  transacted  in  the  two  periods  of  1883,  1S84  and  1885,  imd 
1886,  1887  aad  1888,  contrasted. 


Character  op  Business. 

1883—4—5. 

1886-7— -s 

Appeals  decided 

26,526 

11,891 

15,11. 

45  021 

Miscellaneous  cases  decided 

14  663 

Bonds  extended  or  cancelled;  free  entries  granted  (De- 
partmental) ;  statements  examined,  etc 

14,433 

Total 

53,534 

74,017 

Increase,  20,583. 


ANNt;AL   AVERAGE,   EACH    PERIOD. 


Character  of  Business. 


Appeals  decided 

Miscellaneous  cases  decided 

Bonds  extended  or  cancelled;  free  entries  granted  (De- 
partmental) ;  statements  examined,  etc 

_  General  average. 


1883-4-5. 

I88e-7-8 

8.8-12 
3,963 

5,039 

17^844 

15,007. 
4,864 

4,811 

THK   ADMFN  1ST  RATION-    OF   THK   TRKA8URY.  189 

V.  ' 

THE    INTERNA!.    REVENUE    BUREAU. 

ITS  SUCCESS   IN   ENFORCING   THE     OLEOMARGARINE     LAW — ECONOMY    AND 


EFFICIENCY   OF    ITS  matvta^. 


THE   TEST   TO   WHICH   IT   18   SUBJECTED. 


universally  sold  as  butter. 

On  the  17th  of  July,  when  the  Mills  bill  was  under  discussion,  Mr.  Warner,  a 
Republican  reprt  putative  from  Missouri,  offered  an  amendment  repealing  a  part  of 
the  internal  revenue  tax  on  oleomargarine.    A  viva  voce  vote  was  taken,  and  Mr. 
Warner  remarked  that  he  would  not  call  for  a  division,  as  there  was  "  evidently  no 
intention  on  the  part  of  the  Democrats  to  reduce  the  surplus." 

w 

In  April  last  the  Microscopist  of  the  Internal  Revenue  Office  perfected  a 
microscope  with  which  a  prima  facie  case  can  be  quickly  made  where  the  question 
is  raised  whether  the  substance  tested  is  butter  or  oleomargarine.  The  effect  of  this 
is  a  more  easy  and  stringent  enforcement  of  the  law.  With  the  new  microscope^ 
examinations  were  made  during  the  months  of  April,  May  and  June  in  the  principal 
cities  and  towns  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania;  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  Hart- 
ford, New  Haven  and  other  cities  and  towns  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  (Se& 
Ust  below. 


I 


190 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


Twenty-five  of  these  valuable  instruments  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Interna 
Revenue  authorities,  scattered  over  the  country,  and  seventy-five  more  are  in  course 
of  construction  to  be  used  in  a  similar  way.  This  is  a  long  stride  toward  the  perfec 
enforcement  of  this  wise  act  of  Congress. 


COMMISSIONER  OP   INTERNAL   REVENUE. 

The  following  exhibit  shows  the   business  of  the  Internal   Revenue  Bureau  during  th 
years  1885,  1880,  1887  and  1888  : 


Character  of 
Business. 

18a5. 

1886. 

1887. 

1888. 

Internal  Revenue 
Collected 

Cost  of  Collection... 

Percentage    of  Cost 
of  Collection 

Number  of  Revenue 
Agents,  Collectors, 
Deputies,     Clerks, 
Guagers,  Store- 
keepers, etc 

$113,421,121  07 
4,445,430  27 

3.963 
3,926 

$116,903,869  44 
4,311,803  70 

3.688 
3,117 

$118,837,301  06 
4,065,148  87 

3.431 
3,314 

$124,326,474  0( 
3,983,000  0( 

3.300 
3,373 

ECONOMY  AT  THE  GREAT  PORTS. 

Statement  showing  the  amount  collected  and  expended,  and  the  cost  to  collect  on( 
dollar,  at  the  six  principal  ports,  for  the  last  four  fiscal  years,  ended  June,  1888. 


Ports. 


New  York 

Boston 

San  Francisco. 

Chicago 

Philadelphia... 
Baltimore 


Amount 
Collected. 


$136,183,8731 

19,730,908; 

6,743,800; 

4,163,7851 

13,491,513, 

3,081,766 


•  1 

-la! 

Amount 

5  5    r,J 

Expended.  'oo5j 

$3,900,178'     .0331 

699,343      .035J 

433,808      .063; 

154,733      .0371 

438,336      .034 

300,911 

.14 

1886. 


Amount 
Collected. 


$133,473,003 

31,079,311 

5.990.633 

4,099,550 

14,661,896 

3,601,440 


Amount 
Expecded. 


$3,636,048 
640,334 
353,101 
141,545 
403,631 
369,875 


5t5o 

^^ 

.OIJ 
.0? 
.05^ 
.03^ 
.021 
.IC 


*Last  year  of  Republican  administration. 


Ports. 


1887. 


Amount 
Collected. 


New  York $147,058, 323 

Boston 33,119,888 

San  Francisco 6,8.57,445 


Chicago 

Philadelphia. 
Baltimore 


4,622,952 

17,946,453 

3,083,104 


Amount 
Expended. 

$2,995,068 
703,607 
352,099 
137,454 
433.561 
373,849 


so  o 
^     O 

.02 
.03 
.051 
.029 
.034 
.088 


1888. 


Amount 
Collected. 

$145,300,.544! 

21,396,776 

9,114,733: 

3,899,944; 

tl6,781,.570! 

t3, 795, 3131 


Amount 
Expended. 


o 


$3,838,567  .01954 


709,874 

3.54,471 

103,799 

t394,384 

t339,773l 


.0331 
.0388 
.0366 
.0335 
.0857 


tFor  eleven  months. 


I 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY.  191 

VI. 

GENERAL    GOOD    RESULTS. 

RESULTS  OP  THE  APPLICATION   OF  BUSINESS    PRINCIPLES    TO    OTHER   IMPORTANT 
BRANCHES  OF  TREASURY  WORK. 

The  office  of  the  Supervising  Architect  of  the  Treasury  Department  has  charge 
of  all  matters  relating  to  the  erection  of  public  buildings  throughout  the  country 
ander  appropriations  by  acts  of  Congress.  It  has  been  under  the  supervision  of  the 
present  Supervising  Architect  since  July ,  1887,  and  during  that  period  many  reforms 
[lave  been  introduced  into  the  administration  of  the  office,  and  a  large  saving  of 
jxpenses  effected.  The  preparation  of  specifications  has  been  greittly  simplified^ 
md  where,  under  the  former  system,  380  drawings  and  51  specifications  were  pre- 
pared for  four  buildings,  under  the  present  method  only  86  drawings  and  4  specifi- 
mtions  are  required  for  the  same  buildings. 

Greater  competition  in  submitting  proposals  has  also  been  secured  by  giving 
jreater  publicity  to  the  advertisements  for  proposals,  especially  by  securing  their 
rablication,  free  of  cost  to  the  Government,  in  eighteen  building  papers  published 
n  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  obtaining  the  co  operation  of  forty-three  building 
ixchanges  located  in  the  principal  cities.  Where  but  three  or  four  proposals  were 
brmerly  received,  the  number  now  has  run  up  in  one  case  as  high  as  forty-four. 
)uring  the  past  year  work  has  been  commenced  on  seventeen  buildings,  and  ten 
juildings  have  been  completed,  and  twelve  buildings  are  now  so  far  advanced  that 
hey  will  be  completed  before  September  1st,  while  during  the  three  preceding  years 
he  average  number  of  buildings  commenced  annually  was  ten,  and  the  average 
.umber  completed  annually  four.  These  results  have  all  been  accomplished  with- 
ut  any  increase  in  the  working  force  of  the  office. 

BUREAU  OP  ENGRAVING   AND  PRINTING. 

In  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing  there  has  been  a  great  increase  in  the 
mount  of  work  done  and  a  great  saving  in  the  cost  of  doing  it.  In  the  three  years 
iding  June  30, 1885,  there  were  produced  91,754,351  sheets  of  securities,  at  a  cost 
f  $3,047,483.75.  In  the  three  years  ending  June  30, 1888,  97,346,663  sheets  of 
jcurities  were  turned  out,  at  a  cost  of  $2,542,505.07.  The  increase  in  the  number 
'sheets  of  securities  printed  was  5,592,311,  and  the  saving  in  expense  $504,978.68. 
he  average  cost  of  a  thousand  sheets  of  securities  in  1885  was  $34.21 ;  in  1888  it 
as  only  $24.94.  Thirty-eight  million  thirty  eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
irty-nine  sheets  of  securities  in  1838  cost  $948,819.29.  The  greatest  production  in 
ly  prior  year  was  in  1883,  when  33,330,746  sheets  cost  $1,104,986.43.  In  1885  the 
'eragenumber  of  employes  was  1.133,  and  the  average  number  of  sheets  turned 
It  for  each  employe  less  than  25,000.  In  1883  the  average  number  of  employes 
as  895,  and  the  average  number  of  sheets  produced  by  each  employe  43,500. 

These  results  have  been  due  to  economies  in  the  management  of  the  Bureau, 
npler  methods  of  doing  business,  the  discharge  of  superfluous  employes,  the  doing 
?ay  with  unnecessary  places  and  the  exaction  of  greater  diligence  in  the  discharge 


I 


192  TBE   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  TREASURY. 

of  duty,  and  of  a  higher  standard  of  qualification.  At  the  same  time  the  quality  c 
whe  work  especially  of  the  engraving,  has  been  improved,  better  provision  has  beei 
madt  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  employes  and  new  and  improved  machinery 
has  been  introduced.  A  just  and  orderly  system  of  promotion  has  been  folio  wee 
and  the  employes  have  had  more  constant  employment  and  better  wages  than  eve 
before,  while  they  have  been  free  from  the  terror  of  arbitrary  dismissal. 

Under  the  present  administration  not  a  single  person  has  been  discharged  fo 
partisan  reasons,  or  to  make  room  for  another.  Specific  appropriations  have  beei 
secured,  fixing  the  amount  to  be  spent  for  plate  printing,  for  other  services  and  fo: 
materials,  in  lieu  of  the  loose  and  indefiaite  appropriations  which  were  formerly  th( 
rule,  and  the  number,  grades  and  salaries  of  all  the  employes  have  been  fixed  bj 
law  or  regulation.  By  a  recent  order  of  the  Pi-esideut,  all  of  the  employes  of  th« 
Bureau  have  been  brought  under  the  civil  service  rules.  These  measures  have  mad 
■of  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing  an  orderly,  eflacient  and  reputable  basi 
uess  establishment,  which  may  safely  challenge  oompariaon  with  any  like  estnblisb 
■ment  in  the  world. 

REDUCTION   OF   FORCE   AND   INCREASE   OF   WORK. 

The  same  general  good  results  may  be  safely  affirmed  of  every  other  bureau  am 
-division  in  the  Department,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  desk  in  the  whole  Departmen 
upon  which  there  can  be  found  anj  thing  but  current  work,  and  this  condition  c 
the  public  business  has  not  been  reached  by  slighting  work  of  any  kind,  but  onl; 
after  the  most  careful  and  painstaking  examination  of  every  voucher  or  questioi 
involving  the  law  governing  the  adjustment  and  settlement  of  accounts.  Nor  ha 
it  been  brought  about  by  increasing  the  number  of  clerks  and  other  employes  ii 
the  Department.  On  the  contrary,  the  pay-roll  of  nearly  every  bureau  and  divisioi 
shows  a  material  decrease  The  number  of  persons  on  the  rolls  of  the  Depart 
ment  at  Washington  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1885,  was  3,747,  and  the  number  oi 
the  first  day  of  July,  1888,  3.433.  Useless  offices  have  been  abolished  and  division 
have  been  consolidated, and  a  largre  savinsr  in  expen-iiture  has  thus  been  effected 
while  the  etficieucy  of  the  service  has  at  the  same  time  been  greatly  promoted. 


i 


1— CO  t- ©i  o;  I-     . 

t-  •-I  I-l  CIO  ■£  ■*  03  00 


o  g  lopg  — c  is 

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194 


THE  ADMINISTKATION  OF   THE   TREASURY. 


RECEIPTS  AND  EXPENDITURES 

Statement  of  the  receipta  and  expenditttrea  of  the  United 

[Compiled  from  the  records 


YEARS. 


RECEIPTS. 


EXPENDITURES. 


From  March  4,   1789,  to  December  31,   1791 
Year  ended  December  31 — 

1792 

1793 

1794 

1795 

1796 

1797 

1798 

1799 

1800 

1801 

1802 

1803 

1804 

1805 

1806 

1807 

1808 

1809 

1810 

1811 

1812 

1813 

1814 

1815 

1816 

1817 

1818 

1819 

1820 

1821 

1823 

1823 

1824 

1825 

1826 

1827 

1828..: 

1829 

1830 , 

1831 , 

1832. 

1833 

1834 

1835 

1836 

1837 

1838 

1839 

1840 

1841 

1842 


$10,210,025  75 

8,740,766  77 
5,720,624  28 
10,041,101  65 
9,419,802  79 
8,740,329  65 

8,758,916  40 

8,209,070  07 

12,621,4.59  84 

12,451,184  14 

12,945,4.55  05 

15,001,391  31 
11,064,097  63 
11,83.5,840  02 
13,689,508  14 
15,608,828  78 

16,398,019  26 
17,062,544  09 
7,773,473  12 
12,144,206  53 
14,431,838  14 

22,639,032  76 
40,.524,844  95 
34,-559,536  95 
50,961,237  60 
57,171,421  83 

33,833,-592  33 
21,-593,936  66 
24,605,665  37 
20,881,493  68 
19,573,703  72 

80,232,427  94 
20,-540,666  36 
34,381,312  79 
26,840,858  02 
25,260,434  21 

23,966,363  96 
34,763,629  23 
24,837,637  38 
24,844,116  51 
28,-536,830  82 

31,865,-561  16 
33,948,436  35 
31,791,935  55 
35,430,087  10 
50,836,796  08 

37,883,853  84 
39,019.883  60 
83,881,342  89 
25,032,193  59 
30,519,477  65 
34,773,744  89 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OP  THE  TREASDRT. 


19& 


OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 
Siatei  from  March  4,  1789,.  to  June  30,   1885,    inclusive. 
in  the  Register's  Office.] 


TEARS. 


expEnditurrs. 


Six  nioaths  ended  June  30,  1843. 
Year  ended  June  30— 

1844 

184.5... 

1846 

1847 

1848 


1849 

la-jo 
ia5i 

1852 
1853 

1854 
1855 
ia56 
1857 
1858 

1859 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 

1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 

1868 

1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 

1874 
1875 

1876 


)u'tstanding  warrants  June  30, 1876. 
Tear  ended  June  30 — 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 


1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 


$20,782,410  45 

31,198,555  73 
29,941,853  90 
;29,699,967  74 
55,338,168  52 
56,992,479  21 

59,796,891  98 
47,649,388  88 
52,762,704  25 
49,893,115  60 
61,500,102  81 

73,802,291  40 

65,351,374  68 

74,056,899  24 

68,969,212  57 

70,372,685  96 

81,758,557  30 

76,841,407  83 

83,371, f>40  13 

581,688,805  12 

889,373,652  51 

1,893,451,807  17 
1,805,933,2.50  82 
1,270,712,078  82 
1,130,339,092  63 
1,030,749,516  52 

609,623,899  00 
696,729,973  63 
652,095,864  54 
679,158,419  73 
548,672,269  47 

744,252,329  71 
675,971,607  10 
691,551,673  28 


680,278,167  58 
664,345,079  70 
1,066,634,827  46 
543,340,713  98 
474,532,826  57 

524,470,974  28 
954,230,145  95 
555,399,255  92 
568,839,911  73 
452,7.54,577  06 
.525,836,180  02 
*665,016,650  00 


$12,118,105  15 

33,642,0J0  85 
30,4^0,408  71 
27,632,283  fX> 
60,520,851  74 
60,656,143  19 

56,386,422  74 
44,604,718  2t) 
48,476,104  31 
46,712,()08  88 
54,577,061  74 

76,473,119  ©8 
66,164,77*  96 
72,726,341  57 
71,274,587  37 
82,062,186  74 

83,678,642  92 

77,0.55,075  fi5 

a5,387,363  08 

565.667.3.58  08 
899,81.5,911  25 

1,295,.541,214  86 
l,90f),433,3:n  37 
1,139,344,081  95 
i,09(i,351,.5(i6  66 
1,069,372,245  36 

5a5,13;i,289  12 
703,155,391  44 
692,238,322  40 
682,360,760  17 
623,785,032  §5 

724.897.1.59  67 
682,028,932  16 
714,385,633  86 

827,679  99 

565,299,8fi6  19 
590,641,271  70 
966,393,692  69 
700,233,238  19 
425,865,222  64 

529,627,739  12 
855,491,967  50 
504,646,9:54  83 
471,987,288  54 
447,699,847  86 
539,833,501  12 
617,685,a59  18 


_Total .^. i   $23,293,413,048  35        122,633,230,083  17 

*Includes   $380,000,000   as   the  estimated  net  ordinary    receipts  and  $285,016,650 
^ttuil  receipts  from  Loans. 
it 


^ 


.^96  TBS  KECONSTBUGTION  OF  TBB  KiLTT. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  NAVY. 

METHODS   ADOPTED  TO    PUT  THE  WORK   ON   A  BUSINESS   BASLS^-TH 
HISTORY   OP  AN    EFFORT   TO   DO    HONEST   WORK. 


T7i^  Contrast  widch  this   Policy  Presents  to  that  in  vogi 
for  Nearly  Twenty  Years  Under  Republican  Man- 
agement— Some  Serious  Abuses  which  have 
Been  Rooted  Out. 


In  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress,  December  8, 1885,  President  Clevelai 
thas  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States  as  he  found  it  wh( 
he  entered  upon  his  work  and  his  hopes  of  what  it  might  be  made : 

All  must  admit  the  importance  of  an  efifective  Navy  to  a  nation  like  ours,  havii 
sii(rii  an  exteaded  sea-coast  to  protect.  And  yet  we  have  not  a  single  vessel  of  war  tbi 
could  keep  the  seas  against  a  flrst-class  vessel  of  any  important  power.  Such  a  conditic 
ouarht  not  longer  to  continue.  The  nation  that  cannot  resist  aggression  is  constant 
exposed  to  it.  Its  foreign  policy  is  of  necessity  weak,  and  its  negotiations  are  conduct( 
with  disadvantage,  because  it  is  not  in  condition  to  enforce  the  terms  dictated  by  its  sea 
of  right  and  justice. 

Inspired,  as  I  am,  by  the  hope,  shared  by  all  patriotic  citizens,  that  the  day  is  n 
very  far  distant  when  our  Navy  will  be  such  as  befits  our  standing  among  the  nations  ( 
the  earth,  and  rejoiced  at  every  step  that  leads  in  the  direction  of  such  a  consummation, 
deem  it  my  duty  to  especially  direct  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  close  of  the  report  ( 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  which  the  humiliating  weakness  of  the  present  organizatic 
of  his  Department  is  exhibited,  and  the  startling  abuses  and  waste  of  its  present  methCM 
are  exposed.  The  conviction  is  forced  upon  us  with  the  certainty  of  mathematical  demoi 
strations  that  before  we  proceed  further  in  the  restoration  of  a  Navy  we  need  a  thoroug-hl 
reorganized  Navy  Department.  The  fact  that  within  seventeen  years  more  than  sevent; 
five  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  in  the  construction,  repair,  equipment,  and  arm 
ment  of  vessels,  and  the  further  fact  that.  Instead  of  an  effective  and  creditable  fleet,  w 
have  only  the  discontent  and  apprehension  of  a  nation  undefended  by  war  vessels,  addc 
to  the  disclosures  now  made,  do  not  permit  us  to  doubt  that  every  attempt  to  revive  oi 
Navy  has  thus  far,  for  the  most  part,  been  misdirected,  and  all  our  efforts  in  that  directio 
hctve  been  little  better  than  blind  gropings,  and  expensive,  aimless  follies 

Unquestionably  if  we  are  content  with  the  maintenance  of  a  Navy  Department  simp! 
aaa  shabby  ornament  to  the  Government,  a  constant  watchfulness  may  prevent  some  c 
the  scandal  and  abuse  which  have  found  their  way  into  our  present  organization,  and  il 
incurable  waste  may  he  reduced  to  the  minimum.  But  if  we  desire  to  build  ships  fo 
pr«6eat  usefulness  instead  of  naval  reminders  of  the  days  that  are  past,  we  must  hare 


I 


THE  KBCON8TRUCTION  OF  THE  NATT.  IW 

'department  organized  for  the  work,  supplied  with  all  the  talent  and  ingenuity  our  country 
affords,  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  experience  of  other  nations,  systematized  so 
that  all  effort  shall  unite  and  lead  in  one  direction,  and  fully  imbued  with  the  conviction 
that  war  vessels,  though  new,  are  useless  unless  they  combine  all  that  the  ingenuity  of 
man  has  up  to  this  day  brought  forth  relating  to  iheir  construction. 

I  earnestly  commend  the  portion  of  the  Secretary's  report  devoted  to  this  subject  to 
the  attention  of  Congress,  in  the  hope  that  his  suggestions  touching  the  reorganization  of 
his  Department  may  be  adopted  as  the  first  step  toward  the  reconstruction  of  our  Navy. 

The  sad  condition  of  tlie  Navy  at  the  advent  of  the  present  administration,  is 
something  which  could  not  be  believed  unless  its  truth  was  known.  If  the  reckless 
waste  ofmoney,  the  extravagance,  the  inefficiency,  and  the  open,  flagrant  corrup- 
tion which  existed  in  this  department  of  the  Government  had  been  told  in  a  novel 
by  a  writer  of  recognized  position  in  the  literary  world,  the  world  would  not  have 
believed  it.  But  it  was  known  for  many  years  that  this  waste,  extravagance,  ineffl* 
•ciency  and  corruption  were  going  on,  and  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
was  getting  a  great  deal  less  than  nothing  for  its  money.  This,  too,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  Navy  Department,  the  people  of  the 
•country  have  taken  great  pride  in  it,  and  that  its  achievements  in  every  war  and  its 
conduct  in  every  port  of  the  world  during  long  periods  of  peace,  have  reflected  the 
highest  credit  upon  our  national  name. 

In  spite  of  these  conditions,  William  C.  Whitney,  the  new  Secretary  of  the 
^avy,  after  occupying  his  office  for  nine  months,  during  which  he  carefully  famil- 
iarized himself  with  every  detail  of  the  service  entrusted  to  his  care,  thus  character- 
ized this  branch  of  the  service  committed  to  his  charge,  in  his  annual  report  to  the 
President,.in  December,  1885  : 

WHAT  IT  COST   TO  HAVE  NO  NAVY. 

At  the  present  moment  it  must  be  conceded  that  we  have  nothing  which  deserves  to 
be  called  a  Navy,    The  highest  official  authority  in  our  service  said  in  1876 : 

"  There  is  no  navy  in  the  world  that  is  not  in  advance  of  us  with  regard  to  ships  and 
guns,  and  I,  in  common  with  the  older  officers  of  the  service,  feel  an  anxiety  on  the 
subject  which  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  have  to  command  fleets  and  take 
them  into  battle." 

And  so  recently  as  1884  the  same  distinguished  authority  stated  that  it  was  universallr 
admitted  "that  we  have  no  navy  either  for  offense  or  defense." 

The  country  has  expended  since  July  1,  1868— more  than  three  years  subsequent  to 
theclose  of  the  late  civil  war— over  seventy  five  millions  of  money  on  the  construction, 
repair,  equipment,  and  ordnance  of  vessels,  which  sum,  with  a  very  slight  exceptlon,has  been 
substantially  thrown  away;  the  exception  being  a  few  ships  now  in  processof  construction. 
t  do  not  overlook  the  sloops  constructed  in  1874,  and  costing  three  or  four  millions  of 
ioUars,  and  to  avoid  discussion  they  may  be  excepted  also.  The  fact  still  remains  that 
for  about  seventy  of  the  seventy-five  millions  of  dollars  which  have  been  expended  by 
:he  Department  for  the  creation  of  a  navy  we  have  practically  nothing  to  show. 

It  is  questionable  whether  we  have  a  single  naval  vessel  finished  and  afloat  at  the 
iresent  time  that  could  be  trusted  to  encounter  the  ships  of  any  important  power— a 
ilngle  vessel  that  has  either  the  necessary  armor  for  protection,  speed  for  escape,  or 
^reapons  for  defense.  This  is  no  secret;  the  fact  has  been  repeatedly  commented  upon  In 
Congress  by  the  leading  members  of  both  parties,  confessed  by  our  highest  naval  author- 
ties,  and  deprecated  by  all.  Such  is  not  the  kind  of  navy  which  this  country,  with  its 
ixtensive  coast  line,  its  enormous  territorial  area,  and  Incalculable  commercial  resources, 
equires,  nor  such  as  it  is  entitled  to  have.  This  country  can  afford  to  have,  and  it  cannot 
Jford  to  lack,  a  naval  force  at  least  so  formidable  that  Its  dealings  with  foreign  powers 
?^ill  not  be  influenced  at  any  time,  nor  even  be  suspected  of  being  influenced,  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  weakness  on  the  sea.    While  still  strving  to  build  up  its  merchant  marine  and 


198  THE  RECONSTEUOnON  OP  THE  KAVY. 

to  multiply  Its  relations  with  foreljrn  markets,  it  cannot  be  expected  much  longer  t 
tolerate  such  expenditures  for  a  navy  which  could  not  for  a  moment  defend  even  its  dimlr 
DUtive  commerce  ag:ainst  any  considerable  power. 

THE  MODERN  NAVAL  VESSEL  AND  ITS  EQUIPMENT. 

A  naval  vessel  at  the  present  moment  is  a  products  of  science.  Taking  the  world  ov< 
It  will  be  found  that  each  part  of  her— her  armor,  her  armament,  her  power,  her  form,  an 
the  distribution  of  her  parts  or  characteristics— each  of  these  features  of  the  complete 
vessel  is  absorbing  from  year  to  year  the  exclusive  study  of  a  class  of  scientific  men.  An 
as  men  of  science  throughout  the  world  are  continu  ally  stimulated  to  new  discoveries  an 
inventions,  no  vessel  that  can  be  built  can  be  considered  a  finaltiy  in  any  particular. 

The  problem  of  keeping  pace  with  the  march  of  improvement  in  these  lines  of  industr 
Is  one  of  incalculable  diflBculty;  and  yet  unless  the  Government  is  prepared  to  avail  itsel 
promptly  of  all  the  improvements  that  are  made  in  the  construction  and  equipment  of  11 
idiips  its  expenditures  are  largely  useless. 

The  policy  of  enlisting  private  enterprise  in  the  work  tends  to  the  creation  and  deve] 
opment  of  important  branches  of  industry  within  the  country.  The  resources  of  ou 
country,  its  ingenuity  and  enterprise  in  any  line  of  human  endeavor,  when  called  out,  ar 
unexcelled  by  any  nation  or  people  on  earth. 

If  the  $75,000,000  spent  since  1868  by  our  Government  had  been  used  to  stimulate  compe 
tition  among  our  people  in  the  production  of  modem  ships  of  war,  it  is  quite  fair  to  assum 
that  the  activities  and  agencies  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  would  have  been  by  thi 
time  entirely  adequate  to  its  needs.  It  has  been  wasted  by  Government  agencies  upoi 
worthless  things.  The  invention  of  the  country  has  been  discouraged.  The  Hotchkia 
gun,  now  commanding  the  widest  attention,  the  manufacture  of  which  is  becoming  ai 
important  industry  in  France,  was  the  product  of  American  invention,  which,  whei 
Ignored  and  rejected  by  Government  agencies  here,  found  elsewhere  Its  field  of  deveJ 
opment.  Ericsson,  whose  name  will  always  be  one  of  the  great  ones  of  our  time  in  historj 
works  now  at  the  age  of  83  without  encouragement  or  notice  at  the  great  problems  o 
naval  warfare,  and  is  receiving  more  attention  and  greater  encouragement  from  othe 
Governments  than  from  our  own.    Examples  miuht  easily  be  multiplied. 

SuflSce  it  to  say  our  Government  has  placed  itself  in  no  relation  to  the  inventive geniu 
of  the  country,  and  is  without  the  rich  fruits  which  such  a  course  would  bring  to  it. 

ABUSES  IN  AWARDING  CONTRACTS  FOR  SUPPLIES. 

In  the  awarding  of  contracts  the  most  flagrant  abuses  existed,  and  as  thi 
President  pointed  out  in  his  message  already  quoted,  the  organization  was  s< 
cumbersome  and  so  inefficient  as  to  be  almost  of  necessity  corrupt.  Under  the  lav 
purchases  of  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  Department  could  only  be  made  after  adver 
Using  and  by  contract  entered  into  with  the  lowest  responsible  bidder.  The  onl] 
exception  to  this  in  either  law  or  regulations  was  the  purchase  of  emergency  suppliei 
for  sums  not  exceeding  $500.  But  as  this  law  was  a  dead  letter  in  every  bureau  o 
the  Department,  the  most  serious  abuses  naturally  grew  and  flourished.  There  wai 
no  harmony  between  the  different  bureaus,  and  as  a  consequence  there  was  th( 
most  useless  waste  of  money  in  all. 

The  open  purchases  of  the  Navy  Department  for  the  year  ending  June  30, 1885 
amounted  to  $841,285.84,  while  the  purchases  by  contract  amounted  to  only  a  littl( 
over  a  million.  A  large  proportion  of  the  open  purchases  consisted  of  articles  o; 
either  comparatively  small  value,  or  more  or  less  difficult  of  classification ;  bui 
$138,000  of  the  amount  was  spent  by  the  seven  bureaus,  each  acting  independently  o 
the  other  for  coal  bought,  not  in  one  lot,  but  at  166  several  open  purchases  (this  doa 
not  include  coal  bought  by  ships  on  foreign  stations);  299  different  open  purchases  o; 
ttationery  were  made  by  eight  different  bureaus ;  $121,815.66  was  spent  for  lumbei 


THE  KEOON8TRUCTION  OF  THE  NAVT.  190 

and  hardware  by  six  bureaus  in  499  separate  open  purchases.  Seven  bureaus  spent 
$46,000  for  oils  and  paints  in  269  separate  purchases;  117  different  open  purchases 
of  iron  and  steel  were  made  at  an  expense  of  $41,524.48;  $68,881  o9  was  spent  for 
hemp  and  cordage  in  45  different  open  purchases.  Eight  bureaus  supply  stationery 
to  ships;  three  bureaus  supply  ships  with  lamps  and  lanterns.  To  the  same  ship 
one  bureau  supplies  electric  lights  and  the  light  for  general  illuminating  purposes ; 
another  supplies  electric  search  lights,  and  a  third  oil  and  light  for  the  engine  and 
fire  rooms. 

Illustrations  of  a  rather  extraordinary  character  of  the  resort  to  this  certificate 
of  necessity  for  immediate  purchases  as  a  convenience  appear  among  these  records. 

In  the  summer  of  1883  an  order  was  given  for  $61,000  worth  of  canvas  to  a  per- 
son who  was  not  a  dealer  in  the  article  and  at  a  time  when  there  was  the  usual 
supply  of  canvas  on  hand. 

Under  an  order  made  by  Secretary  Thompson  in  1877,  it  was  understood  that 
the  limit  of  any  single  purchase  under  a  "  certificate  of  necessity  "  was  $500.  For 
purchases  involving  a  larger  amount  resort  must  be  had  to  the  ordinary  contract 
system.  Several  months  were  consumed  in  the  delivery  of  this  $61,000  worth  of 
canvas,  and  the  bills  were  made  out  in  sums  of  less  than  $500  each.  The  "  certifi- 
cate of  necessity  "  accompanied  each  one,  and  in  that  form  the  bills  passed  the 
Treasury  Department. 

Two  or  three  of  these  bills,  with  the  Bureau  officer's  certificate  of  necessity 
apon  them,  would  sometimes  be  dated  and  presented  on  the  same  day. 

During  the  same  year  coal  was  purchased  by  different  paymasters  from  the 
?ame  person  on  or  about  the  same  day,  deliverable  at  the  very  same  place,  of  like 
iuality  and  character,  but  at  prices  differing  from  50  to  65  cents  a  ton. 


HOW  REPAIRS  WERE   MADE   TO   COST   MONEY. 

Another  instance  in  this  same  method  and  its  workings  made  of  this  vicious 
ystem  were  given  by  Secretary  Whitney  in  his  first  report,  as  the  result  of  his 
avesligation  of  the  workings  of  the  Bureau  of  Construction  and  liepair  : 

My  experience  of  the  manner  in  which  important  decisions  are  necessarily  made  by 
he  Secretary,  without  opportunity  for  proper  deliberation  and  intelligent  advice,  leads  me 
D  say  without  hesitation  that  the  follies  of  the  Department  are  largely  attributable  to  this, 
'ake  the  "  Omaha  "  for  an  example.  She  has  been  rebuilt  within  the  last  four  years,  at  aa 
xpense  of  $573,000.  It  was  an  act  of  the  greatest  folly.  She  is  a  repaired  wooden  vessel, 
ith  boilers,  machinery,  and  guns,  all  of  which  would  at  the  time  have  been  sold  for  what 
ley  would  have  brought  by  any  other  nation  on  earth.  In  the  evf  nt  of  a  war  she  can 
either  fight  nor  run  away  from  any  cruiser  built  contemporaneously  by  any  other  nation, 
er  rebuilding  cost  the  full  price  of  a  modern  steel  ship  of  her  size  and  all  modern  charac- 
jristics. 

Now,  If  one  should  seek  to  ascertain  who  is  responsible  for  the  decision  that  the 
Omaha  "  should  be  rebuilt,  it  would  be  found  that  no  one  so  decided,  after  discussion  and 
I  intelligent  knowledge  of  facts.  The  chief  constructor  will  deny  responsibility  except 
tr  the  survey ;  the  engineer-In-chief  the  same ;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  if  he  should 
i  able  to  recall  the  circumstances,  would  doubtless  remember  that  he  was  advised  that  she 
jeded  general  repairs  and  rebuilding,  and  gave  the  orders  in  ignornance  of  the  probable 
suit  of  his  decision.  •  *  *  After  the  "Omaha"  had  been  commissioned  and 
is  ready  for  sea,  it  appeared  that  the  several  bureaus  working  independently  upon  her, 
vd  between  them  so  completely  appropriated  her  ppaco  that  they  had  left  her  coal-room 
r  not  more  than  four  days'  steaming  at  her  full  capacity.  .  , 


I 


200  THE  KECON8TRUCTION  OF  THE  NAYY. 

Some  of  the  results  of  this  system  are  shown  in  the  record  of  repairs  made  upoO' 
useless  vessels : 

The  Quinnebaugrvaaeeven  years  and  ten  months  repairing;  the  Galena,  eight  year» 
and  ten  months ;  the  Mohican,  twelve  years  and  ten  months,  at  a  cost  exceeding  the  original 
cost  of  one  million  of  dollars.  The  Quinnebaug  is  010  tons.  The  Galena  is  910  tons.  The 
Mohican,  which  is  910  tons,  cost  $907,799  for  repairs  in  twelve  years,  while  the  Atlanta,  a 
3,000  ton  ship,  built  of  steel,  modern  type,  cost  entire  only  about  $675,000,  built  under  Dem- 
ocratic rule. 

When  these  things  are  made  to  appear  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why 
175,000,000  was  spent  on  the  Navy  in  seventeen  years;  and  that  there  was  less  than, 
nothing  to  show  for  it. 

WHAT  AN  INVENTORY  DISCLOSED. 

During  the  second  year  of  his  administration  Secretary  Whitney  carried  out,, 
as  far  as  possible,  under  the  law,  his  schemes  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Navy 
Department  in  such  a  way  that  it  could  carry  on  the  business  entrusted  to  it  in  an 
efficient  manner.  His  plan  for  securing  an  inventory  of  the  property  under  the 
charge  of  the  various  bureaus  of  the  Department  was  entered  upon  in  a  practical 
way,  with  the  result  as  shown  in  his  annual  report  for  1886 : 

The  inventory  shows  a  very  large  and  unnecessary  accumulation  of  stores  and 
supplies  by  the  different  bureaus,  aggregating  over  twenty  millions  of  dollars  in. 
appraised  value.  The  Board  reports  between  three  and  four  millions  in  value  to- 
be  obselete  and  useless  at  the  present  time,  only  entailing  expense  for  keepers  and 
constant  care  to  preserve  them  in  condition.  Among  these  accumulations  some 
very  absurd  facts  appear.  At  the  eight  navy-yjirds  there  have  accumulated  alto- 
gether of  augers  and  bits  46,566,  of  which  25,274  have  been  lying  for  several  years 
at  closed  yards  where  no  work  has  been  or  is  likely  to  be  done.  Twenty- nine- 
thousand  live  hundred  and  forty-two  gross  of  screws  are  on  hana,  10,896  gross- 
lying  at  closed  yards.  There  are  146,385  files  in  stock,  42,142  of  them  lying  at 
closed  yards.  There  are  11,813  paint  brushes  in  stock,  2,246  of  these  in  the  stores 
at  closed  yards.    All  of  these  tools  are  serviceable,  mostly  new. 

[There  are  fouud  to  be  over  12,000  tons  of  cast  and  wrought  iron  lying  in  scrap 
about  the  yards,  759,000  pounds  of  composition  and  brass,  159,000  pounds  of  old 
copper,  and  193,000  of  old  lead.] 

Of  most  of  these  articles  some  bureaus  have  recently  made  considerable  pur- 
chases, and  are  even  doing  so  at  the  present  time,  while  to  the  credit  of  other 
bureaus  there  are  very  large  amounts  in  stock.  Captain  Meade,  president  of  the- 
Inventory  Board,  says: 

Id  going  through  one  of  the  yards  where  the  construction  department  was 
short  of  cut  nails,  the  storehouse  in  charge  of  steam  engineering  was  found  filled 
from  floor  to  ceiling  with  barrels  on  barrels  of  the  needed  nails.  I  asked  the  officer 
in  charge  how  long  at  his  present  rate  of  expenditure  it  would  take  to  use  up  those- 
nails  that  construction  and  repair  so  badly  needed;  and  he  replied,  "Well,  sir,  I 
think  about  fifty  years." 

These  stores  of  tools  or  machinery  are  periodically  oiled  or  painted ;  in  the  mean- 
time require  large  storage  room,  a  force  of  watchmen,  etc.,  and  are  constantly 
becoming  obsolete  and  useless.  The  expenditure  entailed  in  a  series  of  years, 
exceeds  in  all  probability  the  value  of  the  property. 


THE   RECONSTRUCTION   OF   THE   NAVT.  20> 


THE   PRESIDENT    INSISTING   ON   AN    EFFECTIVE   NAVY. 

In  his  annual  message  for  1886  the  President  again  emphasized  his  interest  in 
the  rebuilding  ot  the  Navy,  and  set  forth  the  real  condition  of  the  Navy  as  follows : 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  contains  a  detailed  exhibit  of  the  condition 
of  his  departnient  with  such  a  statement  of  the  action  needed  to  improve  tho  same  as 
should  challenge  the  earnest  attention  of  the  Congress. 

Tiie  present  Navy  of  the  United  States,  aside  from  the  ships  in  course  of  oonstruction, 
ooneistsof : 

First,  fourteen  siogle-turreted  monitors,  none  of  which  are  In  commission,  nor  at  the 
present  time  serviceable.  The  batteries  of  these  ships  are  obsolete,  and  they  can  only  be 
relied  upon  as  auxiliary  ships  in  harbor  defense,  and  then  after  such  an  expenditure  upon 
them  as  might  not  be  deemed  justifiable. 

Second,  five  fourth-rate  vessels  of  small  tonnage,  only  one  of  which  was  designed  as  ft 
war  vessel,  and  all  of  which  are  auxiliary,  merely. 

Third,  twenty-seven  cruising  ships,  three  of  which  are  built  of  iron,  of  small  tonnage, 
and  twenty-four  of  wood.  Of  these  wooden  vessels  it  is  estimated  by  the  chief  constraotor 
of  the  Navy  that  only  three  will  be  serviceable  beyond  a  period  of  six  years,  at  which 
time  it  may  be  said  that  of  the  present  naval  force  notlsang  worthy  the  uaiue  will 
remain. 

MAKING  OUR  ARMOR  AT  HOME. 

All  the  vessels  heretofore  authorized  are  under  contract  or  in  course  of  construction, 
except  the  armored  ships,  the  torpedo  and  dynamite  boats,  and  one  cruiser.  As  U^  the  last, 
of  these,  the  bids  were  in  excess  of  the  limit  fixed  by  Congress.  The  production  io  the 
United  States  of  armor  and  gun  steel  is  a  question  which  it  seems  necessary  to  settle  at  an 
early  day,  if  the  armored  war  vessels  are  to  be  completed  with  those  materials  ot  home 
manufacture.  This  has  been  the  subject  of  investigation  by  two  boards  and  by  two  special 
committees  of  Congress  within  the  last  three  years.  The  report  of  the  Gun  Foundry  Board 
In  1884,  of  the  Board  of  Fortifications  made  in  January  last,  and  the  reports  of  the  Select 
Committees  of  the  two  Houses  made  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  have  entirely  exhausted 
the  subject,  so  far  as  preliminary  investigation  is  involved,  and  in  their  recommendations 
they  are  substantially  agreed 

In  the  event  that  the  present  invitation  of  the  Department  for  bids  to  furnish  gueh  of 
khifa  material  as  is  now  authorized,  shall  fail  to  induoe  domestic  manufacturers  to  undertake 
the  large  expenditures  required  to  prepare  for  this  new  manufacture,  and  no  other  steps, 
are  taken  by  Congress  at  its  coming  session,  the  Secretary  contemplates  with  dissatisfaction 
the  neeessity  of  obtaining  abroad  the  armor  and  the  gun  steel  for  the  authorized  ships.  It 
v<rould  seem  desirable  that  the  wants  of  the  Army  and  i  he  Navy  in  this  regard  should  bo  rea- 
ionably  met,  an<1  that  by  uniting  their  contracts,  such  inducement  might  be  offered  as 
irould  result  in  securing  he  domestioation  of  these  important  interests. 


THE   EFFORT    TO  GET   GOOD   SHIPS   FOR  GOOD   MONET. 

In  the  meantime  the  efforts  to  rebuild  a  navy  in  an  honest  fashion  were  con-" 
-inued,  and  this  fact  became  so  obvious  to  Congress  that  both  Houses,  regardless  of 
Dolitical  majority,  showed  a  disposition  to  co-operate  in  the  work.  The  earliest 
jfforts  of  the  new  management  were,  however,  seriously  handicapped  by  the)egacy 
)f  mismanagement  left  them  by  the  corruption  and  incompetency  which  had  so 
ong  made  the  Navy  a  reproach  and  a  laughing  stock.  The  Dolphin,  the  Boston 
.he  Atlanta,  and  the  Chicago  were  under  construction  when  Secretary  Whitney 
jame  into  office.  As  one  after  another  of  these  vessels  was  launched,  finished  and 
.ried  it  was  found  that  they  did  not  even  come  up  to  the  specifications  in  the  loosely 


3to  the  reconstruction  of  the  nayy. 

drawn  plans  upon  which  they  had  been  built.  Their  machinery  was  not  built 
according  to  contract ;  their  speed  did  not  come  anywhere  near  that  required  in 
the  specification 8,  and  so  much  money  had  bt  en  paid  upon  them  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  deprived  of  the  protection  which  it  had  a  business  right  to  expect  and 
demand. 

THE   M08T   SERIOUS  DEFECTS  IN  THE   NEW  VESSEL8. 

But  there  were  other  defects  even  more  serious.  It  was  soon  found  that  the 
vesfu^Ja  !)'iilt  upon  the  general  plans  adopted  for  the  new  cruisers  and  dispatch 
boats  would  do  little,  almost  nothing,  in  the  way  of  giving  the  United  States  an 
effective  navy.  The  vessels  were  all  too  slow  to  be  of  use  even  if  the  contractors 
had  carried  oat  the  specifications  upon  which  they  had,  presumably,  been  built.  In 
discussing  this  question  the  Secretary  said  in  his  report  for  1886 : 

The  experieuce  of  the  Department  in  its  first  attempt  at  the  creation  of  modern 
vesseis  of  war  has  been  such  as  to  excite  the  greatest  concern  and  disappointment.  An 
examination  of  the  facts  with  reference  to  them  demonstrated  that  an  entirely  new- 
departure  was  necessary  in  undertaking  further  similar  construction.  The  one  charac- 
teristic which  an  unarmored  cruiser  must  possess  is  great  speed.  This  is  determined  by 
the  fuuut.i,on  which  she  is  expected  to  perform  in  modern  warfare.  She  is  a  "  commerce 
destroyer."  She  must  be  able  to  escape  from  iron-clads,  and  outrun,  so  as  to  overhaul, 
merchantmen.  If  slower  than  iron-clads  she  could  not  keep  the  sea,  and  if  slower  than 
merohaaimen  she  might  as  well  stay  in  port.  This  division  of  ships  by  the  functions 
Which  thoy  are  expected  to  perform  is  one  of  the  things  which  has  come  about  of 
recent  yoars.  When  it  became  impossible  to  concentrate  in  one  ship  both  the  greatest 
speed,  strongest  armament,  and  the  highest  defensive  power,  without  reaching  a  tonnage 
displacement  wholly  out  of  the  question,  the  division  into  classes,  according  to  the  func- 
tions which  they  were  expected  to  perform,  came  about.  Unarmored  cruisers  have 
become  a  distinct  class,  and  the  characteristic  abeokitely  indispensable  to  this  class  is  very 
great  sfte^. 

When  the  Dolphin,  Boston,  Atlanta,  and  Chicago  were  projected  and  the  contracts  for 
their  construction  entered  into,  it  was  well  known  that  speed  ought  to  be  attained  and 
what  weight  and  character  of  machinery  per  ton  of  displacement  was  necessary  to  obtain 
it.  Ooramercial  vessels  had  at  that  time  attained  speeds  ranging  between  sixteen  and 
ninefc'ion  knots,  and  cruisers  were  being  built  in  other  countries,  or  had  already  been 
built,  attaining  the  same  speed. 

Tn  further  discussing  the  question,  after  making  a  comparison  of  the  results 
achieved  by  vessels  of  the  same  classes  built  for  the  United  States,  and  for  England, 
France,  Italy  and  Chili,  the  Secretary  says : 

These  factsare  stated  without  any  intention  of  locating  responsibility  or  blame  upon 
any  person.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  where  it  should  be  placed.  But  they  indicate  a 
simple  abandonment  on  the  part  of  the  Department  of  any  attempt  to  reach  the  conditions 
which  should  have  been  attained,  and  the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  contractor  to  reach 
the  limited  rc'sults  expected  by  the  Department.  In  considering  the  matter  of  construct- 
ing the  additional  vessels  authorized  by  Congress  in  March,  1885,  it  was  decided  by  the 
Department  t,o  exhaust  every  effort  to  avail  itself  of  the  most  advanced  thought  and 
knowledge  attained  by  our  own  and  other  countries  upon  the  subject. 

The  machinery  of  naval  vessels  is  entirely  different  in  character  from  that  of  merchant 
8hii)8 ;  and  as  no  modem^ar-vessels  have  been  for  many  years  built  in  this  country  by  our 
Qovwamont,  up  to  the  time  of  those  just  referred  to,  it  seemed  probable,  on  comparing 
results  attained  by  the  Department  in  its  first  effort  with  those  reached  by  other  countries, 
that  important  advances  had  been  made  elsewhere  in  the  methods  of  attaining  great  speed 
and  power  which  it  had  become  neoessary  for  us  to  utilize. 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  NAYT.  fHQ^ 

RESOLUTION  TO  DO  WORK  AT  HOlfE. 

As  the  «vork  of  rebuilding  the  navy  proceeded  it  was  found  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  seriously  hampered  in  its  efforts  lo  secure  guns  and  armor  of  American 
manufacture.  It  was  therefore  determined  in  1886  to  take  steps  in  the  direction  of 
overcoming  this  difficulty  and  thus  make  the  Government  of  the  TJnited  States  inde- 
pendent of  the  gun  founders  and  armor  manufacturers  of  other  countries.  It  was 
decided,  in  order  to  promote  this  object,  to  put  the  armor  required  for  all  of  the 
vessels  authorized  by  Congress  into  one  contract,  and  offer  the  same  to  the  compe- 
tition of  steel  manufacturers  in  the  United  States,  and  allow  a  sufficient  time  for 
the  successful  bidder,  if  one  or  more  should  appear,  to  take  the  necessary  steps  in 
the  way  of  th«  creation  of  plant  and  of  initiating  the  manufacture.  The  extreme 
desirableness  of  obtaining  this  result  has  been  a  matter  of  general  comment,  in  and 
out  of  Congress,  for  several  years.  It  was  known  to  be  closely  allied  with  the  matter 
of  the  steel  forgings  for  the  modern  high-power  guns,  and  the  same  course  was 
taken  by  the  Department  with  reference  to  these.  All  of  the  material  necessary  in 
making  the  guns  for  the  vessels  authorized  by  Congress  was  combined  in  one  adver- 
tisement, as  an  inducement  to  steel  manufacturers  of  the  country  to  undertake  the 
necessary  expenditure  to  prepare  for  the  pr 'duction  of  these  heavy  forging?.  In 
enforcing  his  views  of  the  desirablility  and  necessity  for  reaching  this  result  the 
Secretary  said : 

It  is  certainly  a  most  lamentable  circumstance  that  a  country  like  ours,  with  its 
immense  products  of  Iron  and  steel,  should  be  content  to  be  dependent  upon  the  manu- 
facturers of  any  other  nation  for  the  fabrication  of  armor  and  high-powered  ^uns,  l)Oth 
of  which  are  now  essential  and  indispensable  parts  of  a  modern  fighting  ship.  Whatever 
its  commercial  policy  may  be,  for  the  creation  of  its  necessary  Implements  of  war  it 
should  certainly  be  indr pendent. 

The  armor  and  the  armament  of  the  vessels  already  authorized  by  Ciongrress  involve  an 
estimated  expenditure  of  $3,732,009.  It  is  assumed  by  the  Department  that  these  large  con- 
tracts, instead  of  being  thrown  into  the  hands  of  foreign  manufacturers,  should  be  utilized 
at  home  and  made  the  means  of  securing  the  establishment  of  this  branch  of  industry 
here,  so  important  to  the  Government. 

If  this  polity  is  correct,  and  is  to  be  pursued,  the  matter  requiring  immediate  attention 
isnct  so  much  the  authorization  of  the  construction  of  more  ships,  but  the  means  of  secur- 
ing the  production  of  armor  and  heavy  forgings  in  the  United  Sta'es.  Unless  these  essential 
elements  of  a  fighting  ship  are  to  be  purchased  abroad,  any  ships,  the  constn.ctionof 
which  should  bea  ithorlzed  at  the  coming. session  of  Congress,  would  be  finished  from  one 
to  three  years,  probably  three  years,  before  the  armor  and  the  armament  could  be  pre- 
pared. 

now   AMERICAN   GUNS  AND   ARMOR   ARE   TO   BE    SECURED. 

These  experiments  were  entered  upon  after  careful  consultation  with  the  lead- 
ing steel  manufacturing  establishments  of  the  country,  and  in  1887  the  Secretary 
felt  himself  able  to  report  their  success  in  the  following  language  : 

When  the  last  annual  rf  port  of  the  Department  was  made  this  country  lacked  three 
oaanufactories  necessary  to  the  construction  and  armament  of  modern  war  vessels,  viz., 
;hat  of  steel  forgings  for  the  heavier  guns,  that  of  armor  for  iron-clad  vessels,  and  that 
)f  the  secondary  batteries  (machine  and  rapid-fire  guns),  an  essential  portion  of  the 
irmament.  Now  all  three  manufactories  are  in  process  of  construction  under  o<m- 
tracts  with  the  Department. 

It  was  a  fatal  mistake  for  this  country  to  be  dependent  u^)on  any  other  nation  for 
t8  Implements  of  war.  Aside  from  all  questions  of  national  dignity  and  pride,  such 
mplements  are  contraband  in  time  of  war,  and  could  not  then  be  procured  from  abroad^ 


I 


204  THB  BECONBTRDCTION   OP  THE  NAVY. 

while  the  time  required  to  prepare  a  plant  would  make  it  Impossible  to  extemporize  & 
manufactory  for  the  occasion,  and  yet,  without  armor,  and  without  higher-powered  guns, 
in  the  present  state  of  the  art  no  respectable  contest  could  be  carried  on,  and  the  coun- 
try would  be  substantially  defenseless. 

The  ease  with  which  these  diflaculties  were  finally  solved  was  most  surprising  and 
furnished  another  and  most  notable  illustration  of  the  enterprise  and  courage  of  our 
business  class. 

Two  special  boards,  the  Gun  Foundry  Board,  reporting  in  1884,  and  the  Boird  on 
Fortifications  and  other  Defenses,  reporting  in  January,  1886,  and  two  special  commit- 
tees of  Congress,  reporting  also  in  1886,  had  thoroughly  investigated  the  problem  of  how 
to  bring  about  the  domesticating  of  thtse  industries,  and  had  substantially  agreed  in 
their  recommendations. 

8COCE8SFUL  EFFORTS  OP  THE  DEPARTMENT, 

The  Navy  Department  had,  in  the  summer  of  1886,  as  an  experiment,  consolidated  in  one 
advertisement  all  of  its  requirements  for  armor  and  gun-steel  for  ships  of  war  then  author- 
ized, stipulating  that  it  should  be  of  domestic  manufacture  and  giving  an  average  of  two 
and  a  half  years  in  which  to  produce  and  deliver  it,  which  covered  the  time  necessary  for 
the  procurement  of  a  plant.  A  period  of  about  seven  months  was  allowed  for  the  submis- 
sion of  bids,  in  order  to  afford  an  opportmity  for  full  investigation  by  expected  bidders. 
The  Department  also  opened  correspondence  upon  the  subject  with  the  principal  steel  man- 
ufacturers of  the  country.  The  interest  awakened  by  the  discussion  and  investigations 
already  had  was  stimulated  somewhat  by  the  influence  of  the  Department,  and  resulted, 
when  the  bids  were  opened,  in  a  contract  with  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company,  under  which  a 
plant  for  the  production  of  armor  and  gun-  st/eel  is  being  erected  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  second 
to  none  in  the  world,  it  is  believed.  Tbe  efforts  of  the  Department  were  generously  sec- 
onded by  the  Naval  Appropriations  Committees  of  the  two  Houses,  the  sum  of  $4,000,000 
having  been  inserted  in  the  appropriation  acts  for  the  purpose  indicated. 

The  bids  were  opened  on  the  23d  day  of  March  last,  and  caused  a  feeling  of  quite  uni- 
versal congratulation  throughout  the  country.  It  marked  a  most  important  step  in  the 
progress  toward  national  independence,  most  sincerely  desired,  it  is  believed,  by  the  larger 
portion  of  our  people. 

The  policy  which  had  thus  been  so  successfully  pursued  in  the  matter  of  armor 
and  gun-steel  was  also  followed  in  the  matter  of  secondary  batteries  and  with  a  like 
result. 

The  Department  declined  to  make  any  purchases  of  the  Hotchklss  arms,  previously 
adopted  for  our  secondary  batteries,  except  upon  condition  that  a  manufactory  was  estal>- 
liahed  in  this  country,  and  by  the  accumulation  of  orders,  the  inducement  became  in  time 
sufiicient  to  secure  the  desired  result. 

It  is  also  gratifying  to  report  that  the  representatives  of  the  Hotchklss  company  have 
ascertained  that  with  the  supei-ior  tools  in  use  in  this  country  in  the  manufacture  of  arms* 
the  secondary  batteries  of  ships  can  be  made  here  and  sold  at  prices  less  than  we  have  paid 
for  their  foreign-made  arms,  and  as  low  as  they  are  produced  there  for  any  foreign  Gov- 
ernment.   And  such  are  the  i)rice8  made  to  us  by  the  company. 

CONTRACTS  MADE   ON   A  REASONABLE   BASIS. 

In  like  manner  the  contracts  for  armor  and  gun  steel  are  made  at  prices  within  35  per 
cent,  of  the  European  price  for  the  similar  article,  not  greater  than  the  difference  in  labor 
between  the  two  countries,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  outlay  for  plant  (estimated  at 
f 3,500,000)  necessary  to  be  made  to  undertake  the  contract. 

'I  hese  gratifying  results  have  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the  ship-building  interest  of 
the  country.  My  attention  was  early  called  to  the  fact  that  our  ship-builders  were  shut 
out  from  building  for  any  foreign  Government  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  neither  armor 
nor  gun  steel  nor  secondary  batteries  could  be  supplied  in  this  country.  The  construc- 
tion of  war-vessels  for  other  countries  has  been  a  large  industry  for  the  ship-builders  of 
Great  Britain. 

It  is  believed  that  our  private  ship-yards  can  produce  war  ships  equal  and  perhaps 
superior  to  those  produced  elsewhere  when  these  industries  shall  have  been  established. 


i 


THE  BEOONSTBUCTION  OF  THB  NAVY.  20S 

The  ship-builders  have,  therefore,  zealously  oo-operated  with  the  Department  in  stimulat- 
ing and  furthering  this  object. 

It  is  notable  that  the  efforts  of  the  Department  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  material 
for  the  ships  has  resulted  in  a  class  of  material  believed  to  be  superior  to  that  ever  pro- 
duced for  any  similar  purpose.  *  *  ♦  •  ♦  » 

JUST  WnAT  VESSELS  ARE  UKDER  CONSTRUCTION. 

As  the  result  of  this  careful  and  prudent  management,  the  work  of  reconstruct- 
ing the  United  States  navy,  and  of  putting  it  on  a  footing  consistent  with  the  wealth 
and  importance  of  this  country,  is  going  on  rapidly,  surely,  and,  most  important  of 
all,  honestly.  This  is  shown  by  the  following  list  of  vessels,  the  construction  of 
which  has  been  entered  upon  by  the  present  administration  since  December  28, 1886. 
Here  are  fourteen  vessels  built  at  home  in  the  best  ship-yards ;  the  contracts  for 
which  have  been  fairly  awarded  in  the  open  markets,  with  the  exception  of  two 
immense  armored  cruisers  which  the  Government  has  undertaken  to  construct  in 
the  navy -yards  at  New  York  and  Norfolk : 


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THE  BBOONSTRUCnON  OV  THE  NAVY.  SOT 

This  remarkable  contrast  between  this  straight  forward  business  management 
and  the  wasteful,  inefficient  and  corrupt  policy  pursued  between  1868  and  1885  does 
not  need  to  be  enforced  with  "  much  speaking."    It  carries  its  own  moral  with  it. 


A   SPECIMEN   OP  REPUBLICAN  MALADMINISTRATION. 

As  a  reminder  of  some  of  the  old-time  methods,  the  following  extracts  from 
Secretary  Whitney's  report  for  1887  on  the  final  disposition  of  the  Tennesse  is- 
instructive : 

Among  the  vessels  dropped  from  the  Navy  Register  and  sold  during  the  past  year  i8th& 
Tennessee. 

The  history  of  this  vessel  is  quite  interesting  and  most  illustrative.  She  had  a  short  lif  e» 
but,  as  a  consumer  of  money,  a  brilliant  one.  Her  hull  was  built  and  she  was  equipped  in 
the  New  York  navy- yard.  Her  machinery  was  designed  and  built  under  contract  by  the 
eminent  engineer,  Mr.  J  ohn  Ericsson,  costing  $700,000.  Her  total  original  cost  was  f  1,856,075.18. 
Upon  her  trial  trip,  in  January,  1867,  she  ran  about  1,000  miles.  She  attained  a  speed 
of  16  knots  and  made  a  run  of  L5  knots  per  hoinr  for  four  hours.  She  encountered  a  perilous 
storm,  described  as  a  hurricane,  which  continued  over  twenty-four  hours.  The  ship^ 
suffered  considerably.    The  report  of  her  commander  says  : 

The  engines  moved  off  finely  and  worked  perfectly  during  all  the  storm.  *  •  » 
Her  machinery  is  as  perfect  as  it  need  to  be.  It  has  undergone  the  severest  test  and  not 
once  found  wanting.    She  is  the  fastest  ship  1  have  ever  seen. 

The  chief  engineer  says : 

If  the  strength  and  workmanship  of  the  machinery  cannot  be  depended  upon,  then  no- 
reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon  the  performance  of  any  steam  machinery  with  which  I  am 
acquainted. 

Two  years  afterward  she  underwent  what  was  called  "repairs,"  and  the  sum  of 
1676,799.61  was  spent  upon  her ;  all  but  $73,000  of  this  was  put  on  her  hull  and  equipment.  It 
was  the  full  price  of  a  new  wooden  hull  of  her  size  at  that  time.  This  was  from  1869  to  1871. 
She  then  made  a  cruise  of  three  months  and  went  into  the  hands  of  John  Koach  to  enable 
him  to  take  out  the  machinery  and  boilers  of  John  Ericsson  and  substitute  others  of 
superior  character.  It  was  among  other  things  expected  to  give  the  ship  a  14>^  knot  speed 
for  twenty-four  hours.  When  she  had  her  trial  of  this  new  machinery  in  1875  her  maxi- 
mvun  speed  was  lOX  knots,  and  she  had  had  put  upon  her  an  expense  of  $801,713.60  in  addi- 
tion to  the  value  of  her  machinery  and  boilers  taken  in  trade  by  Mr.  Roach  at  $65,000. 
This  machinery  had  cost  $700,000;  had  not  been  in  actual  service  six  months  ;  had  never 
been  surveyed  and  condemned  by  a  board  of  Government  officers,  nor  its  value  fixed  by 
any  Government  board,  but  it  was  sold  to  Mr.  Roach  as  old  iron. 

That  is  to  say,  between  1869  and  1875  the  Tennessee  had  had  three  months'  service  and 
tiad  cosv  in  repairs  and  improvements  $1,443,513.21.  This  was  largely  in  excess  of  a  fair 
price  for  a  new  ship  of  her  characteristics. 

Twelve  years  afterwards  (on  April  4, 1887)  she  is  condemned  by  the  Statutory  Board  as 
tmseaworthy  and  not  worth  repairing,  and  ordered  sold,  having  had  put  upon  her  between 
1875  and  1887  the  additional  sum  of  $577,716.17.  She  brought  $34,525  at  the  auction  sale.  She 
ttad  cost  the  Government  $3,800,000  in  round  numbers  and  had  done  about  ten  years  of  active 
lervice,  outside  of  repair  shops  and  navy- yards. 

It  is  often  the  subject  of  wonder  what  has  become  of  the  $70,000,000  spent  upon  war 
ressels  since  the  close  of  the  war,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  is  now  no  Navy.  Tlua  bit 
of  history  wiU  serve  as  an  illustration. 


ECONOMY   IN  DETAIL  MANAGEMENT. 

For  the  first  time  in  many  years  the  ordinary  expenditures  of  the  Department 
liave  been  kept  within  the  appropriations. 


S08 


THE  KECONSTRUCTION  OV  THE  NAVY. 


A  Statement  of  these  expenditures,  with  the  surplus  or  deficiencies  at  the  end  o 
each  year,  shows  the  following  results  for  the  past  four  years : 


V.PA1,                                       j  Ordinary  ex- 
^^^^-                                     penditures. 

8"^-    ;  DeflCeucy. 

1888 »6  560  701  67 

1  $131,859  38 

1884 6,142,256  52 

1885 5,435,292  57 

1886 5,020,942  SO 

1887 4,870,533  47 

„ 

1   149,935  75 

1   105  943  65 

$380,125  19  i 

380,310  78; 

In  this  statement  there  are  not  incloded  the  pay  of  the  Navy,  expenses  of  the  Marin< 
Corps  and  Naval  Academy,  and  objects  specially  appropriated  for,  which  are  controller 
by  statute. 


THE    PUBLIC   LAKD  POLICIL  209 


CHAPTER  XYII. 
THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 


[E   MASKED   CONTRAST   IN   THE   POLICY   OF   THE  TWO    PARTIES   IK 
DEALING   WITH   THE   PUBLIC   DOMAIN. 


Tow  the  Cleveland  Administration  has  Restored  Nearly 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Million  Acres 
to  Settlement. 


The  position  of  the  President  on  the  questions  relating  to  the  public  lands  has 
always  been  in  full  accord  with  that  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  best  thought 
of  the  people  of  the  country.    In  his  first  annual  message  he  said : 

The  public  domain  had  its  origin  in  cessions  of  land  by  the  States  to  the  General 
Government.  The  first  cession  was  made  by  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  largest,  which 
in  area  exceeded  all  the  others,  by  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  t  erritory,  the  proprietorship 
of  which  became  thus  vested  in  the  General  Government,  extended  from  the  western  line 
of  Pennsylvania  to  the  Mississippi  river.  These  patriotic  donations  of  the  States  were 
Incumbered  with  no  condition,  except  that  they  should  be  held  and  used  "  for  the  common 
benefit  of  the  United  States."  By  purchase,  with  the  common  fund  of  all  the  people,  addi" 
lions  were  made  to  this  domain  until  it  extended  to  the  northerH  line  of  Mexico,  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  the  Polar  Sea.  The  original  trust,  "  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  United 
States,"  attached  to  all.  In  the  execution  of  that  trust  the  policy  of  many  homes,  rather 
than  large  estates,  was  adopted  by  the  Government.  That  these  might  be  easily  obtained, 
and  be  the  abode  of  security  and  contentment,  the  laws  for  their  acquisition  were  few, 
easily  understood,  and  general  in  their  character.  But  the  pressure  of  local  interests,  com- 
bined with  a  speculative  spirit,  have  in  many  instances  procured  the  passage  of  laws  which 
marred  the  harmony  of  the  general  plan,  and  encumbered  the  system  with  a  multitude  of 
general  and  special  enactments,  which  render  the  land  laws  complicated,  subject  the  titles 
to  uncertainty,  and  the  purchasers  often  to  oppression  and  wrong.  Laws  which  were 
intended  for  the  "  common  benefit "  have  been  perverted  so  that  large  quantities  of  land 
are  vesting  in  single  ownerships.  From  the  multitude  and  character  of  the  laws,  this  ccns©- 
<iuence  seems  incapable  of  correction  by  mere  administration. 

THB  PlTBIilC  liAVDS  SHOUIiD    BK  SAVED  FOB  HOMES. 

It  is  net  for  the  '*  common  benefit  of  the  United  States  "  that  a  large  area  of  the  pub- 
Mo  lands  should  be  acquired,  directly  or  through  fraud,  in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual. 
The  Nation's  strength  is  in  the  people.  The  Nation's  prosperity  is  in  their  prosperity.  The 
Nation's  glory  is  in  the  equality  of  her  Justice.  The  Nation's  perpetuity  is  in  the  patriotism 
of  all  her  people.  Hence,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  plan  adopted  in  the  disposal  of  the  pub> 
Jio  lands  shonld  have  in  view  the  original  policy,  which  encouraged  many  purchasers  of 


210  THE   PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

these  lands  for  homes  and  discouraged  the  massing  of  large  areas.  Exclusive  of  Alaska^ 
about  three-fifths  of  the  national  domain  has  been  sold  or  subjected  to  contract  or  grant.. 
Of  the  remaining  two-fifths  a  considerable  portion  is  either  mountain  or  desert.  A  rapidly 
increasing  population  creates  a  growingdemand  for  homes,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth 
inspires  an  eager  competition  to  obtain  the  public  land  for  speculative  purposes.  In  the- 
future  this  collision  of  interests  will  be  more  marked  than  in  the  past,  and  the  execution  of 
the  Nation's  trust  in  behalf  of  our  settlers  will  be  more  difficult.  I  therefore  commend  to 
your  attention  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Inte- 
rior with  reference  to  the  repeal  and  modification  of  certain  of  our  land  laws. 

Id  his  second  annual  message  he  still  farther  enforced  Lis  views  on  the  public- 
lands  as  follows : 

PRIMARY  OBJECT  OF  THE  LAND  SYSTEM. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  the  Commissioner  of  the- 
General  Land  Office  looking  to  the  better  protection  of  public  lands  and  of  the  public  sur- 
veys, the  preservation  of  national  forests,  the  adjudication  of  grants  toS'atesand  corpora- 
tions and  of  private  lani  claims,  and  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  public  land  service,  are^ 
commended  to  the  attention  of  Congress.  To  secure  the  widest  distribution  of  public 
lands  in  limited  quantities  among  settlers  for  residence  and  cultivation,  and  thus  make  the- 
greatest  number  of  individual  homes,  was  the  primary  object  of  the  public  land  legislation 
in  the  early  days  of  the  republic.  This  system  was  a  simple  one.  It  commenced  with  an 
admirable  scheme  of  public  surveys,  by  which  the  humblest  citizen  could  identify  the- 
tract  upon  which  he  wished  to  establish  his  home.  The  price  of  lands  was  placed  within 
the  reach  of  all  the  enterprising,  industrious  and  honest  pioneer  citizens  of  the  country. 
It  was  soon,  however,  found  that  the  object  of  the  laws  was  perverted  under  the  system  of 
cash  sales,  from  a  distribution  of  land  among  the  people  to  an  accumulation  of  land  capital 
by  wealthy  and  speculative  persons.  To  check  this  tendency  a  preference  right  of  pur- 
chase was  given  to  settlers  on  the  land,  a  plan  which  culminated  in  the  general  pre-emptioa 
act  of  1841.    The  foundation  of  this  system  was  actual  residence  and  cultivation. 

Twenty  years  later  the  homestead  law  was  devised  to  more  surely  place  actual  home* 
in  the  possession  of  actual  cultivators  of  the  soil.  The  land  was  given  without  price,  the 
sole  conditions  being  residence,  improvement  and  cultivation.  Other  laws  have  followed, 
each  designed  to  encourage  the  acquirement  and  use  of  land  in  limited  individual  quanti- 
ties. But  in  later  years  these  laws,  through  vicious  administrative  methods  and  under 
changed  conditions  of  communication  and  transportation,  have  been  so  evaded  and  violated 
that  their  beneficent  purpose  is  threatened  with  entire  defeat.  *  "  •  The  rapid  appro- 
priation of  our  public  lands  without  bona  fide  settlements  or  cultivation,  and  not  only 
without  intention  of  residence,  but  for  the  purpose  of  their  aggregation  in  large  holdings* 
in  many  cases  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  invites  the  serious  and  immediate  attention  of  the- 
Congrees. 

CORRECTION  OF  ABUSES  AND  REPEAL  OF  LAWS  SUGGESTED. 

The  energies  of  the  land  department  have  been  devoted  during  the  present  adminis- 
tration to  remedy  defects  and  correct  abuses  in  the  public  land  service.  The  results  of 
these  efforts  are  so  largely  in  the  nature  of  reforms  in  the  processes  and  methods  of  our 
land  system  as  to  prevent  adequate  estimate ;  but  it  appears  by  a  compilation  from  the 
reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  that  the  immediate  effect  in  leading 
cases  which  have  come  to  a  final  termination  has  been  the  restoration  to  the  mass  of  public- 
lands  of  two  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres ;  that  two  million  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy  thousand  acres  are  embraced  in  investigations  now  pending  before  the 
Department  or  the  courts,  and  that  the  action  of  Congress  has  been  asked  to  effect  the 
restoration  of  two  million  seven  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  acres  additional;  besides- 
which  four  million  acres  have  been  -withheld  from  reservation,  and  the  rights  of  entry 
thereon  maintained. 

I  recommend  the  repeal  of  the  pre-emption  and  timber-culture  acts,  and  that  the- 
homestead  laws  be  bo  amended  as  to  better  secure  compliance  with  their  requirements  of 
residence,  improvement  and  cultivation  for  the  period  of  five  years  from  date  of  entry^ 
Without  commutation  or  provision  for  speculative  relinquishment.    I  also  recommend  th& 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY.  211 

repeal  of  the  de=5ert-land  laws  unless  It  shall  be  the  pleasure  of  the  Congress  to  so  amend 
these  laws  as  to  render  them  less  liable  to  abuses.  As  the  chief  motive  for  an  evasion  of 
the  laws,  and  the  principal  cause  of  their  result  in  land  accumulation  instead  of  land  dis- 
tribution, is  the  facility  wltn  which  transfers  are  made  of  the  right  intended  to  be  secured 
to  settlers,  it  may  be  deemed  advisable  to  provide  by  legislation  some  guards  and  checks 
upon  the  alienation  of  homestead  rights  and  land  covered  thereby  until  patents  issue. 

REMOVAIi  OF  FENCES  FROM  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

Last  year  da  executive  proclamation  was  issued  directing  the  removal  of  fences  which 
Inclosed  the  public  domain.  Many  of  these  have  been  removed  In  obedience  to  such  order; 
but  ouch  of  the  public  land  still  remains  within  the  lines  of  those  unlawful  fences.  The 
ingeniv,^9  methods  resorted  to  in  order  to  continue  these  trespasses  and  the  hardihood  of 
the  pretenses  by  which  in  some  cases  such  inclosures  are  justified,  are  fully  detailed  in  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

The  removal  of  the  fences  still  remaining  which  inclose  public  lands,  will  be  enforced 
with  all  the  authority  and  means  with  which  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government  is  or 
shall  be  invested  by  the  Congress  for  that  purpose. 

Upon  taking  'charge  of  the  General  Land  Office  on  March  26,  1885,  this  adminis- 
tration found  an  appalling  condition  of  affairs  confronting  it.  The  public  domain 
is  said  to  be  the  "heritage  of  the  people"  and  should  be  sacredly  preserved  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  who  want  homes.  A  comparison  of  the  administration  of  this 
important  bureau  of  the  government,  under  the  respective  parties,  will  serve  to 
show  which  was  sincere  and  which  was  insincere  in  its  professions  of  love  to  the 
masses  of  the  people. 

The  plain  facts  which  follow  have  been  obtained  from  official  sources.  They  can 
be  easily  verified  by  any  one  who  doubts  their  correctness. 

The  public  domain  of  the  United  States  originally  consisted  of— 

Cession  from  the  original  States 229,987,187  acres. 

Louisiana  purchase  (1843) 756,961,280    " 

Florida  (1819) 37,931,280    " 

Mexican  Treaty  (1848) ...334,443,520    " 

Purchase  from  Texas  (1851) 61,892,480    « 

Gadsden  purchase  (1853) 29,142,400    " 

Alaska  (1867) 369,529,600    " 

Total 1,819,889,987    " 

All  this  territory  was  acquired  prior  to  Republican  administration,  except 
Alaska,  which  was  purchased  under  Johnson's  administration,  virtually  Dem- 
ocratic. 

RECKLESS  RAILROAD   GRANTS. 

The  most  stupendous  waste  of  public  lands  has  been  made  by  way  of  grants  to 
railroads  and  wagon  roads.  It  has  long  been  the  policy  of  the  government  to  make 
carefully  guarded  grants  to  the  various  States  of  limited  quantities  of  public  lands, 
to  be  used  by  the  States  in  promoting  the  building  of  railroads  or  other  important 
means  of  transportation  within  their  borders.  Bat  never,  until  the  Republican 
party  came  into  power  in  1861,  was  such  a  thing  known  as  a  grant  by  the  United 
States  direct  to  a  railroad  corporation.  On  July  1,  1862,  the  Act  passed  granting 
iirect  to  the  Union  Pacific  every  odd  unnumbered  section  within  ten  miles  on  each 
jide  of  its  1,038  miles  of  line,  and  in  1864  this  was  extended  so  as  to  give  that  com- 
14 


212  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

pany  every  odd  section  within  20  miles  on  each  side  of  the  road,  making  a  strip 
iorty  miles  wide  through  some  of  the  richest  and  best  lands  in  the  world  from  the 
Missouri  river  to  the  Pacific,  one-half  of  which  was  given  away  to  this  corporation. 

This  is  but  a  sample  of  the  work  begun  by  a  Republican  Congress.  Prior  to 
their  advent  into  power,  no  grant  had  exceeded  the  alternate  sections  within  six 
miles  on  each  side  of  the  line  located,  but  in  no  less  than  ten  instances,  additional 
grants  were  made  after  1861  increasing  the  amounts  granted  to  ten  miles  on  each 
side  of  the  road. 

Following  the  precedent  set  by  the  grant  to  the  Union  Pacific,  gratuities  fol- 
lowed thick  and  fast  to  other  corporations,  the  Northern  Pacific  receiving  47,000,- 
000  acres  at  one  allotment. 

The  following  stat^nent  will  show,  at.a  glance,  the  aggregate  amounts  of  public 
lands  granted  to  corporations  by  Republican  congresses  or  to  the  States  for  the 
benefit  of  railroads,  within  fourteen  years  after  Lincoln's  inauguration  on  March 
4th,  1861 : 

Total  grants  to  railroad  companies 163,643,944.83  acres. 

Grants  to  States  for  railroad  purposes 19,240,883.80     " 

Grants  to  States  for  wagon  roads 2,530,379.84     " 

Total  in  14  years. 185,415,208.47     " 

From  March  4,  1789,  to  March  4,  1861,  being  72 
years,  grants  to  States  for  railroad  and  wagon 
roads  aggregate 29,824,033.37     " 

Excess 155,591,155.10     " 

A  Democratic  House  of  Representatives  appeared  on  the  scene  March  4, 1875, 
and  no  railroad  grants  of  any  kind  have  since  been  made. 

LAND  GRANT  FORFEITURES. 

It  was  left  for  the  Democratic  party  to  reclaim  as  much  as  possible  of  the  lands 
so  recklessly  given  away  to  greedy  corporations  which  were  never  satisfied  but 
always  clamorous  for  more. 

In  the  first  annual  report  of  the  General  Land  Office,  after  President  Cleveland's 
inauguration,  for  the  year  ending  June  30, 1885,  the  Commissioner  of  the  General 
Land  Office  called  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  grants  to  twenty- nine  roads 
mentioned  in  his  report,  and  to  the  fact  that  these  roads  had  failed  to  comply  with 
the  conditions  of  their  grants  by  failing  to  complete  their  lines  within  the  time  re- 
quired. Many  bills  had  already  passed  the  Democratic  House,  declaring  some  of 
these  grants  forfeited  for  this  reason,  but  they  had  almost  all  failed  in  the  Republi- 
can Senate. 

But  by  persistent  effort,  the  Democrats  have  succeeded  in  at  last  beginning  the 
work  of  declaring  forfeited  all  grants,  the  conditions  of  which  have  not  been  com- 
plied with.  Their  efforts  have  been  so  far  successful  that  there  have  been  declared 
forfeited  by  Acts  of  Congress,  during  Cleveland's  administration,  railroad  grants 
which  restore  to  the  public  domain,  in  the  aggregate,  28,253  347  acres,  and  in  the 
flame  time  the  General  Land  Office  and  the  Interior  Department,  by  executive  ac- 
tion, have  restored  2,108,417.38  acres  within  grantel  limits,  and  21,823.600  acres 
within  indemnity  limits,  making  a  total  actually  restored  to  the  public  domain  of  rail- 
road lands,  ALONE,  <?/ 51, 685,364.33  acres. 


THE  PUD^  IC   LAND  POLICY.  213 


REPUBLICAN  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  THE   WASTE. 

On  June  20,  1888,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  E.  B.  Taylor,  of  Ohio,  a 
Republican  Representative,  sought  to  claim  some  credit  to  his  own  party  for  the 
restoration  of  railroad  lands  to  settlement,  and  to  break  the  force  of  the  Democratic 
claim.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  which  ensued,  Representative  Holman,  of 
Indiana,  placed  on  record  an  important  historical  event,  as  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  the  Congressional  Record,  vol.  19,  pp.  5912,  5913.  The  resolution 
referred  to  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Holman  himself,  on  January  18, 1869. 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  ask  the  Clerk  to  read  a  resolution  which  was  submit- 
ted to  this  House  on  the  18th  day  of  January,  1859,  the  vote  upon  which  discloses,  I  think, 
the  attitude  of  the  two  parties  in  regard  to  the  repeal  of  the  land  grants  better  than  any 
other  proposition  which  has  been  referred  to. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  grants  of  the  public  lands  to  corporations  ought  to  be  discontinued ;  and 
the  whole  of  such  lands  ought  to  be  held  as  a  sacred  trust  to  secure  homesteads  to  actual 
settlers,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever. 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  those  few  words  this  whole  question  is  as  well 
presented  as  it  could  be.  There  can  be  no  misunderstanding  of  that  declaration,  which  is 
that  land  grants  ought  to  cease,  and  that  the  public  lands  ought  to  be  reserved  for  the  ben- 
efit of  actual  settlers  only.  Gentlemen  will  be  surprised  to  see  how  the  vote  stands  on  that 
resolution. 

A  MKMBER.    What  year  was  that  ? 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  In  1869— five  years  before  the  Democrats  obtained  control  of  this 
House.  Within  a  very  short  time  after  this  resolution,  as  gentlemen  will  find  by  looking 
at  the  records— I  called  the  attention  of  one  of  my  colleagues  to  this  matter  not  long  since 
—this  side  of  the  House  brought  forward  a  proposition  to  grant  land  to  soldiers  of  the  late 
war  without  requiring  settlement  on  the  same— the  principle  on  which  the  soldiers  in  all 
former  wars  had  obtained  grants  of  land.  I  hope  gentlemen  who  are  claiming  that  they 
have  favored  the  policy  of  securing  tnese  lands  to  the  people  will  examine  the  vote  on  this 
bill,  which  passed,  to  be  sure,  in  a  Republican  House,  but  was  promptly  rejected  in  the 
Senate. 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND.  What  was  the  vote  on  the  resolution  to  which  the  gentleman  has 
referred  ? 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  Upon  the  submission  of  that  resolution  declaring  that  "grants  of  the 
public  lands  ought  to  be  discontinued,  and  the  whole  of  such  lands  ought  to  be  held  as  a 
sacred  trust  to  secure  homesteads  to  actual  settlers,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever," 
Mr.  H.  D.Washburn, a  Republican  member  from  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  a  very  excellent 
nan,  moved  to  lay  the  reso  ution  on  the  table.  Of  the  Republican  votes  in  favor  of  that 
notion  I  will  simply  call  attention  to  the  following:  William  B.  Allison,  Nathaniel  P. 
3anks,  John  A.  Bingham,  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Columbus  Delano,  James  A.  Garfield,  Samuel 
iooper,  William  D.  Kelley,  Charles  O'Neill,  Luke  P.  Poland,  Robert  C.  Schenck.  I  men- 
ion  these  as  distinguished  Representatives  of  the  Republican  party.  The  Democratic  vote 
n  those  days  was  not  very  strong,  and  gentlemen  will  remember  that  the  effects  of  this 
)olicy  had  not  then  been  fully  felt  by  the  country,  and  until  they  had  been  felt  it  could 
carcely  be  expected  that  this  House  would  very  decidedly  change  its  attitude  on  this 
luestion. 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND.    What  was  the  vote  for  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  HOLMAN.    One  hundred  and  ten  to  fifty-five. 

Mr.  WEAVER.    How  many  Democrats  ? 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  I  only  recognized  three,  hastily  running  over  the  list.  There  may  be 
thers. 

The  proposition  I  wished  to  call  attention  to  is  that  this  was  in  the  midst  of  the  land- 
rant  policy.    After  this  the  Texas  Pacific  was  passed,  granting  14,500,000  acres. 

The  Democratic  party  came  in,  and  there  were  no  more  grants  of  land  for  any  such 
urpose.  There  it  ceased.  Not  an  acre  has  been  granted  from  that  day  to  this.  That  act 
iithorized  14,500,000  acres.    That  expired  in  1882. 


I 


214  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

That  was  the  point  I  wished  to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to,  that  as  soon  as  th 
Democrats  came  into  power  they  instantly  introduced  a  bill  declaring  the  forfeiture  c 
the  remaining  unearned  land  grants.  During  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  no  vote  wa 
obtained  except  in  reference  to  a  little  road  in  Michigan,  known  as  the  Brule  grant.  ] 
was  the  deliberate  purpose— I  do  not  say  that  of  gentlemen  on  the  floor— but  the  recor 
will  show  there  was  a  deliberate  purpose— this  House  shou  Id  not  have  the  opportunity  t 
vote  in  reference  to  forfeiture  of  these  land  grants.  And  it  was  not  until  the  next  Coe 
gress,  when  the  House  adopted  a  new  rule,  that  we  were  able  to  present  and  vote  on  prop 
osltiona  looking  to  the  forfeiture  of  these  unearned  land  grants. 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND.  Let  me  inquire  of  the  gentleman  from  Indiana  whether  any  la^ 
was  ever  paesed  in  a  Republican  House  looking  to  the  forfeiture  of  any  one  of  these  Ian 
grants? 

Mr.  HO  LM  AN.  No,  I  think  there  was  not.  I  voted  against  all  these  grants,  and  then 
fore  have  no  explanation  to  make. 

Mr.  ATKINSON.  Had  the  time  for  the  completion  of  these  roads  expired  before  th 
end  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  ? 

Mr.  TOWNSHEND.  The  grant  to  the  Northern  Pacific  expired  in  1879,  some  three  c 
four  years  before  the  end  of  that  Congress. 

RECOMMENDATIONS  OP  FORFEITURE. 

In  acldition  to  the  above  actual  restoration  of  railroad  lands,  the  Commij 
sioner,  in  his  first  annual  report  on  the  General  Land  Office  in  1885,  above  n 
ferred  to,  recommended  that  grants  to  all  roads  that  had  not  complied  with  th 
conditions  thereof  should  be  declared  forfeited  by  act  of  Cocgress. 

The  only  power  in  the  United  States  which  can  dispose  of  the  public  lands  i 
Congress.  Not  a  foot  can  be  conveyed  by  the  executive  branch  of  the  govern 
ment  until  there  is  express  authority  given  therefor  by  statute.  As  a  consequence 
after  land  is  once  granted  by  Congressional  action,  it  can.  only  be  restored  to  th 
public  domain  in  accordance  with  some  express  act  of  Congress.  In  other  words 
it  is  held  that  by  the  act  granting  certain  lands  for  railroad  purposes,  the  Unite* 
States  enters  into  a  contract  with  the  grantee  to  convey  the  land  upon  complianct 
bythegrantee,  with  the  conditions  annexed  to  the  grant.  It  follows,  under  th 
decisions  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  that  Congress,  being  the  part; 
grantor  to  the  contract,  is  the  only  power  that  can  elect  to  rescind  the  contrac 
upon  failure  of  the  other  party  to  comply  with  the  conditions. 

In  1883  the  time  for  completing  the  road  under  the  last  grant  expired,  am 
Democratic  Congresses  have  steadfastly  refused  to  extend  the  time.  Three  propo 
Bitions  are  pending  in  Congress: 

1.  To  declare  forfeited  to  the  United  States  all  granted  lands  opposite  thes 
parts  of  the  line  of  location  uncompleted  at  the  date  of  the  act. 

2.  To  declare  forfeited  all  granted  lands  opposite  these  parts  of  the  lines  un 
completed  at  the  date  of  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  for  their  completion  h 
the  granting  acts. 

3.  To  declare  forfeited  the  entire  grant  in  all  cases  where  the  line  was  not  com 
pleted  within  the  time  limited. 

By  these  respective  actions  there  would  be  restored  to  the  public  domain  tb 
following  areas  of  land : 

Acres. 

By  the  first 5,637,43i 

•*      second 54,323,99i 

"      third 78,503,081 


I 


THE    PUBLIC   IjAND  POLICY.  215 

The  first  proposition  is  the  measure  of  the  Republican  Senate  and  construes 
the  law  most  favorably  to  the  railroad  companies.  The  third  is  the  measure  en- 
dorsed by  Commissioner  Stockslager,  of  the  General  Land  Office.  It  construes 
the  law  most  favorably  to  settlers  on  the  public  lands. 

In  a  nutshell,  Republican  Senators  favor  the  railroad  companies  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. The  Democratic  officials  of  the  General  Land  Office  favor  the  people  as  far  as 
possible. 

Commissioner  Stockslager  has  suspended  action  in  his  office  on  railroad  lands 
revered  by  the  third  of  the  propositions  until  Congress  can  act  therein. 

INDEMNITY  LANDS. 

Almost  every  railroad  grant  contains  a  provision  giving  the  companies  the 
privilege  of  selecting  within  certain  fixed  limits  beyond  their  grants,  called  indem- 
oity  limits,  lands  in  lieu  of  such  lauds  covered  by  their  grants  as  were  appropri- 
ited  prior  thereto.  Very  few  of  the  granting  acts  provided  for  the  withdrawal  of 
indemnity  lands  from  settlement  aud  entry.  They  left  the  railroads  on  an  equal 
'ooting  with  the  settler.  But  obsequious  Republican  officials  issued  executive 
)rders  from  time  to  time  withdrawing  these  indemnity  lands  from  entry.  The  re 
mlt  was  that  the  agents  of  the  corporations,  with  greedy  eagerness,  took  every 
opportunity  of  seizing  upon  the  tracts  of  land  settled  on,  improved  and  made 
mluable  by  American  citizens  under  the  name  indemnity.  It  was  left  for  that 
riend  of  the  people,  GroVer  Cleveland,  to  secure  the  homes  of  thousands  from 
.he  greedy  clutches  of  the  railroads. 

THE  GUILFORD  MILLER  CASE. 

The  name  of  Guilford  Miller,  a  plain,  hard  working  settler  on  a  little  home- 
jtead  claim  in  Washington  Territory,  has  become  famous.  Space  will  not  allow  a 
letailed  statement  of  his  case.  All  that  needs  to  be  known  for  the  purpose  of 
jxhibiting  the  principle  involved  is  contained  in  the  following  letter  of  President 
:^leveland: 

ExBCUTivB  Mansion, 
Washington,  D.  C,  April  28, 1887. 

PO  THE  SbCBETARY  Or  THE  INTERIOR, 

Washinoton.  D.  C, 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  examined  with  much  care  and  Interest  the  questions  Involved  in  the 
ionflicting  claim  of  Guilford  Miller  and  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  to  certain 
ands  in  Washington  Territory.  The  legal  aspects  of  the  case  have  been  examined  and 
>assed  upon  by  several  oflBcers  of  the  Government,  who  do  not  agree  in  their  conclusions. 

Miller  claims  to  be  a  settler  upon  the  land  in  question,  whose  possession  dates  from 
878.  He  alleges  that  he  has  made  substantial  improvements  upon  this  land,  and  cultivated 
he  same,  and  it  appears  that  he  filed  his  claim  to  the  same,  under  the  homestead  law,  on  the 
9th  day  of  December,  1884. 

The  railroad  company  contends  that  this  land  is  within  the  territory  or  area  from 
yhich  it  was  entitled  to  select  such  a  quantity  of  public  land  as  might  be  necessary  to 
upply  any  deficiency  that  shall  be  found  to  exist  in  the  specified  land  mentioned  in  a  grant 
ty  the  Government  to  said  company  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  its  road,  such  deficiency 
•eing  contemplated  as  likely  to  arise  from  the  paramount  right  of  private  parties  and  set- 
lers  within  the  territory  embracing  said  granted  lands,  and  that  the  land  in  dispute  was 
bus  selected  by  the  company  on  the  19th  day  of  December,  1883. 

A  large  tract,  including  this  land,  was  withdrawn  by  an  order  of  the  Interior  Department 
rom  sale,  and  from  pre-emption  and  homestead  entry  in  1873,  in  anticipation  of  the  con- 
truction  of  said  railroad  and  a  deficiency  in  its  granted  lands.    In  1880,  upon  the  filing  of 


216  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

a  map  of  definite  location,  the  land  in  controversy— and  much  more,  which  has  been  so  with- 
drawn—was  found  to  lie  outside  of  the  limits  which  included  the  frranted  land;  but  its  with- 
drawal and  reservation  from  settlement  and  entry  under  our  laws  was  continued  upon  the 
theory  that  it  was  within  the  limits  of  indemnity  lands  which  might  be  selected  by  the  com- 
pany as  provided  in  the  law  making  the  grant. 

The  legal  points  in  the  controversy  turned  upon  the  validity  and  effect  of  the  with- 
drawal and  reservation  of  this  land  and  the  continuance  thereof.  The  Attorney-General  is 
of  the  opinion  that  such  withdrawal  and  reservation  were  at  all  times  effectual,  and  that 
they  operated  to  prevent  Miller  from  acquiring  any  interest  in  or  right  to  the  land  claimed 
by  him. 

With  this  interpretation  of  the  law,  and  the  former  order  and  action  of  the  Interior 
Department,  it  will  be  seen  that  their  effeot  has  been  the  withdrawal  and  reservation  since 
1872  of  thousands,  if  not  milllions,  of  acres  of  these  lands  from  the  operation  of  the  land 
laws  of  the  United  States,  thus  placing  them  beyond  the  reach  of  our  citizens  desiring  under 
such  laws  to  settle  and  make  homes  upon  the  same,  and  that  this  has  been  done  for  the 
benefit  of  a  railroad  company  having  no  fixed,  certain,  definite  interests  in  such  lands. 

In  this  manner  the  beneficent  policy  and  intention  of  the  Government,  in  relation  to  the 
public  domain,  have  for  all  these  years  to  that  extent  been  thwarted.  There  seems  to  be  no 
evidence  presented  showing  how  much,if  any,of  this  vast  tract  is  necessary  for  the  fulfillment 
of  the  grant  to  the  railroad  company;  nor  does  there  appear  to  be  any  limitation  of  the  time 
within  which  this  fact  should  be  made  known  and  the  corporation  obliged  to  make  its  selec- 
tion. After  a  lapse  of  fifteen  years  this  large  body  of  the  public  domain  is  still  held  in  re- 
serve, to  the  exclusion  of  settlers,  for  the  convenience  of  a  corporation  beneficiary  of  the 
Government,  and  awaiting  its  selection,  though  it  is  entirely  certain  that  much  of  this 
reserved  land  can  never  be  honestly  claimed  by  said  corporation. 

Such  a  condition  of  the  public  land  should  no  longer  continue.  So  far  as  it  is  the  result 
of  executive  rules  and  methods  these  should  be  abandoned;  and  so  far  as  it  is  a  consequent 
of  improvident  laws,  these  should  bo  repealed  or  amended.  Our  public  domain  is  our 
national  wealth,  the  earnest  of  growth  and  the  heritage  of  our  people.  In  the  case  under 
consideration  I  assume  that  there  is  an  abundance  of  land  within  the  area  that  has  been 
reserved  for  indemnity,  in  which  no  citizen  or  settler  has  a  legal  or  equitable  interest,  for 
all  purposes  of  such  indemnification  to  this  railroad  ^company  if  its  grant  has  not  already 
been  satisfied.  I  understand,  too,  that  selections  made  by  such  corporation  are  not  com- 
plete and  effectual  until  the  same  have  been  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  or 
unless  they  are  made,  in  the  words  of  the  statute,  under  his  direction. 

You  have  thus  far  taken  no  action  in  this  matter,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  you  are  in  a 
condition  to  deal  with  the  subject  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  this  settler  from  hardship 
and  loss. 

I  transmit  herewith  the  papers  and  documents  relating  to  the  case,  which  were  sub- 
mitted to  mo  at  my  request. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

THE  ACTION  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT. 

Following  the  suggestions  of  this  letter,  Secretary  Lamar  on  May  23,  1887» 
called  upon  the  railroads  concerned  to  show  cause  why  the  lands  covered  by 
indemnity  withdrawals,  for  their  benefit,  should  not  be  thrown  open  to  entry^ 
Attempts  were  made  by  them  to  "  show  cause,"  but  the  Secretary  held  their  show- 
ings insufficient,  and  on  August  13,  1887,  in  the  case  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
road,  the  Secretary  rendered  a  lengthy  opinion,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  Act  of 
July  27, 1866,  making  the  grant  to  this  road,  and  used  the  following  language : 

Waiving  all  question  as  to  whether  or  not  said  granting  act  took  from  the  Secretary 
all  authority  to  withdraw  said  Indemnity  limits  from  settlement,  it  is  manifest  that  the 
said  act  gave  no  special  authority  or  direction  to  the  executive  to  withdraw  said  lands; 
and  when  such  withdrawal  was  made  it  was  done  by  virtue  of  the  general  authority  over 
such  matters  possessed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  dis- 
cretion ;  so  that  were  the  withdrawal  to  be  revoked,  no  law  would  be  violated— no  contract 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICT.  217 

broken.  The  company  would  be  placed  exactly  in  the  position  which  the  law  ^ave  it,  and 
deprived  of  no  rights  acquired  thereunder.  It  would  yet  have  its  right  to  select  indemnity 
for  lost  lands,  but  in  so  doing  it  would  have  no  advantage  over  the  settler,  as  it  now  has  ia 
contravention  of  the  policy  of  the  government  in  denial  of  the  rights  unquestionably 
conferred  upon  settlers  by  the  land  laws  of  the  country,  apparently  specially  protected 
by  the  provisions  of  the  granting  act  under  consideration. 

This  Department,  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  land  laws,  acted  with  the 
utmost,  if  not  questionable,  liberality  when  it  withdrew  the  land  in  the  indemnity  belt— a 
liberalify  which  Congress  declined  to  exhibit.  This  liberality  was  further  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  indemnity  lands  were  withdrawn  long  before  a  mile  of  railroad  was  built, 
and  continued  withdrawn  long  after  the  time  prescribed  by  law  for  Its  construction  had 
expired ;  and  more  than  liberality  is  shown  in  that,  during  the  period  of  said  withdrawals, 
the  company  is  allowed  to  present  and  have  approved  by  the  local  officers  its  list  of  selec- 
tions without  giving  public  notice  of  any  kind  ;  whilst  the  pre-emption  or  homestead  set- 
tler, though  his  residence  upon  and  cultivation  of  his  land  has  been  open  and  notorious 
for  years,  is  compelled  to  give  thirty  days'  notice,  by  advertisement  and  posting,  before  he 
is  allowed  to  show  by  proof  a  right  to  his  home,  so  that  any  one  interested  may  appear 
and  protest  on  the  day  named  against  said  proof,  or  contest  his  right.  And  the  Depart- 
ment is  not  now  to  be  charged  with  injustice  or  illiberality  because  it  dpes  not  propose  to 
keep  in  perpetual  reservation  a  territory  of  such  vast  extent,  as  was  withdrawn,  for  the 
benefit  of  this  road. 

Criticism  upon  the  alleged  shortcomings  of  the  government  with  respect  to  this  grant 
come  with  ill  grace  from  this  company.  The  people,  whom  the  government  represents, 
had  some  rights  under  the  grant  as  well  as  the  company.  That  act  was  not  passed  and  that 
contract  made  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  company.  Mutuality  in  benefit  was  expected  and 
intended,  and  mutual  obligations  were  entered  into ;  and  equity  and  good  conscience 
would  require  of  both  parties  a  faithful  observance  of  these  obligations. 

The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Company  proposed  to  build  a  railroad ,  from  Springfield, 
Missouri,  thence  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  State ;  thence  to  a  point  on  the  Canadian 
jiver ;  thence  to  the  town  of  Albuquerque,  in  New  Mexico ;  thence  to  the  head-waters  of 
the  Colorado  river ;  thence  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  government  was  asked  to  make  a 
grant  of  land  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  this  proposed  road.  This  was  done  in  a  most 
liberal  manner ;  but  it  was  provided  by  the  eighth  section  of  the  granting  act : 

That  each  and  every  grant,  right  and  privilege  herein  are  so  made  and  given  to  and 
accepted  by  said  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  upon  and  subject  to  the  followinpr 
conditions  namely:  That  the  said  company  shall  commence  the  work  on  said  road  withiu 
two  years  from  the  approval  of  this  act  by  the  President,  and  shall  complete  not  less  than 
fifty  miles  per 'year  after  the  second  year,  and  shall  construct,  equip,  furnish  and  com- 
plete the  main  line  of  the  whole  road  by  the  fourth  day  of  July,  Anno  Domini  1878. 

Did  the  company  comply  with  this  clear  and  specific  contract?  Did  it  commence  the 
construction  of  its  road  in  the  two  years  named  ?  Did  it  prosecute  the  work  as  requi  red  ? 
Did  it  complete  its  main  line  at  the  time  mentioned?  In  fact,  Las  it  yet  completed  the 
main  line? 

If  at  the  time  this  company  applied  for  its  grant,  it  had  stated  its  purpose  was  to  build 
the  proposed  road,  or  so  much  of  it  as  ic  might  desire,  from  time  to  time,  and  in  such  frag- 
ments, or  to  and  from  such  points  as  it  pleased  its  management,  and  that  the  government 
should  withdraw  from  entry  and  settlement  along  its  whole  line  all  the  land  in  both  granted 
and  indemnity  limits,  and  keep  such  lands  in  a  state  of  indeunite  withdrawal  to  wait  the 
pleasure  or  convenience  cf  the  company,  is  it  believed  for  a  moment  that  Congress  would 
have  listened  to  the  application  for  a  grant  ?  Yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  company  now  in- 
sists Congress  has  done ;  with  the  further  assertion  that,  though  the  company  may  violate 
every  specification  of  its  contract,  the  government  is  bound  in  equity  not  only  to  carry 
out  the  contract  on  its  side,  but  to  guarantee  to  it  a  monopoly  for  an  indefinite  period  of  a 
vast  part  of  the  public  domain  not  contemplated  by  the  grant.  I  do  not  so  understand 
either  the  law  or  the  equity  of  the  case. 

On  a  full  consideration  of  the  whole  subject  I  conclude  that  the  withdrawal  for  in- 
demnity purposes,  if  permissible  under  the  law,  was  solely  by  virtue  of  executive 
authority,  and  may  be  revoked  by  the  same  authority ;  that  such  revocation  would  not  be 
violation  of  either  law  or  equity,  and  that  said  lands  having  been  so  long  withheld  for 


218  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

the  benefit  of  the  company,  the  time  has  arrived  when  public  policy  and  justice  demand 
the  withdrawal  should  be  revoked  and  some  regard  had  for  the  rights  of  those  seeking  and 
needing  homes  ou  the  public  domain. 

I  therefore  direct  that  all  lands  under  withdrawals  heretofore  made  and  held  for 
Indemnity  purposes  under  the  grant  to  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  be 
restored  to  the  public  domain  and  opened  to  settlement  under  the  general  land  laws, 
except  such  lands  as  may  be  covered  by  approved  selections ;  provided  the  restoration 
shall  not  affect  rights  acquired  within  the  primary  or  granted  limits  of  any  other  con- 
gressional grant. 

As  a  result  of  this  bold  action  by  President  Cleveland  and  the  departmental 
orders  following,  21 ,323,600  acres  of  land  were  restored  to  the  public  domain  and 
more  will  follow.  This  one  act  alone  will  furnish  homesteads  of  160  acres  each 
for  133,272  settlers.* 

PRIVATE  LAND  CLAIMS 

The  cessions  of  the  various  bodies  of  lands  acquired  from  Spain,  France, 
Mexico  and  Russia  were  made  upon  treaty  stipulations  that  all  owners  of  any 
parts  of  the  ceded  territories  should  be  protected  in  their  ownership  of  the  lands 
held  by  them.  These  treaty  obligations  have  been  scrupulously  observed  by  the 
United  States,  but  private  grants  have  been  a  source  of  much  fraud  and  of  sore 
vexation  to  the  people,  especially  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 

Many  grants  which  were  formerly  only  claimed  to  cover  a  few  thousand  acres 
have  been  purchased  by  land  syndicates  which  bodily  lay  claim  to  millions  instead 
of  thousands,  and  hold  the  land  claimed  and  get  the  use  of  it  until  their  claim  is 
finally  disposed  of— usually  by  rejecting  the  greater  part  of  it.  Other  such  claims 
are  manufacturecf  out  of  whole  cloth,  some  vague  expression  by  some  old  Mexican 
of  a  desire  to  own  a  little  patch  of  ground  for  a  home  W'hich  was  never  followed 
by  any  action  by  the  Mexican  Government,  being  the  only  foundation.  Many 
millions  of  acres  of  land  are  thus  withheld  from  settlement  under  these  false  or 
fraudulent  claims. 

The  Democratic  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office  took  cognizance  of 
these  abuses  at  once,  and  the  result  has  been  the  rejection  of  one  claim — 
the  Gerracio  Nolan  grant  in  New  Mexico,  and  the  restoration  to  settlement  of 
570,000  acres,  an  area  nearly  as  large  as  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  Recom- 
mendations have  been  made  by  the  General  Land  Office  to  the  Department  and  to 
Congress,  asking  for  action  looking  to  the  recovery  of  635,255  acres,  improperly 
patented  under  private  land  claims,  the  resurvey  of  claims  which  would  restore  to 
the  public  domain  629,500  acres,  and  the  rejection  of  claims  covering  4,732,480.15 
acres. 

•       FRAUDULENT   SURVEYS. 

A  rich  field  for  fraudulent  work  was  found  in  the  official  surveys.  The  survey 
of  the  public  lands  is  made  under  contracts  entered  into  by  the  Surveyors-General 
of  the  various  States  and  Territories  with  deputy  surveyors,  the  persons  doing 
the  actual  work  being  paid  on  their  accounts  being  adjusted  in  the  General  Land 
Office. 

Prior  to  the  present  administration,  it  was  the  custom  to  pay  these  deputies  on 
their  own  reports  that  their  work  had  been  correctly  and  fully  done.  Great  laxity 
in  enforcing  these  contracts  was  practiced.    Parties  who  had  contracted  to  survey 

*Since  this  Chapter  was  prepared  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  decided  the  above 
case.    It  is  treated  in  full  in  Chapter  XVIII,  under  the  title  "  Guilford  Miller's  Farm." 


I 


THE   PUBLIC    LAND   POLICY.  219 

entire  townships  were  permitted  to  survey  the  easiest  parts  thereof,  were  paid  for 
the  same,  and  then  the  same  or  other  parties  were  employed  to  complete  the  surveys 
at  a  much  higher  rate.  Imperfect  woik  was  paid  for  and  the  men  Avho  had  failed  to 
perform  their  contracts  were,  in  many  instances,  actually  paid  for  retracing  the 
same  work  they  had  failed  to  do  properly  in  the  first  instance.  Many  surveys 
claimed  to  be  complete  were  paid  for  when,  in  fact,  very  few  lines  had  been  run  at 
all,  the  field  notes  and  plats  being  made  up  from  imagination. 

The  law  expressly  provides  that  the  actual  work  must  be  done  by  the  deputy,  but, 
in  flagrant  violation  thereof,  parties  were  allowed  to  contract  for  the  survey  of  many 
townships  at  a  time  and  to  sub  let  the  work  to  others.  Most  of  these  abuses  grew 
out  of  the  fact  that  no  examination  of  surveys  was  made  on  behalf  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Soon  after  Commissioner  Sparks  assumed  control  of  the  Land  Oflice  he 
recommended  that  provision  be  made  by  Congress  for  the  examination  of  surveys 
by  special  agents  of  the  Ofiice  before  they  were  paid  for,  and  appropriations  have 
been  made  therefor  since  then.    The  result  has  been  most  salutory. 

Many  fraudulent  surveys  were  detected  and  rejected,  and  contracts  entered  into 
under  the  present  administration  are  more  faithfully  executed  because  the  con- 
tractors know  that  their  work  will  be  carefully  inspected  in  the  interest  of  the 
Oovernment. 

Worse  than  the  foregoing,  however,  were  the  actual  frauds  committed  on  the 
Goverment  in  which,  in  many  instances,  the  Surveyors-General  or  their  deputies 
were  active  participants.  We  do  not  have  room  to  notice  all  the  instances  of  this 
id,  and  will  mention  the  following  as  a  sample : 


m 


THE  BENSON  FRAUD. 

The  "  special  deposit  system,"  originated  through  section  10  of  "  An  act  to  re- 
duce the  expenses  of  the  survey  and  sale  of  the  public  lands,"  which  was  approved 
May  20, 18G2.  Originally  enacted  to  allow  and  authorize  surveys,  without  cost  to 
Vie  United  States,  where  settlers  desired  surveys  in  advance  of  the  regular  appro- 
priations for  surveys,  the  act  of  July  1,  1864,  first  made  the  deposits  available  as 
appropriations  for  the  surveying  service,  which  last  act  amended  by  the  act  of 
March  3, 1871,  authorizing  the  acceptance  of  special  deposits  in  part  payment  for 
the  depositor's  land. 

Under  daie  of  April  6, 1881,  the  General  Land  Office  issued  a  circular  in  which 
all  previous  insti-uctions,  regulating  special  deposits  to  actual  settlers  only,  were 
revoked.  In  said  circular  the  words  of  the  original  act,  "  the  settlers,"  were 
emitted,  and  in  lieu  thereol  were  submitted  "  a?iy  party  who  desires  a  survey, ^^  or 
*  applicants."  Under  said  instructions  it  was  only  necessary  that  a  "  desire  "  for 
surveys  should  be  expressed  by  applicants,  and  required  deposits  were  made  to  ex- 
:end  surveying  operations  over  the  public  lands,  not  reserved  or  mineral. 

This  was  followed  by  the  organization,  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  of  a  "  syndi- 
cate," under  the  special  direction  and  superintendence  of  John  A.  Benson,  a  former 
iontracting  deputy  surveyor,  with  the  financial  assistance  of  certain  banks.  This 
'.yndicate  undertook  and  succeeded  in  controlling  all  special  deposit  contracts, 
jrincipally  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  with  extensions  into  New  Mexico,  Wyoming, 
Jtah,  &c.  The  banks  supplied  the  money  requisite  for  special  deposits,  the  respec- 
ive  agents  of  the  syndicate  perfected  the  award  of  contracts  at  the  oflices  of  the 
everal  surveyors-general,  and  the  contracting  deputies  executed  "  power  of  attor- 
ley  "  to  the  banks  for  any  and  all  moneys  payable  under  each  contract. 


I 


220  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

In  January,  1882,  the  General  Land  OflSce,  with  the  approval  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  issued  a  regular  form  of  "settler's  application  for  survey  under 
section  2401,  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States."  This  form  *' developed  " 
the  "  system"  with  wonderful  facility,  and  contributed,  in  a  marked  degree,  to  the 
success  of  those  who  had  conspired  to  defraud  the  Government. 

Every  employe  in  the  service  of  the  *' syndicate  "  who  could  write  his  name 
legibly  was  employed  to  *'  fill  up  "  the  blank  forms,  while  other  employes,  who  had 
been  duly  commissioned  and  provided  with  seals  as  *'  Notaries  Public  "  and  *'  U.  S. 
Commissioners,"  suppliied  the  requisite  jurats  and  seals  to  each  completed  applica- 
tion. Blank  forms  of  applications  were  also  scattered  broadcast  throughout  the 
localities  where  "skeleton  surveys"  were  contemplated,  and  any  and  all  possible 
settlers,  herders  or  temporary  occupants  on  the  lands  were  induced  to  sign  their 
names  to  t>'e  blank  forms. 

Blank  forms  of  contracts  for  public  surveys  throughout  the  surveying  district 
of  California  were  also  signed  in  blank  by  wholesale,  the  chainmen,  and  oiher 
field  assistants  connected  with  the  several  surveying  parties  furnishing  the 
requisite  "  dummy."  In  addition  to  forms  of  contract,  bond,  oath,  preliminary  and 
final  oaths  of  assistants  and  contracting  deputies  which  were  duly  signed  in  blank 
forms  of  "  powers  of  attorney  "  from  the  *'  dummy  "  contractor  to  specified  banks, 
were  also  signed,  sealed  and  delivered,  the  latter  paper  being  invaluable  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  the  payments  under  the  special  contract.  Bonds  to 
secure  contracts  having  first  been  signed  in  blank  by  the  "dummy"  as 
principal,  were  subsequently  filled  out  in  pencil,  sums  ranging  fiom  $5,000 
to  $50  000,  convenient  and  subservient  "  bondsmen  "  contributing  their  signatures 
to  the  bond  as  sureties  and  to  the  requisite  affidavits  as  to  assets. 

Sworn  testimony  before  the  Grand  July  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the 
"Northern  District  of  California,  developed  the  fact  that  several  surveying  parties, 
in  the  employ  of  the  San  Francisco  Syndicate,  were  engaged  in  the  ostensible 
work  of  executing  surveys  and  "  reconnoitering "  the  unsurveyed  'lands 
in  that  State.  These  "  reconnoisances "  were  for  a  two-fold  purpose; 
one  being  to  obtain  the  principal  topography  of  the  lands  and  to  "set 
corners"  here  and  there,  principally  along  the  banks  of  streams,  where  settlers 
might  possibly  locate;  which  information  could  be  embodied  in  the  "true  field 
notes,"  to  be  subsequently  prepared  at  the  "  general  office  "  in  San  Francisco  under 
future  contracts.  The  other  purpose  was  to  ascertain  the  character  of  the  lands, 
whether  or  not  they  were  valuable  as  agricultural  or  mineral,  and  whether  the 
same  was  desirable  for  ranch  or  mining  purposes,  the  title  thereto  to  be  thereafter 
acquired  in  the  "land"  interest  of  the  syndicate.  When  "corners"  could  be  set 
without  much  labor  they  were  accordingly  located,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  ex- 
isting surveying  regulations  or  the  manual  of  surveying  instructions. 

METHOD  OF  WORKING  FRAUDULENT   BURVEVg. 

In  lieu  of  a  surveyor's  chain,  the  lines  were  "  paced  ofi""  by  the  assistants,  and 
slender  twigs  of  wood  or  similar  material  used  to  indicate  the  "corners."  No  at- 
tempts were  made  to  establish  "  corners  "  on  rough  or  mountainous  lands,  or  where 
the  lands  were  covered  with  the  thick  growth  of  "chaparral."  No  examinations  in 
the  field  on  behalf  of  the  government  were  made  of  these  sui'veys,  so  that  the  eon- 
spirators  were  in  no  danger  of  immediate  discovery. 


I 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY.  221 

The  amouiitdepo8itedml879  was  $137,365.67;  in  1880,  $941,741.42 ;  in  1881, 
$1,749,547.54;  in  1882,  $2,184,175.44;  in  1883,  $437,949.72.  The  sudden  decline  in 
1883  was  owing  to  an  amendment  adopted  by  Congress  August  7, 1882,  to  existing 
laws  which  restricted  to  the  land  districts  embracing  the  township  surveyed,  the 
use  of  the  triplicate  certificate  of  deposit  in  payment  for  lands.  Pending  legislation 
on  the  matter  of  special  deposits,  the  records  of  the  General  Land  Office  show  that, 
from  July  1  to  August  7, 1882,  the  number  and  liabilities  of  special  deposit  contracts- 
for  public  surveys  far  exceeded  those  of  any  prior  period  of  equal  length. 

The  records  of  the  General  Land  Office  show  that  the  operations  of  the  syndi- 
cate were  not  confined  to  California,  but  extended  into  the  States  of  Nevada,  Ore- 
gon and  Colorado,  and  the  Territories  of  Arizona,  Idaho,  New  Mexico,  Montana,. 
Utah,  Washington  and  Wyoming.  In  the  States  and  Territories  of  Nevada,  Ore- 
gon, Idaho  and  Washington,  contiguous  to  the  base  of  operations  at  San  Francisco,, 
the  traveling  cftrps  of  surveyors  and  assistants  were  dispatched  to  do  such  work  in 
the  field  as  was  deemed  absolutely  indispensable,  as  explained  by  the  assistants  in 
their  affidavits.  In  the  distant  surveying  districts  of  Colorado,  Wyoming,  New 
Mexico,  etc.,  the  services  of  resident  and  •*  reliable"  parties  were  secured.  Edward 
F.  Stahble,  of  Wyoming,  for  example,  whose  original  special  deposit  contract  of 
$6,000  was  floated,  continued,  and  extended  to  $130,000.  In  New  Mexico  the  arid 
region  known  as  "  The  Staked  Plains,"  where  water  for  man  and  beast  has  to  be 
transported  from  a  great  distance,  was  all  apparently  surveyed  and  surveys  paid  for. 

When  the  present  administration  assumed  control  of  public  land  aflFairs  the 
matter  <3f  special  deposits  and  public  surveys  thereunder  was  promptly  investi- 
gated. 

With  the  view  of  securing  positive  mden.ce  as  to  the  existence  of  the  alleged 
Syndicate,  with  headquarters  in  San  Francisco,  California,  a  trusted  Special  Agent 
was  detailed  to  that  city  for  the  purpose  stated.  With  consummate  skill  was  the 
inquiry  made,  and  the  "  scent "  being  finally  secured  through  the  voluntary  admis- 
sion of  a  trusted  ally  of  the  Syndicate,  the  investigation  was  rigorously  prose- 
cuted. 

In  March,  1887,  the  grand  jury  convened  and  the  matters  relating  to  the  Benson 
conspiracy  which  had  been  prepared  by  the  Special  Agent  was  presented  for  their 
consideration.  The  grand  jury  entered  vigorously  upon  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  and  several  witnesses,  all  of  whom  are  on  record  as  United  States  Deputy 
Surveyors,  were  duly  examined.  In  April,  1887,  the  grand  jury  found  33  indict- 
ments for  perjury  and  8  for  conspiracy  against  John  A.  Benson,  George  H.  Perrin 
and  James  R.  Glover,  with  their  assistants,  associates,  etc.  These  suits  are  now 
pending  in  the  Federal  courts  in  California. 

During  the  past  three  years  the  operations  of  the  California  Surveying  Syndi- 
cate for  controlling  the  public  land  surveys  have  not  only  been  exposed,  but  com- 
Dletely  broken  up.  Thousands  of  dollars,  which  were  originally  deposited  through- 
)ut  the  land  States  and  Territories  in  connection  with  the  Syndicate  system  of  con- 
tracts, yet  remain  in  the  vaults  of  the  Treasury  to  the  credit  of  the  "  Special  De- 
)osit  fund,"  but  utterly  valueless  to  the  banking  parties  of  the  late  Syndicate. 

The  "  Powning  "  frauds  in  Nevada  are  now  awaiting  action  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
The  result  of  the  action  of  the  administration  in  so  promptly  unearthing  these 
rauds  has  been  to  give  the  public  honest  surveys  by  which  settlers  may  be  pro- 
ected  in  their  improvements. 


I 


223  THE  PUBLIC   LAND   POLICY 


OTHER  RESTORATIONS. 


Since  March  4, 1885,  up  to  May  12, 1888,  a  period  of  a  little  over  three  years,  by 
the  cancellation  of  illegal,  fraudulent  and  forfeited  entries,  there  had  been  restored 
to  the  public  domain  23,869,439.74  acres,  while  unlawful  enclosures  (to  be  hereafter 
mentioned)  were  removed  from  3,591,179  acres,  by  the  action  of  the  General  Land 
Office,  making  a  total  of  27,460,608.74  acres  restored  by  the  action  of  the  Land 
Office  in  the  regular  course  of  business. 

During  the  same  period  invalid  State  selections  were  cancelled,  including  inter- 
nal improvement,  swamp  land,  school  selections,  &c.,  restoring  to  the  public  domain 
968,747.53  acres. 

The  total  actual  restorations  of  land  to  the  public  domain  since  March  4, 1885,  reached 
the  enormous  aggregate  of  80,690,720  59  acres. 

In  addition  to  this  there  have  been  recommended  for  restoration  hf  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  and  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  by  acts  forfeiting 
unearned  railroad  grants,  rejections  of  private  land  claims,  &c.,  65,020,538.33  acres, 
or  a  grand  total  of  145,711.358.92  acres,  actually  restored  and  in  process  of  restora- 
tion. , 


THE   PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 


22S 


LANDS  RESTORED   TO  PUBLIC  DOMAIN. 


Statement  showing  the  quantity  of  land  actually  restored  to  the  public  domain, 
and  of  land  recommended  for  recovery  by  the  action  of  the  General  Land  OflSce^ 
and  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  from  March  4, 1885,  to  May  12, 1888 : 


Lands  Actually  Restored  to  the  Public  Domain. 


Lands  in  granted  railroad  limits  restored 

Forfeitures  of  railroad  grants  under  acts  of  Congress. 

Railroad  indemnity  lands  restored 

Private  land  claims — withdrawn  lands  restored 

Entries  under  pre-emption,  homestead,  timber  cul- 
ture, desert,  mineral  and  timber  land  laws  canceled 
in  regutar  course  of  examination  and  proceedings 
in  General  Land  Office  for  abandonment,  illegality 
and  other  causes T 

Invalid  State  selections  (interaal  improvements  and 
swamp) 


Total  actually  restored  to  the  public  domain  and 
opened  to  entry  and  settlement 


Recovery  of  Lands  Recommended. 
Land  WitMn  Railroad  Grants  Recommended  for 


Recovery  of  land  recommended  and  pending  for  re 

view  of  Secretary 

Recovery  of  land  recommended  and  pending  on  ap 

peal  before  the  Secretary ; 

Suits  recommended  for  the  recovery  of  land 

Railroad  forfeitures  under  bills  now  before  Congress, 

Private  land  claims :    Recommendations  to  Congress 

to  reject  claims  heretofore 

favorably  reported 

Resurveys"^  ordered    reducing 

areas  of  claims 

Suits  recommended  to  vacate 
patents 


Lands  forfeited  in  Oregon  and  recommended  for  recov- 
ery under  grant  for  military  wagon  roads 


Grand   total  actually  restored  to  the  public  domain 
and  recommended  for  recovery 


Acreage. 


Total  Averagr 

RrSTORED. 


Acres. 

2,108,417.33 

28,253,347.00 

21,323,600.00 

576,000.00 


27,460,608.74 
698,747.53 


12,500.00 

1,500,000.00 

818,687.18 

*54.323,996.00 


4,732,480.15 
629,500.00 
635,255.00 


Acres. 


80,690,720.59 


62,652,218.33 
2,368,320.00 


145,711,258.92 


SWAMP  LAND  INDEMNITY  CLAIMS. 

As  it  early  appeared,  after  the  passage  of  the  swamp  land  grant  act,  that  the  United 
States  was  parting  with  the  title  to  a  great  deal  of  land  which  would  be  embraced 
in  said  act,  and  that  no  title  could  inure  to  the  States  for  such  lands  as  had  been 
previously  appropriated,  Congress  by  various  acts  up  to  and  including  March  5, 

♦Under  the  bill  which  recently  passed  the  Senate  the  quantity  of  land  forfeited  will 
equal  5,637,436  acres,  but  the  aggregate  quantity  forfeited  under  the  bills  of  the  two 
Houses,  if  adopted,  will  equal  64,333,996  acres,  as  above. 


I 


224  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

1857,  provided  indemnity  for  the  States  in  the  shape  of  cash  or  scrip,  upon  the  filing 
by  the  agents  of  the  State  of  lists  of  lands  claimed  to  be  swamp  which  had  been 
conveyed  by  the  United  States  between  September  28, 1850,  and  March  3, 1857.  In 
some  cases  it  appears  from  the  records  that  the  agent  makes  out  from  the  tract 
books  of  the  General  Land  Office,  a  list  of  all  the  lands  sold  by  the  United  States 
without  regard  to  whether  they  were  swamp  or  dry  lands,  and  then  procures  the 
affidavits  of  two  witnesses  stating  that  all  such  lands  were  swamp  and  overflowed. 
Such  lists  are  filed  by  the  agent  in  the  General  Land  Office,  and  indemnity  is 
asked  for  the  various  tracts  contained  therein. 

Upon  receipt  of  these  lists  the  Swamp  Xand  Division  proceeds  to  make  an 
examination  of  each  tract,  eliminating  therefrom  (in  those  States  where  there  are  no 
lands  upon  which  to  locate  indemnity  certificates)  all  lands  that  were  sold  and  paid 
for  with  warrants,  as  well  as  those  tracts  which  were  erroneously  inserted  in  the 
agent's  list,  and  which  were  sold  either  before  September  28, 1850,  or  after  March 
3,  1857. 

After  the  new  commissioner  had  been  in  office  a  short  time,  and  after  his  atten- 
tion had  been  called  to  indemnity  allowances,  he,  believing  that  the  claims  as  pre. 
sented  were  mostly  fraudulent  in  character,  determined  to  submit  all  claims  for 
indemnity  which  were  pending,  to  a  re-examinatioii  to  be  made  by  agents  appointed 
under  this  administration.  From  this  decision  an  appeal  was  taken  by  State  Agent 
Isaac  R.  Hitt  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  in  the  case  of  Hardin  county, 
Iowa,  Secretary  Lamar  held  that  the  commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  had 
the  right  to  order  a  re-examination  to  be  made  if  the  proof  on  hand  was  not  satis- 
factory to  him. 

As  a  result  of  this  action  of  the  commissioner,  we  may  take  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois simply  as  an  illustration.  The  swamp  lands  in  that  State  as  in  some  others 
were  granted  by  the  State  to  the  several  counties  in  which  they  lie.  The  counties 
employ  agents  to  list  the  lands  and  procure  title  to  them  or  indemnity  for  such  as 
are  sold— which  is  the  case  with  about  all  the  land  in  Illinois.  The  following  state- 
ment shows  the  number  of  acres  for  which  indemnity  was  claimed  by  counties 
under  the  former  administration,  beginning  with  1883,  and  the  amount  reported  as 
8wamp  by  the  Government  agents,  and  the  same  facts  within  the  three  years  of  this 
administration ; 


Administration. 


Republican . 
Democratic. 


NO.  ACRES. 
CLAIMED. 


NO  ACRES 

REPORTED 

SWAMP. 


PER  CENT. 
ALLOWED. 


806,310  845,119  42.6 

1,109,200,  96,447|  8.1 


This  is  presented  as  an  illustration  of  the  reckless,  almost  criminal  negligence 
in  protecting  the  interests  of  the  government  in  former  times  and  of  the  great 
improvements  under  Democratic  control. 

Thus  during  the  time  that  the  Republican  party  was  in  power,  from  1861  to 
1875,  when  a  Democratic  Congress  stopped  the  process,  more  than  185,000,000  acres 
of  lands  were  granted  directly  to  railroad  corporations,  being  almost  as  much  land 
as  is  to  be  found  in  the  thirteen  original  States  of  the  Union. 

The  magnitude  of  these  figures  can  only  be  thoroughly  appreciated  when  com- 
parison is  made  with  the  areas  of  States  and  Territories,  to  be  found  elsewhere,  and 


I 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 


225 


with  the  acreage  of  the  principal  countries  of  the  world,  a  few  of  which  are  given 
here,  together  with  their  population,  by  the  latest  census  returns  : 

ABEA  AND  POPULATION  OF  LEADING  COUNTRIES. 

Area  In  Acres.  Population. 

Austria-Hungary 143,889,840  35,^04,435 

France 129,616,000  36,905,788 

Germany 135.738,246  43.727,360 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland 77,587,200  31,638,338 

Italy 73,112,280  26,801,154 

Japan 100,236,560  33,633,319 

Spain 116,966,120  16,333.814 

Switzerland 9,749,120  2,759,854 

Instead,  therefore,  of  saving  this  vast  area  of  land  for  actual  settlers  upon  which 
millions  of  people  yet  unborn  might  have  made  happy  homes,  it  was  granted  in  the 
most  reckless  way  to  corporations  to  fall  naturally  in  larQ:e  tracts  into  the  posses- 
sion of  a  small  number  of  owners.  It  remained  for  branches  of  Congress,  Demo- 
cratic in  their  majority,  to  declare  forfeited  more  than  eighty  million  acres  of  these 
grants — enough  under  the  policy  of  the  present  administration,  to  give  farms  of  160 
acres  each  to  504,317  families,  or  more  than  two  millions  of  people. 

AREAS   OP   53TATE8   AND   TERRITORIES. 

The  following  statement  showing  the  areas  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  in 
square  miles  and  acres  has  been  prepared  for  the  purposes  of  comparison : 


Names. 

Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut    

Dakota 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

[daho 

[llinois 

[ndiana 

.ndian  Territory.... 

"owa 

iansas 

Kentucky 

.iouisiana 

laine 

Maryland 

lassachusetts 

lichigan 

Ilnnesota 

lississippi 


Sq.  Miles. 


Acres. 


Names. 


Sq.  Miles. 


Acres. 


51,540 

112  920 

53,045 

155,980 

103,645 

4,845 

147,700 

1,960 

60 

54,240 

58,9S0 

84,290 

56,000 

85,910 

64,090 

55,475 

81,700 

40,000 

45,420 

29,895 

9.860 

8,040 

57,430 

79,205 

46,340 


32,985,600 
72.268,800 
33,948.800 
99,827,200 
66,332,800 

3,100  ^00 
94,528,000 

1,254  400 
38,400 
34.713,600 
37,747,?0f) 
54,745,600 
35,840,000 
23.982.400 
41,017.6(30 
35,501,000 
52,288.000 
25.600,000 
29,668.  POO 
19,132.800 

5,310,400 

5,145.600 
36,755,200 
50,691,300 
29,657,600 


Missouri 

Montana 

!  Nebraska 

i  Nevada 

;New  Hampshire.... 

iNew  Jersev 

jNew  Mexico 

New  York 

[North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

I  Pennsylvania 

j  Rhode  Island 

I  South  Carolina 

i  Tennessee 

'  Texas 

lUtah 

j  Vermont 

Virginia 

iWashington  Terr'y. 

ii West  Virginia 

!  Wisconsin 

j,  Wyoming 

Unorganized 


68,735 

145,310 

76,185 

109,740 

9,005 

7,455 

123,460 

47,620 

48,580 

40,760 

94,560 

44,980 

1,085 

30.170 

41,750 

362,290 

82,1B0 

9,135 

40.135 

66,880 

24,645 

54,450 

97,575 

5,740 


43,9P0,400 

92,S9S,400 
48,758,400 
70,233,600 

5,763,200 

4,771,200 
78,374,400 
30,476,400 
31.091.200 
26,086,400 
60,518,400 
28,6PO,400 
694.400 
19,808.800 
26,720,000 
167.865,600 
52,582,400 

5,876,400 
25,680,000 
42,903,200 
15,773.800 
34,848,000 
62,448,000 

3,673,600 


R  UNLAWFUL  ENCLOSURES. 

I^n  evil  of  great  magnitude  which  confronted  the  public  land  oflQcials  on  their 
ing  into  power  was  found  in  the  unlawful  enclosure  with  fences  of  vast  bodies 
f  the  public  domain  by  great  organized  syndicates  of  cattle  men  who  defied  the 
iw  and  forcibly  repelled  home-seekers  from  settling  on  lands  within  the  enclosures 
r  adjacent  thereto.    Commissioner  Sparks,  ably  backed  by  Secretary  Lamar,  set  to 


226  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY. 

work,  at  once,  to  remedy  this  evil,  if  possible.  The  result  of  their  action  is  shown 
by  the  following  extract  from  the  annual  report  of  the  land  office  of  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1887. 

"  Up  to  the  present  time  46,5  inclosures  aggregating  nearly  7,000,000  acres  have 
been  brought  to  the  attention  of  this  office. 

"Proceedings  have  been  instituted  to  compel  removal  in  133  cases,  aggregating 
3,275  443  acres,  and  165  cases  aggregating  8,394,766  acres.  The  special  agents  report 
that  the  lences  were  removed  or  were  being  removed  when  last  examined. 

"  The  practice  of  controlling  the  public  land  by  fencing  has  been  very  largely 
broken  up,  and  the  larger  inclosures  have  either  been  removed  or  suits  to  compel 
removal  are  now  pending  in  the  courts.  " 

Since  June  30, 1887,  the  work  has  been  going  on  so  that  up  to  date,  fully 
5,000,000  acres  have  been  restored  to  settlement  by  the  removal  of  these  inclosures, 
although  the  lands  covered  thereby  cannot  be,  technically,  said  to  have  been 
restored  to  the  public  domain,  inasmuch  as  the  appropriation  being  illegal,  they 
cannot  be  said  to  have  been  withdrawn  irom  entry.  Practically,  however,  would-be 
settlers  were  much  more  effectually  ei;cluded  from  these  lands  than  they  would  have 
been  by  prior  settlers. 

TIMBER  DEPREDATIONS. 

In  addition  to  the  unlawful  inclosures,  the  Special  Agents  of  the  General  Land 
Office  have  done  good  work  in  preventing  depredations  (m  the  timber  lands  of  the 
government,  and,  where  depredations  have  actually  been  committed,  in  bringing 
prompt  action  in  the  courts  to  recover  damages  therefor,  as  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing statement  obtained  from  the  General  Land  Office : 

STATEMENT  SHOWING  ACTUAL  RESULTS  ACCOMPLISHED  BY  THE  SPECIAL  SERVICE  DIVISION 
OF  THE  GENERAL  LAND  OFFICE  FROM  MARCH  4,  1885,  TO  APRIL  30,  1888. 

Legal  proceedings  recommended  for  timber  trespass : 

Civil.  Am't  Involved.  Criminal. 

M'ch  4, 1885,  to  June  30, 1885 41  $     215,147.83                           61 

July   1, 18S5,  to  June;J0,l>86 275  5,774,272.84                          679 

July  1,1886,  to  June  SO,  1887... 323  3,083.236.73                         493 

July  1, 1887,  to  Api  11  m,  1888 373  :),011,206.73                          579 


Total 910                        $11,083,864.11  1,812 

Amount  recovered  on  account  of  timber  trespass : 

March  4,  1885,  to  June  30,  1885,  estimated f  30,000.00 

July     1, 1885,  to  June  30, 1886,  from  official  records 101,088.44 

July     1, 1886,  to  Juno  30, 1887,  from  official  records 138,642.09 

July     1,  1887,  to  April  30, 1888,  from  official  records. 49,946.83 

July     1, 1887,  to  April  30, 1888,  estimated  amount  recovered  not  yet  re- 
ported   90,000.00 


Total  amount  recovered $390,675.36 


Civil  suits  pending  June  30, 1887 333-involvlng  $6,907,820.55 

Criminal  suits  pending  June  30, 1887 436 

These  figures  are  talren  from  the  United  States  Attorneys'  reports  to  the  Land  Office. 
A  statement  of  suits  pending  to  a  later  date  (except  almost  entirely  by  estimate)  can  be 
made,  as  but  few  of  the  United  States  Attorneys'  reports  have  been  received  for  any 
portion  of  this  fiscal  year. 


I 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY.  227 


LAND  OFFICE    POLICY. 

Mr.  Stockslager,  now  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  in  a  speech  in 
the  House  March  2, 18S5,  reviewed  the  policy  of  the  two  parties  on  the  question  of 
the  public  lands  in  an  exhaustive  speech,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
taken : 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  our  country  that  this  question 
has  loomed  up  until  it  is  considered  one  of  transcendent  importance.  As  far  back  as  1849 
it  was  a  prominent  question  in  American  politics.  In  that  year,  on  the  24:th  day  of 
December,  the  first  homestead  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House  by  Hon.  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  and  a  similar  bill  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  on  the  7th  day  of  January,  1850,  by 
Andrew  Johnson.  The  agitation  of  the  subject  continued,  and  such  measures  were 
supported  by  such  able  and  distinguished  legislators  as  Douglas,  Pendleton,  Holman 
and  Cox. 

'*  When  the  Republican  party  met  in  national  convention  at  Chicago  in  1860  and 
put  forth  iis  platform,  conspicuous  among  its  principles  therein  enunciated  was  the 
following : 

" '  That  we  protest  against  any  sale  or  alienation  to  others  of  the  public  lands  held 
by  actual  settlers,  and  against  any  view  of  the  homestead  policy  which  regards  the 
settlers  as  paupers  or  supplicants  for  public  bounty ;  and  we  demand  the  passage  by 
Congress  of  the  complete  and  satisfactory  homestead  measure  which  has  already  passed 
the  House.' 

"  Thus  recognizing  the  bill  passed  by  the  Democrats  in  the  House  as  the  correct 
principle  upon  the  subject  of  public  lands. 

"It  is  a  part  of  the  political  history  of  the  country  that  the  Republican  party  was 
successful  in  that  campaign,  electing  its  President  and  securing  control  of  Congress. 
It  carried  out  its  pledge  :o  the  people  by  the  enactment  of  a  homestead  law.  This  was 
a  beneficent  law,  and  I  am  frank  to  confess  that  if  it  had  been  carried  out  in  good  faith 
and  the  principles  contained  in  it  applied  for  all  time  to  our  public  domain,  it  would 
have  been  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  far-reaching  measures  ever  enacted  by  a  .legis- 
lative assembly  on  earth. 

*•**♦«••****»* 

"But  the  representatives  of  the  people,  in  violation  of  their  pledges  to  the  people 
and  in  betrayal  of  a  high  trust,  began  a  reckless  and  wholesale  system  of  giving  away  the 
public  lands  that  before  had  never  been  dreamed  of.  The  American  people  were  amazed 
when  they  learned  that  on  the  1st  day  of  July,  1863,  ju  it  forty  one  days  after  the  home- 
stead law  was  approved,  the  same  Congress  granted  to  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific 
Railroads  a  magnificent  belt  of  land  forty  miles  wide,  extending  from  the  Missouri 
River  to  near  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco. 

"Thus  the  homestead  law  was  violated, disregarded,  and  set  aside,  and  a  most  gigantic 
system  of  reckless  squandering  of  the  lands  inaugurated.  This  was  an  entire  change  in 
ourlandsystem,  both  in  the  manner  of  disposing  of  the  public  lands  and  of  the  amounts 
to  be  given.  Before  that  date  not  a  single  acre  of  the  public  domain  was  ever  granted  to 
arailroador  other  corporation.  Donations  of  the  public  lands  had  been  made  from  time 
to  time  to  the  States,  aggregating  in  all  31,000,846  acres,  for  the  purpose  of  being  disposed  of 
by  the  States  in  aid  of  education,  for  military  roads,  for  internal  improvements,  and  for 
railroads.    But  the 'grants  were  all  to  the  States. 

"  The  first  grant  to  a  State  for  railroad  purposes  was  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  1850, 
for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  was  of  the  even  sections,  six  sect'ons  in  width  on 
each  side  of  the  road.  That  State  in  making  the  grant  to  the  railroad  wisely  reserved  to 
herself  seven  per  cent,  of  the  gross  earnings  of  this  road,  from  which  she  is  now  deriving 
nearly  a  half  million  dollars  annually,  and  which  will  for  all  time  to  come  contribute 
largely  to  the  payment  of  the  expense  of  the  State  Government.  The  grants  which  fol- 
lowed, up  to  1862,  were  restricted  to  actual  settlers  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each 
at  $2.50  per  acre. 

♦  *  *  *  •  *  *  ♦  «  «.»  *  *  « 

"  Let  us  see  what  the  effect  of  this  ominously  wrong  system  has  been  upon  the  airri* 
culturists  of  this  country, 
15 


238 


THE   PUBLIC   LAND   POLICY. 


"  The  folio  wing  table  exhibits  the  number  of  farms  of  different  sizes  held  in  the  United 
States  and  Territories  In  1870  and  1880  respectively : 

Number  of  Farms  in  the  United  States  in  the  Census  Years  1870  and  1880. 


1880. 


1870. 


Increase. 
Decrease. 


Under  three  acres 

Three  to  ten  acres 

Tpn  to  twenty  acres  . . 
Twenty  to  fifty  acres. 


Total  deci-ease  in  the  number  of  small  farms  in  ten  years. 


Fifty  to  one  hundred  acres 

One  hundred  to  five  hundred  acres 

Five  hundred  to  one  thousand  acres 

From  one  thousand  nine  hundred  acres  up. 


Total  number  of  farms 

Total  increase  in  the  number  of  large  farms  in  ten  years. 


4,352 
134,b89 
2->4,749 

781,474 


1,032,910 
1,695,983 

75,972 
28,578 


4,008,907 


6,R75 
173,021 
294,607 
847,614 


754,221 

565,054 

15,875 

3,720 


2,659,985 


2,523 
33,133 
r^9,858 
6f5,140 

140,653 


278,689 
130,929 
60.099 
24,858 

1,348,923 


494,566 


"We  have  not  only  made  great  land  monopolists  of  corporations,  but  aliens  and  foreign 
corporations  are  gradually  absorbing  vast  tracts  of  our  best  land,  until  we  find  that  already 
It  is  little  trouble  to  set  out  a  list  of  owners  of  an  aggregate  of  more  than  twenty  millions 
of  acres  in  tracts  ranging  from  5,000  to  5,000,000  each.  I  append  a  list  of  a  few  of  such  alien 
holders.  I  doubt  not  that  careful  examination  of  the  subject  would  develop  a  list  much 
more  extensive  than  the  one  given  below : 

An  English  syndicate,  No.  3,  in  Texas 3.000,000 

The  Hollant  Company,  New  Mexico 4,500,000 

Sir  Edward  Reid,  and  a  syndicate,  in  Florida 2,000,000 

English  syndicate  in  Mississippi 1,000,000 

Marquis  of  Tweedale 1,750,000 

Phillips,  Marshall  &  Co.,  London , 1,300,000 

German  syndicate , 1,100,000 

Anglo-American  syndicate,  Mr.  Rogers,  president,  London 750,000 

Bryan  H.Evans,  of  London, in  Mississippi 700,000 

Duke  ol  Sutherland 435,000 

British  Land  Company,  In  Kansas 320,000 

William  Walley,  M.  P.,  Peterboro,  England 310000 

Missouri  Land  Company,  Edinburgh,  Scotland 300,000 

Robert  Tonnant,  of  London 230,000 

Dundee  Land  Company,  Scotland 247,000 

Lord  Dundore 120,000 

Benjamin  Newgas,  Liverpool 100,000 

Lord  Houghton,in  Florida 60,000 

Lord  Dunravin,In  Colorado 60,000 

English  Land  Company,  In  Florida 50,000 

English  Land  Company,  In  Arkansas 50,000 

Albert  Peel,  M.  P.,  Leicestershire,  England 10,000 

Sir  J.  M.  Ray,  Yorkehire,  England ." 5,000 

Alexander  Grant,  of  London,  In  Kansas 35,000 

English  syndicate  (represented  by  Close  Bros.),  Wisconsin 110,000 

M.  EUerhauser,  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  West  Virginia 600,000 

A  Scotch  Syndicate,  in  Florida 50,000 

Missouri  Land  Company,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland 165,000 

Total 20,747,000 


"  With  all  the  curses  which  we  have  heard  heaped  upon  the  land  system  of  England  and 
the  land  monopoly  of  England  and  Wales,  it  is  no  comparison  to  our  own.  The  great  land- 
holders of  England  are  mere  "  pygmies  "  when  compared  with  our  "  giants."    In  a  recent 


I 


THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY.  229 

work  entitled  ""baod  and  Labor  in  the  United  States,"  by  William  C.  Moody,  the  author,  at 
page  88  of  his  book,  gives  the  following  as  the  size  of  English  land  holding : 

" '  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  whole  number  of  land-owners  in  England  and  Wales  who 
are  possessed  of  50,000  and  more  acres  of  land  each,  and  the  actual  amount  of  their  holding, 
by  which  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  but  three  who  own  more  than  100,000  acres  each,  and 
no  one  has  an  estate  that  reaches  200,000  acres : 

Size  of  Enolish  Land  Holdings. 
Names  of  owners.  Acres. 

Marquis  of  Ailesbury 55,051 

Duke  of  Beaufort 51,085 

Duke  of  Bedford 87,507 

Earl  of  Brownlow 57,799 

Earl  of  Carlisle 78,540 

Earl  of  Cawdor 51,538 

Duke  of  Cleveland 106,650 

Earl  of  Derby 58,598 

Duke  of  Devonshire 148,629 

Lord  Leconfleld 66,101 

Lord  Londesborough 52,655 

Lord  Lonsdale 67,950 

Duke  of  Northumberland 191,180 

Duke  of  Portland 55,259 

Earl  of  Powis 70,039 

Lady  Willoughby 59,912 

Sir  W.  W.  Winn 91,032 

Earl  of  Yarborough.  55,370 

THE  RECORD  OP  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY. 

"  But,  Mr.  Speaker,  let  us  look  at  the  record  of  the  Democratic  party  upon  this  subject. 
I  have  already  shown  that  the  first  homestead  bill  ever  introduced  in  this  House  was  intro- 
duced by  Stephen  A.  Douglass,  and  the  first  bill  ever  introduced  in  the  Senate  was  by  An- 
drew Johnson,  both  of  whom  were  at  the  time  leaders  in  the  Democratic  party.  I  have 
also  seen  that  the  Democratic  party  passed  through  this  House  the  first  homestead  bill 
which  was  ever  passed  in  it.  I  have  also  seen  that  the  Democratic  party,  during  the  nearly 
sixty  years  of  its  power  in  government,  never  granted  an  acre  of  the  public  lands  to  a  cor- 
poration. Hence,  when  that  party  surrendered  power  March  4, 1861,  it  did  so  with  a  home- 
stead bill  passed  the  previous  Congress  and  oar  magnificent  public  domain  carefully  hus- 
banded. 

"  The  uniform  policy  of  that  party  has  been  to  acquire  and  husband  the  public  lands 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Government  and  the  people.  The  people  having  decided,  at  the  last 
■election,  that  the  Republican  party  was  unworthy  and  elected  a  large  majority  of  Demo- 
crats to  this  body,  it  became  the  duty  of  that  party  to  respond  to  the  voice  of  the  people  and 
restore  to  the  public  domain  such  of  the  public  lands  as  were  not  earned  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  forfeiture  of  the  Government,  to  attempt,  in  some  degree  at  least,  to  right  the 
great  wrong  done  them  by  the  Republican  party  in  violation  of  its  pledges,  and  which  it  re- 
fused to  right  in  the  last  Congress.  How  well  that  party  has  adhered  to  its  antecedents  and 
kept  faith  with  the  people,  a  glance  at  our  calendar  will  show." 

H  THE  PERALTA  CLAIM. 

This  pretended  claim  is  located  in  Southern  Arizona.  It  is  based  upon  an 
alleged  grant  by  Mexico  to  one  Michael  Peralta  in  1758,  although  no  attempt  was 
ever  made  to  assert  any  such  claim  until  about  five  years  ago.  The  claim  is  now 
engineered  by  a  powerful  combination  of  capitalists.  It  covers  some  4,000,000  acres 
of  the  best  lands  in  Arizona,  a  tract  larger  than  the  entire  State  of  Connecticut  and 


I 


230  THE  PUBLIC  LAND  POLICT. 

Rhode  Island  and  almost  as  large  as  Massachusetts  or  New  Jersey.  Although  no 
record  evidence  of  any  such  grant  can  be  found  either  in  Spain  or  Mexico,  certain 
papers  have  been  deposited  in  the  office  of  the  Surveyor-General  of  Arizona  upon 
■which  a  colorable  claim  is  based.  The  Department  refused  to  recognize  the  claim. 
Another  attempt  was  made  to  give  the  claimants  standing  by  ordering  a  prelimary 
survey  to  be  made  of  the  lands  claimed. 

The  effect  of  such  an  order  would  have  been  to  withdraw  the  lands  involved 
from  entry  and  to  give  the  claimants  the  exclusive  possession  and  control  of  the 
tract,  whereupon  they  would  begin  a  system  of  forcing  those  who  have  settled  upon 
and  improved  portions  of  the  land,  built  towns  thereon,  opened  mines,  &c.,  to 
"  compromise"  with  the  claimants  by  buying  up  their  supposed  rights  in  the  land. 
The  Land  Office  steadfastly  refused  to  depart  from  the  position  taken  by  his  pre- 
decessor, and  on  the  date  above  mentioned,  by  official  decision,  refused  to  direct 
the  Surveyor- General  to  make  the  survey,  thus  establishing  an  important  precedent, 
and,  at  the  same  time  saving  thousands  of  citizens  in  Arizona  from  being  harrassed 
with  regard  to  their  homes 

CALIFORNIA  TIMBER  LANDS. 

So,  also,  in  the  California  Redwood  Claims,  the  Commissioner  placea  himself 
on  record  as  the  friend  of  law  and  the  enemy  of  fraudulent  operations.  He  de- 
cided March  29, 1888,  that  forty  one  entries  of  valuable  redwood  timber  landa 
should  be  canceled  because  they  were  fraudulently  made  in  the  interest  of  the  Hum- 
boldt Redwood  Company,  a  corporation  organized  in  Scotland  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  control  of  the  valuable  redwood  forests  of  California.  By  this  one  deci- 
sion these  lands,  amounting  in  value  to  $11,000,000,  were  rescued  from  fraudulent 
disposition.  Suits  to  vacate  patents  in  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  (151)  such  cases 
have  also  been  recommended  and  other  cancellations  will  follow. 

These  acts  indicate  the  policy  of  the  General  Land  Office  which  will  be  con- 
tinued under  Democratic  administration,  and  are  but  carrying  oat,  in  good  faith,, 
the  pledges  it  made  to  the  people  to  use  every  means  to  protect  the  public  domain 
for  bona  fide  home- seekers. 

RECAPITULATION  OF  ACTUAL  RESULTS. 

The  Democratic  party  can  go  to  the  country  with  a  most  creditable  record  in 
public  land  matters,  showing  it  to  be  the  friend  of  the  people  and  the  enemy  of 
land  monopolists  and  corporations.  The  following  reforms,  among  many  others 
have  been  made  by  it : 

1.  It  has  put  a  stop  to  the  improvident  and  wrongful  granting  of  the  public 
domain  to  corporations. 

2.  It  has  insisted  upon  interpreting  grants  already  made  to  corporations  in  the 
interests  of  the  people  instead  of  the  corporation. 

3.  It  has  enforced,  as  far  as  possible,  the  terms  of  contracts  with  corporations 
by  which  grants  should  lapse  to  the  government  upon  failure  by  the  grantee  to 
comply  with  their  conditions. 

4.  It  has  made  an  actual  restoration  to  the  public  domain  of  over  eighty 
millions  acres  wrongfully  abstracted  therefrom. 

5.  It  has  in  process  of  restoration  over  sixty-five    millions  acres  more* 


I 


THE   PUBLIC  LAND  POLICY.  231 

6.  It  has  boldly  rescinded  the  pernicious  orders  of  Republican  executive  oflSciala 
withdrawing  lands  from  settlement  and  entry  within  the  mdemnity  limits  of  rail- 
road grants. 

7.  It  has  torn  down  the  unlawful  fences  of  cattle  kings  and  allowed  honest 
settlers  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  the  privilege  which  the  law  gives  of  going  any- 
where, upon  the  public  domain,  they  choose. 

9.  It  has  insisted  upon  an  honest  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  law  on  the 
part  of  those  who  made  entries  of  public  lands,  and  has  fearlessly  protected  the 
*'  honest  settler,"  however  poor  and  obscure,  from  every  attack,  however  powerful 
or  rich  the  attacking  party  may  be. 

10.  It  has  wrested  the  Redwood  Forests  of  California  from  the  clutches  of 
greedy  foreign  corporations. 

11.  It  has  begun  the  good  work  of  rejecting  false  and  fraudulent  private  land 
claims. 

12.  It  is,  to-day,  doing  more  work  and  better  work  in  the  General  Land  OflSce 
and  the  Interior  Department,  than  was  ever  done,  under  any  former  administration 
with  an  equivalent  force. 


GUILFORD  MILLEK  S  FARM. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
GUILFORD  MILLER'S  FARM. 


HOW  THE   EIGHTS   OF   ACTUAL   SETTLERS   ON    PUBLIC    LANDS   HAVE 
BEEN  PROTECTED   BY   THIS   ADMINISTRATION 


GuUford  Miller  and  Two  TJiousand  Other  Honorable  Settlers 

Declared  to  Have  a  Good  Title  to  Their  Lands — 

A  RailroaWs  Rapacity  ChecJced, 

In  accordance  with  the  request  of  President  Cleveland  in  his  letter  to  Secre- 
tary Lamar  concerning  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
in  the  case  of  Guilford  Miller,  Secretary  Vilas  gave  the  matter  very  careful  consid- 
eration, and  on  August  2,  1888,  rendered  a  long  and  exhaustive  decision  denying 
the  claims  of  the  railroad  compay  upon  the  lands  of  Miller.  By  this  decision  Guil- 
ford Miller  not  only  gets  his  own  land,  but  about  2,000  other  settlers  on  land 
claimed  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  get  theirs,  thus  assuring  them  of  their 
homes  without  let  or  hindrance  as  well  as  without  cloud  upon  their  titles. 

In  his  letter  to  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  the  Secretary 
reviews  the  whole  case  at  length  and  with  much  ability.  He  says  in  stating  the 
case: 

NEW  FACTS  IN  THE  CASE. 

After  the  appeal  had  brought  the  case  from  your  office  to  this  Department,  my  imme- 
diate predecessor,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1886,  transmitted  the  papers  to  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral for  his  opinion  upon  the  points  involved.  On  the  14th  of  March,  1887,  the  Attorney- 
General's  opinion  was  received,  in  response  to  that  request,  to  the  effect  that  the  with- 
drawal was  valid  and  operated  to  exclude  the  land  from  settlement  and  entry,  and  that 
Miller's  entry  should,  therefore,  be  canceled.  After  receiving  that  opinion  no  further 
action  was  talf en  by  this  Department,  and  it  remains  for  me  to  dispose  of  the  appeal.  I 
have  given  the  facts  and  the  points  of  law  involved  careful  consideration,  and  it  appears 
that  material  facts  were  not  shown  in  the  papers  transmitted  to  the  Attorney-General,  and 
that  a  different  conclusion  might  probably  have  been  reached  by  him  had  all  these  facts 
been  before  him.  I  do  not  suppose  that  it  is  obligatory  upon  me  to  decide  in  accordance 
with  that  opinion,  for  this  and  other  reasons  which  I  shall  discuss ;  and,  after  very  careful 
examination,  my  convictions  of  the  right  of  the  case  are  so  strong  that  I  am  unable  to 
doit. 

HOW  THE  RAILROAD  COMPANY  CHANGED  ITS  ROUTES. 

The  Secretary  then  quotes  at  sufficient  length  the  difl'erent  acts  granting  lands  to 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  including  the  provisions  relating  to  the 
filing  of  plats  of  proposed  line,  surveys,  exemption  and  withdrawal  from  settle- 
ment, together  with  the  times  fixed  for  the  completion  of  the  road,  extensions  of  time 
and  of  grant  to  new  branches,  &c. 


GUILFORD  miller's  FARM.  233 

He  then  reviews  fully  the  action  of  the  company  in  filing  plats  or  maps  of  the 
proposed  line  of  the  road  from  the  first  action  of  this  kind,  on  March  6,  1865,  only 
a  few  months  after  the  passage  of  the  act  of  incorporation,  down  through  the  various 
eflforts  it  has  made  to  eularge  tlie  boundaries  of  its  grants,  and  to  secure  indemnity 
for  lands  taken  by  actual  settlers, as  provided  b}'-  law.  The  first  maps  were  not 
accurate  plats  of  the  country  over  which  the  road  was  to  pass,  but  mere  rough 
drafts.    One  "  map  was,"  in  the  language  of  the  Secretary, 

A  very  general  indication  of  a  line  as  a  practicable '  railroad  line,  as  surveyed  by 
Governor  Stevens,  and  indicated  in  the  Territories  of  Dakota  and  Montana  another  ilne  as 
'worthy  an  examination  for  a  railroad  route.'  The  map  bears  no  mark  of  approval  and  the 
line  indicated  on  it  is  not  marked  with  sufficient  definiteness  to  indicate  through  what 
townships  even,  much  less  sections,  the  line  of  the  road  would  pass.  There  is  not  even 
sufTicient  representation  of  the  topographical  features  of  the  country  to  define  the 
location,  except  on  portions  of  the  line." 

The  Railroad  Company  continued  for  more  than  thirteen  years  to  file  amended 
maps  or  charts,  and  to  request,  at  each  amendmeat,  the  withdrawal  of  lands  alleged 
to  be  within  the  land  grant  limits  of  the  new  routes.  Bat  the  Secretary  finds 
that 

"These  do  not  affect  the  land  claimed  by  Miller,  and  only  serve  to  illustrate  the  conse- 
quences of  the  theory  of  authority  in  the  Land  Office,  to  make  such  withdrawal." 
♦  *****»****» 

The  land  claimed  by  Guilford  Miller  was  entirely  without  tho  limits  of  the  withdrawal 
made  upon  the  line  of  general  route  in  1870;  it  fell  within  the  forty-mile  limits  of  the  line 
of  general  route  filed  in  1872,  and  it  lies  without  the  limits  of  forty  miles  from  the  line  of 
definite  location,  and  between  the  forty  and  fifty-mile  limits,  thus  falling  within  the 
indemnity  belt. 

NO  BILL  OF  PARTICULARS  AS  TO  LOST  LANDS. 

The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  filed  In  the  United  States  Land  Office  at 
Spokane  Falls,  Washington  Territory,  on  the  15th  of  December,  1883,  a  list  of  lands  (marked 
list  No.  3  of  selections  of  public  lands  made  by  the  N.  P.  R.  R.  Co.,  inuring  to  it  under  the 
grants  of  July  2, 18f34,  and  May  31, 1870,  within  the  indemnity  limits  of  the  Colfax,  Spokane 
Falls,  land  district),  which  it  claimed  to  select  from  the  indemnity  limits;  in  such  list  a  total 
number  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  tracts,  aggregating  59,548.74  acres,  is  claimed,  and  the  one 
hundred  and  forty-ninth  number  is  the  quarter  section  homesteaded  by  Miller.  This  selec- 
tion list  was  accompanied  by  no  statement  showing  what  lands  were  lost  from  the  granted 
limits  in  lieu  of  which  selections  are  claimed,  and  no  fact  was  stated  beyond  the  mere  claim 
of  selection  to  justify  it.  The  register  and  receiver  allowed  and  approved  the  filing  on  the 
17th  of  December,  and  appear  to  have  dated  it  upon  that  day. 

MILLER'S  LAND  NOT  INCLUDED  IN  THE  RAILROAD'S  ORIGINAL  DEMAND. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  1887,  the  company  filed  in  the  Walla  Walla  land  office,  Wash- 
ington Territory,  a  list  called  a  "  specification  of  losses  in  place  covered  by  indemnity  selec- 
tions. List  No.  3,  Spokane  Falls  land  district,  now  Walla  Walla  in  part,  Washington  Terri- 
tory." It  begins  with  a  declaration  of  selection  specified  as  being  numbers  1  to  050  inclu- 
sive, in  the  following  words :  "  All  those  certain  tracts  or  rarcels  of  land  embraced  in  selec- 
tion list  No.  3,  compris  leg  in  the  aggregate  59,54P.74  acres ;  "  then  follows  a  specification  of 
lands,  lying  north  of  the  base  line  and  east  of  the  Willamette  principal  meridian,  within 
forty  miles  of  the  line  of  the  railroad,  describing  thirty  different  tracts  as  having  been  pat- 
ented or  certified,  or  otherwise  taken  up  on  claims,  amounting,  in  total,  to  4,011.04  acres. 

No  further  definite  specification  of  losses  is  made,  but  there  follows  a  list  generally  of 
certain  sections  indicated  by  numbers,  and  unsurveyed,  in  three  townships;  and  then  a 
Bpeciflcation  of  all  odd-numbered  sections  in  three  other  townships,  in  the  Yai^ima  Indian 
Reservation,  aggregating  in  all,  as  stated  in  the  list,  55,680  acres,  maKing  a  total  of  alleged 
losses  of  59,691.04  acres.    But  it  is  obvious  that  this  latter  gross  speoflcation  does  not  dis- 


I 


234  GUILFORD  miller's  FARM. 

close  the  true  description  of  acreage  of  any  lost  land  with  accuracy,  the  alleged  acreage 
being  computed  at  the  rate  of  640  acres  to  the  section,  without  reference  to  actual  quantity : 
and  the  sections  being  only  guessed  at  in  large  degree.  The  4,011.04  acres,  specifically 
shown  to  have  been  excepted  from  the  grant,  would  be  entirely  satisfied  by  the  appropria- 
tion in  compensation  of  the  first  fifty  or  sixty  numbers  of  the  tracts  listed  in  the  original 
list  No.  2. 

No  action  has  been  taken  by  the  General  Land  Office  or  the  Department  in  approval, 
or  determination,  of  this  claim  of  selection.  *  *  *  The  alleged  date  of  the  first  set- 
tlement by  Miller  is  not  contradicted  by  any  proofs  offered,  and  for  the  purposes  of  this 
opinion,  it  may  be  accepted  as  true.  If  there  be  any  question  of  his  right  upon  the  facts, 
which  must  be  further  inquired  into  when  final  proofs  shall  be  offered,  it  can  be  s  ibse- 
quently  determined.  Nothinghasyetappearedthat  shDuld  affect  the  views  1  take  of  the 
case  as  it  stands. 

ILLEGAL  ACTION  OF  THE  LAND  OFFICE  IN  1873. 

The  Secretary  then  proceeds  to  discuss,  very  fully,  the  two  general  questions 
"Whether  upon  the  facts  Miller  must  be  denied  the  benefit  of  his  settlement 
or  of  his  homestead  entry,  because  in  contravention  of  law  as  applicable  to  the 
condition  of  the  land  when  made ;  and  whether  the  selection  of  the  company 
ought,  in  any  case,  to  be  approved  to  the  deprivation  of  his  claim  under  that  entry. 

The  maps  filed,  the  changes  of  route  made  from  time  to  time  are  clearly  set  forth, 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  cited  and  the  illegal  action  of 
the  General  Land  Office  in  withdrawing,  at  the  demand  of  the  company  made 
in  1872,  lands  within  the  forty-mile  limit  of  a  new  line  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Washington  Territory,  a  map  of  which  was  filed  with  the  acting  Land  Com- 
missioner. The  lands  were  withdrawn  by  the  acting  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office  without  submitting  the  question  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  who,  as  the  representative  of  the  President,  is,  under  the  law,  invested 
with  this  authority.  Secretary  Vilas  deems  this  withdrawal  by  the  acting  Com- 
missioner invalid  so  far,  at  least,  that  it  could  not  deprive  a  settler  of  the  rights 
given  him  by  the  statutes.    The  Secretary  continues : 

THE  PRIVILEGES  CLAIMED  BY  THE  COMPANTT. 

This  peculiar  privilege  given  to  this  company  to  lay  a  line  of  general  route  as  a'^asis  for 
withdrawal  of  its  granted  lands,  to  be  followed  at  somo  later  time  by  fixing  a  line  of  defi- 
nite location  for  the  purpose  of  construction,  is  analogous  to  a  franchise  given  by  a  special 
charter  to  a  railroad  company  to  locate  and  build  a  railroad  between  designated  points.  Of 
such  franchises  it  has  always  been  held  that  one  location,  definitely  fixed,  exhausts  the 
franchise,  and  that  a  chartered  company  cannot,  after  one  exercise  of  such  a  privilege, 
again  re-locate  and  reconstruct  its  line. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  fixing  of  the  general  route  to  require  a  different  governing  prin- 
ciple from  the  fixing  of  the  final  location.  The  consequences  declared  by  the  statute  to 
attach  in  the  one  case  as  much  attach  as  in  the  other ;  and  so  soon  as  the  statute  has  thus 
become  applicable,  its  force  is  unchangeable  but  by  the  creator  of  it,  and  there  is  an  end  of 
the  privilege. 

If  this  interpretation  of  the  act  of  Congress  be  correct,  it  must  follow  that  the  Depart- 
ment, much  less  the  acting  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  could  not  alter  it  by 
any  action  of  its  own.  In  every  just  sense,  the  so-called  withdrawal  by  the  Department  is 
only  a  notification  to  the  public  of  the  effect  of  the  act  of  Congress  itself.  The  law  was 
exhaustive ;  the  Department  could  only  act  to  give  application  to  its  provisions  to  the  land 
and  notice  to  the  world  thereof.  And  so  the  Supreme  Court  said  in  the  case  of  this  company 
already  referred  to,  of  the  withdrawal  made  on  another  portion  of  the  line— 

"  This  notification  did  not  add  to  the  force  of  the  act  itself,  but  it  gave  notice  to  all 
"  parties  seeking  to  make  a  pre-emption  settlement  that  lands  within  certain  defined  limits 
"  might  be  appropriated  for  the  roads." 


GUILFORD  miller's  FARM.  235 


ONLY  ONE  BELT  OF  LAND  CAN  BE  WITHDRAWN. 

This  reading  of  the  statute  limits  the  power  of  the  Commissioner  as  much  in  one  aspect 
as  the  other ;  he  could  neither  by  his  order  terminate,  suspend  or  alter  the  vigor  of  the 
•expressed  will  of  Congress  in  respect  to  what  lands  were  to  be  withdrawn,  or  for  what 
period  to  remain  so ;  nor  could  he  by  his  order  give  any  added  force  to  a  law  which  propria 
vigore  accomplished  independently  of,  and  prior  to  his  order,  all  which  could  be  eflFected. 
To  hold  otherwise  would  be  to  declare  that  the  force  of  the  act  of  Congress  was  terminable 
•or  alterable,  with  respect  to  the  speciflc  lands  to  which  it  related,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office;  a  conclusion  for  which  neither  this  act  nor  any 
other  statute  furnishes  the  least  foundation.  He  could  not  restore  in  the  market,  right- 
fully, lands  which  the  act  of  Congress  had  withdrawn  for  a  period  the  duration  of  which 
•extended  by  clear  and  necessary  implication  beyond  the  time  when  he  undertook  to  restore 
them  :  and,  if  he  could  not  restore  these  lands  to  market  by  his  order,  contrary  to  that 
statute,  it  is  Impossible  to  uphold  the  exercise  of  an  assumed  authority,  in  the  face  of  the 
plan  and  purposes  of  this  act,  to  withdraw  again  another  belt  of  eighty  miles  in  width. 
The  law  intended  that  but  one  such  belt  should  be  withdrawn  before  definite  location  should 
give  fixity  to  the  grant.  To  permit  him  to  withdraw  another  ia  manifestly  to  recognize  an 
^ct  contrary  to  the  purpose  of  the  Congress. 

WOULD  PUT  A  BLIGHT  ON  PROGRESS  AND  SETTLEMENT. 

This  interpretation  of  the  statute,  as  affecting  the  authority  of  the  Land  Office,  results 
from  the  application  of  well-established  canons  of  construction,  and  is  arrived  at  without 
Tespect  to  the  argumerdum  ad  inconvenienii.  If,  however,  attention  be  dlrectedto  the  serious 
and  inequitable  consequences  which  such  a  theory,  as  pursued,  necessarily  involves,  it 
Tiecomes  still  more  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  Congress  could  ever  have  designed  such 
•effects.  The  projected  line  of  this  railroad  extended  from  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  to 
the  Pacific  ocean,  leaving  open  to  the  company's  choice  any  route  north  of  the  25th  par- 
allel of  latitude.  If  what  was  done  to  the  eastern  portion  of  Washington  Territory  were 
legally  done,  it  might  have  been  as  well  inflicted  upon  any  portion  of  that  entire  expanse 
•of  the  northwestern  country. 

A  line  of  general  route  is  fixed  by  the  company,  accepted  by  the  Department,  and  the 
•act  of  Congress  declared  applicable,  so  that  half  of  the  public  lands  are  withdrawn  from 
the  use  of  settlers  throughout  a  belt  of  eighty  miles  wide,  and  the  other  half  are  to  be  pur- 
chased only  at  double  minimum  price.  Such  a  condition  of  things  remains  for  years,  the 
Toad,  meantime,  not  being  constructed  ;  a  serious  blight  upon  the  progress  and  settlement 
is  necessarily  Inflicted;  but  many,  adventurously  pushing  into  the  new  country  and 
•expecting  the  coming  of  a  railroad,  buy  lands  at  the  price  fixed  upon  the  basis  of  such  an 
•e"xpectation. 

Is  all  this  to  be  rendered  worse  than  vain  at  the  mere  option  of  the  company  with  the 
compliance  of  the  Land  Office,  and  another  nelt  of  eighty  miles  in  width  to  be  again 
marked  with  these  effects  ?  The  Commissioner  undertakes,  Indeed,  to  unloose  the  with- 
•drawal  of  the  lands  within  the  first  and  to  open  them  to  market ;  but  they  are  necessarily 
left  charged  with  the  cloud  already  placed  upon  them  and  with  the  injustice  arisinsr  from 
the  disappointment  to  those  who  have  paid  a  double  price  in  reliance  upon  a  justifiable 
expectation. 

It  must  be  noted  also  that  unless  the  restriction  on  the  power  to  change  and  re-locate 
the  line  of  general  route  be  applicable  to  the  first  location,  there  is  no  limitation  what- 
•ever.  If  the  second  location  and  withdrawal  were  authorized,  so  was  the  third,  or  any 
number. 

Instead  of  this  great  enterprise  proving  an  inducement  to  settlement  and  a  promoter 
of  development,  under  such  a  course  of  action  it  could  not  but  be  a  mighty  agent  of  wrong 
to  individuals  and  injury  to  the  public,  retarding  instead  of  exhilarating  the  course  of 
advancing  civilization.  These  consequences  were  a  priori  so  obvious  and  the  privilege 
proffered  to  this  company,  within  Its  strictest  limitations,  so  extensive  and  unusual,  that  it 
must  be  regarded  as  having  been  clearly  within  the  legislative  purpose  to  confine  the 
«xercise  of  such  a  privilege  strictly  to  its  boundaries  as  expressed  by  the  Act,  with  no 
latitude  of  authority  in  any  officer  of  the  Government  to  amplify  and  enlarge  them. 


236  GUILFORD  miller's- FARM 

The  conviction  of  the  correctness  of  the  foreg'oing'  propositions  is  so  strong  in  my 
mind  that  I  feel  entirely  content  to  rest  upon  them  the  afBrmance  of  the  conclusion 
reached  by  your  office  upon  other  grounds,  it  being  apparent  from  the  facts  stated  that, 
unless  the  withdrawal  of  1873  was  valid  to  forbid  the  exercise  by  a  settler  of  the  rights 
givenby  the  pre-emption  and  homestead  laws  upon  any  public  lands  otherwise  subject  to 
them,  Miller  secured,  by  his  settlement  in  1878  and  his  residence  thereafter,  such  a  right  aa 
would  prevent  the  selection  by  the  company,  if  otherwise  valid,  from  attaching  to  the 
quarter  section  taken  by  him. 

THE  COMMISSION  DID  NOT  REVOKE  FORMER  WITHDRAWAL. 

It  has  been  seen  from  this  statement  of  the  facts,  that,  when  the  line  of  definite  location 
was  made  and  appro  ved,  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Oflace,  while  assuming  to 
make  no  withdrawal  of  the  lands  within  the  indemnity  limits,  beyond  forty  and  within  fifty 
miles  distant  from  the  line  of  definite  location,  yet  refrained  from  revoking  the  withdrawal 
of  so  much  of  the  indemnity  limits  as  happened  to  fall  within  the  withdrawal  made  in  1873, 
upon  the  basis  of  the  second  establishment  of  a  general  route. 

I  am  unwilling  to  accept  the  conclusion  that  there  was  any  force  whatever.  Indepen- 
dently of  the  statute,  in  the  order  of  the  acting  commissioner  of  the  30th  of  March,  1873 ;  or 
that,  properly  construed,  it  was  designed  to  mean  any  more  than  a  direction  to  the  local 
officers  to  comply  with  the  granting  act. 

INDEMNITY  LANDS   OPEN  TO  SETTLEMENT  UNTIL  SELECTED  BY  THE  RAILROAD. 

The  consequence  is,  that  until  a  valid  selection  by  the  grantee  is  made  from  the  lands 
within  the  indemnity  limits,  they  are  entirely  open  to  disposition  by  the  United  States  or 
to  appropriation  under  the  laws  of  tiie  Uaiced  States  for  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  line  bounding  the  indemnity  limits  to  distinguish  lands  within  it 
from  any  other  public  lands  ;  the  only  purpose  of  that  being  to  place  a  boundary  upon  the 
right  of  selection  in  the  graatee  to  make  gooi  losses  sustained  Withia  granted  limits.  This 
effect  has  been  most  explicitly  declared  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  the  Kansas 
Pacific  Railroad  Company  t^s.  the  Atchison,  Topeka  an  1  Santa  Fo  Railroad  Company  (112 
U.  S.,  4U),  and  in  other  cases.  In  tha  case,  the  Court  said  of  an  order  of  the  Commissioner 
of  th©  General  Land  O.'Boe  similar  to  this,  so  far  as  applicable  to  indemnity  limits : 

"  The  order  of  withdrawal  of  lands  along  the  '  probable  lines '  of  the  defendant's  road, 
"made  on  the  19th  of  Marejh,  1833.  by  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  affected 
"no  rights  which  withou.  it  would  nave  been  acquired  to  thj  lands,  nor  in  any  respect  con- 
*'  trolled  the  subsequent  grant." 

It  also  said  of  tbe  indemnity  limits  under  discuRSion  there : 

"  From  what  wan  thus  expected  ',f  rom  the  granted  li  mits)  other  lands  were  to  be  select'^d 
*'  from  atJ  jacent  laa.iS,  If  any  tnea  remamed.  to  wfuck  no  othe?-  valid  claims  tiad  originated.  But 
"  what  unrtppropriaied  lands  would  thus  be  found  and  selected  could  not  be  kuown  before 
"actual  selection.  A  right  toselec  them  within  certain  limits,  in  case  of  deficiency  within 
"the  ten-mile  limit,  wa*  alone  conferred,  not  a  right  to  any  speciflj  land  or  lands  capable 
"of  identification  by  any  printi  pies  of  law  or  rules  of  measiireraeat.  Neither  locality  nor 
"  quantity  i4  given  from  which  such  lands  culd  be  ascertained.  If,  therefore,  when  such 
"selection  was  to  be  .nade,  the  lands  from  which  the  deficiency  was  to  be  supplied  had 
"been  appropriated  by  Congress  toother  purposes,  the  right  of  selection  became  a  barren 
"  right,  for  until  selection  was  made  the  title  remained  in  the  government  subject  to  its  dia- 
"  posal  at  its  pleasure." 

NO  POWER  TO  MAKE  THE  WITHDRAWAL. 

It  was  in  view  of  this  difference  and  its  consequences,  that  the  language  of  the  granting 
act  was  employed  by  Congress,  by  which  it  was  explicitly  provided  that  the  provisions  of 
the  pre-emption  and  homestead  laws"  shall  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  extended  to  all 
other  lands  on  the  line  of  said  roa  d,  when  surveyed,  excepting  those  hereby  granted  to  said 
company." 

If  lands  within  the  indemnity  limits  are  to  be  regarded  as  "on  the  line  of  said  road," 
this  declaration  appears  to  me  prohibitory  of  any  withdrawal,  for  the  benefit  of  this  road. 
It  might  be  that  such  lands  could  ba  withdrawn  for  some  other  public  purpose,  within 
executive  authority  to  provide  for,  such,  for  example,  as  to  constitute  a  reservation  for 
Indians. 


GUILFORD  miller's  FARM.  287 

But  this  languapre  was  introduced  into  the  same  section  which  declared  the  granted 
lands  not  to  be  liable  to  sale,  etc.,  and  immediately  following  that  declaration,  and  In  the 
same  sentence,  so  as  obviously  to  mark  the  legislative  intent  to  make  clearly  distinguish- 
able the  lands  beyond  the  granted  limits  as  being  liable  to  disposition  under  those  laws. 
Having  so  explicitly  declared,  it  was  not  necessary  to  add  a  prohibition  upon  executive  offi- 
cers against  withdrawal  for  the  benefit  of  \he  road.  It  gave  to  any  person  entitled  under 
the  pre-emption  or  homestead  laws  to  take  any  such  lands  the  absolute  right  to  acquire  any 
proper  quantity  thereof,  in  accordance  therewith ;  and  this  right  an  executive  officer  could 
not  deprive  the  settler  of.  The  act  as  much  makes  that  his  right  as  it  makes  it  the  right  of 
the  company  to  take  the  others 

I  cannot  be  satisfied  with  the  idea  that  this  language  was  so  introduced,  in  immediate 
qualification  of  and  distinction  u  pon  the  words  rendering  lands  in  the  granted  limits  "  not 
liable  to  sale  or  entry,"  for  the  mere  purpose  of  declaring  "  what  was  already  enacted  by 
general  laws."  The  general  laws  applied  without  this  declaration,  and  they  applied  more 
extensively  than  this  would  apply  them,  since  by  the  general  laws  entries  of  other  kinds 
might,  if  conditions  concurred,  be  also  made.  The  aim  of  this  language  was,  as  1  am  forced 
to  read  it,  towards  the  availability  to  settlement  of  all  lands  not  granted.  It  was  a  vast 
grant,  and  even  as  so  limited,  a  threatening  shadow  to  fall  on  the  settlement  of  the  North- 
west. Well  might  Congress  say,  "  the  lands  granted  you  shall  have,  but  you  shall  tie  up  no 
more  from  the  actual  settler  to  the  prevention  of  development." 

HOW  THE  LAND  OFFICE   FORMERLY  CONSTRUED  THE  LAW. 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  I  cannot  regard  the  original  order  of  withdrawal  in  1873  as  obli- 
gatory to  deny  Miller's  rights  for  the  other  reasons  given,  it  is  unnecessary  further  to  press 
the  argument  that  when  his  land  fell  within  the  indemnity  limits  of  the  road  it  was  open 
to  his  appropriation  under  the  homestead  law,  until  selected  by  the  Company. 

In  the  view  I  have  taken,  it  may  not  be  necessary  now  to  dispose  of  the  claim  of  the 
Company  to  select  this  land,  other  than  to  say  it  has  been  validly  entered  under  the  home- 
stead law  by  Miller,  and  any  right  it  may  have  must  be  subject  to  his  right  to  make  final 
proof. 

Yet  I  think  it  proper  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  manner  in  which  this  claim  of  selec 
tion  has  been  made.  And,  first,  I  think  it  should  be  observed  that  a  mere  claim  of  selec- 
tion, not  based  upon  such  foundation  as  the  law  and  the  regulations  of  the  Department 
require,  cannot  give  a  right.  The  selection  must  be  one  which  is  both  well-founded  in  the 
necessity  for  it  and  the  manner  of  making  it,  and,  therefore,  one  within  the  direction  and 
approval  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  In  this  case,  the  original  selection  list  gave  no 
indication  of  the  basis  upon  which  a  right  of  selection  of  this  tract  could  be  claimed.  It 
proceeded  upon  the  assumption  that  the  Company  might  "select"  as  many  lands  as  it  saw 
at,  and  make  proof  of  its  losses  afterwards.  This  practice  was,  indeed,  permitted  for  some 
time  in  the  General  Land  Office,  and  thus  it  has  happened  that  some  railroad  corapaniea 
bave  selected,  in  lieu  of  lost  lands,  and  procured  certification  of,  lands  much  in  excess  in 
icreage  of  their  losses  for  which  the  selections  were  admissible.  It  was  also  specially 
vUowed  in  the  case  of  this  Company.  But  it  was  so  allowed  only  upon  condition  that  the 
Dasis  was  subsequently  to  be  supplied,  and  no  selection  was  valid  until  approved  after  such, 
)asi8  should  be  determined.    It  was  thus  only  a  question  of  the  order  of  procedure. 


B 


THE  ROAD  MUST  PROVE  ITS  CLAIM. 


This  practice  was  of  doubtful  validity,  at  least  to  give  a  right  from  date  of  first  seleo- 
ion,  and  was  changed  some  time  since  by  departmental  regulation.  The  act  is  explicit 
hat,  whenever,  prior  to  the  definite  location  of  the  line,  "Ar  y  of  said  sections  or  parts  of 
ections,  shall  have  been  granted,  sold,  reserved,  occupied  by  homestead  settlers,  or  pro- 
mpted, or  otherwise  disposed  of,  other  lands  shall  be  selected  by  said  Company  in  lieu 
hereof,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,"  etc.,  etc. 

Manifestly  it  was  necessary  to  point  out  the  section,  or  the  part  of  a  section,  which  had 
hus  been  lost  to  the  grant,  and  the  manner  of  its  loss,  in  order  to  authorize  the  taking  of 
nother  tract  of  land  in  place  of  it.    The  Department  ought,  before  approval  of  a  selection, 

[to  determine  whether  the  laud  lost  to  the  grant  was  so  previously  appropriated  as  to 


538  GUILFORD  miller's  FARM. 

-furnish  tho  basis  of  a  selection,  and  It  ought  to  be  particularly  shown  for  what  specific  lands 
lostspecldij  seleotioQs  were  marie.  Until  these  tacts  apoeir,  the  Company  has  not  estab- 
lished the  right  to  appropriate  from  the  body  of  lands  open  to  its  choice,  but  is  confined  to 
•those  specifically  granted. 

Inaccordaace  with  this  rule,  my  predecessor  (Mr.  Lamar)  on  the  4th  of  August,  1885, 
:approved  a  circular  from  your  office  to  the  local  officers,  in  which  they  were  directed  aa 
follows: 

*'  Before  admitting  railroad  indemnity  selections  in  any  case,  you  will  require  prelimi- 
"nary  lists  to  bo  filed,  specifying  the  particular  deficiencies  for  which  indemnity  is  claimed. 
■*<■*  m  Where  indemnity  selections  have  herptofore  been  made  without  specifica-ion  of 
■**  losses,  you  will  require  the  companies  to  designate  the  deficiencies  for  which  sach  indem- 
■**  nity  is  to  be  applied  before  further  selections  are  allowed." 

HOW  TITLES  MAY  BE   CLOUDED. 

It  was  in  obedience  to  the  last  clause  that  this  company  filed  on  the  25th  of  October, 
1887,  the  list  of  particular  deficiencies  upon  which  the  claim  of  selections  in  list  number 
two,  before  mentioned,  was  based.  That  list  excellently  illustrates  the  necessity  for  the 
rule  mentioned.  Since  1883  the  claim  of  this  Company  to  take  the  58,000  acres  in  list  nurabei 
two  has  remained  a  cloud  upon  all  the  lands  embraced  within  it.  Yet  when  called  upon  tc 
specify  particular  lands  lost  from  the  graLted  limits,  for  which  such  a  right 
of  selection  can  exist,  only  4,011  acres  are  shown,  except  by  claiming  indemnity  for  about 
55,000  acres  of  lands,  for  the  most  part  not  particularly  defined,  lying  within  the  Yakims 
Indian  Reservation.  But  that  Indian  Reservation  lies  about  two  hundred  miles  south- 
westerly from  the  land  of  Miller.  *  *  »  No  absolute  right  to  granted  lands  exists 
and  no  right  of  selection  for  lands  lost  from  the  granted  lands  can  possibly  arise,  until  th< 
line  of  definite  location  is  made.    It  is  unnecessary  to  elaborate  so  clear  a  proposition. 

miller's  land  not  in  the  indemnity  limits,  as  claimed. 

The  entire  extent,  then,  to  which  a  right  of  selection  can  now  be  accorded  to  this  com. 
>pany,  on  the  basis  upon  which  they  have  claimed  it  in  this  list,  is  to  indemnify  the  loss  o1 
about  4,011  acres.  If  the  lands  which  they  have  chosen  to  select  in  this  list  number  two  b« 
applied  in  the  order  in  which  they  have  named  them  for  selection,  to  this  deficiency,  th< 
entire  right  is  satisfied  by  the  lands  in  the  first  fifty  or  sixty  tracts  designated  ;  while  tb( 
land  of  Guilford  Miller  is,  as  has  been  stated,  the  one  hundred  and  forty-ninth  trac 
claimed.  There  does  not  appear,  therefore,  from  any  showing  yet  made  by  tlie  company 
that  it  has  any  right,  whatever,  to  claim  this  land  because  of  anything  lost  from  the  grante( 
limits;  nor  has  it,  to  this  time,  made  any  such  claim,  other  than  in  this  list  number  two. 

Meantime,  whatever  may  have  been  the  validity  of  the  order  of  withdrawal,  it  wa 
re  voked  on  the  1.5th  of  August  last.  If  I  were  bound  to  regard  Miller's  homestead  entr] 
as  irregular  because  in  conflict  with  the  subsist! Qg  withdrawal  at  the  time  it  was  made 
yet,  inasmuch  as  that  withdrawal  has  entirely  ceased,  and  no  objection  remains  in  an; 
right  of  the  company,  or  otherwise,  so  far  as  known  to  the  Department,  to  his  taking  thi 
land,  and,  inasmuch  as  his  settlement  and  long  residence  (assuming  his  claims  in  respec 
-thereto  will  be  established  by  final  proofs)  entitle  him  to  equitable  consideration,  it  wouh 
appear  to  be  not  an  improper  exercise  of  discretion  to  now  direct  the  allowance  of  hi, 
.application  for  a  homestead  entry. 

miller's  equitable  as  well  as  a  legal  claim. 

I  do  not,  however,  for  the  reasons  already  so  elaborately  given,  find  myself  under  an; 
'necessity  to  sustain  his  claim  upon  anv  tender  principles  of  merely  equitable  nature.  Hi 
-stands,  in  my  judgment,  upon  a  solid  legal  foundation  in  his  clain  upon  the  Government  V 
ihe  recognition  of  his  right  as  a  homesteader,  and  his  entry  should  remain  intact.  You 
(decision  to  this  effect  is  affirmed,  and  the  papers  in  the  case  herewith  transmitted. 


THE  INDIAN  BUKEAU.  23£> 


CHAPTER   XIX. 
THE   INDIAN   BUREAU. 

A  CAEEFTJL   BUSINESS    POLICY   ADOPTED   IN   DEALING  WITH  THE 
WAEDS   OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

A  Decline  in  the  Number   of  Indian    Outbreaks  and  a. 
Marked  Improvement  in  tlie  Service, 


The  President  has  always  manifested  the  closest  interest  in  the  treatment,  con- 
iition  and  welfare  of  the  Indians.  In  his  first  annual  message  he  treated  the  ques- 
ion  ^.t  some  length,  and,  as  the  following  extracts  will  show,  with  great  intelli- 
gence and  earnestness : 

It  is  useless  to  dilate  upon  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians,  and  as  useless  to  indulge  in 
he  heartless  belief  that  because  their  wrongs  are  revenged  in  their  own  atrocious  manner,, 
herefore  they  should  be  exterminated. 

They  are  within  the  care  of  our  Government,  and  their  rights  are,  or  should  be,, 
irotected  from  invasion  by  the  most  solemn  obligations.  They  are  properly  enough 
ailed  the  wards  of  the  Government ;  and  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  guardian- 
hip  involves,  on  our  part,  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition  and  the  en- 
orcement  of  their  rights.  There  seems  to  be  general  concurrence  in  the  proposition 
hat  the  ultimate  object  of  their  treatment  should  be  their  civilization  and  citizenship,, 
'itted  by  these  to  keep  pace  in  the  march  of  progress  with  the  advanced  civilization 
bout  them,  they  will  readily  assimilate  with  the  mass  of  our  population,  assuming  the 
esponsibilities  and  receiving  the  protection  incident  to  this  condition.  The  difficulty 
ppears  to  be  in  the  selection  of  the  means  to  be  at  present  employed  toward  the  attain- 
lent  of  this  result. 

THE  DESIRE  OP  THE  INDLA.NS  THEMSEIiVHS. 

Our  Indian  population,  exclusive  of  those  in  Alaska,  is  reported  as  numbering  260,000,. 
early  all  being  located  on  lands  set  apart  for  their  use  and  occupation,  aggregating  over 
le  hundred  and  thirty-four  millions  of  acres.  These  lands  are  included  in  the  boundaries 
I  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  reservations  of  different  dimensions,  scattered  in  twenty- 
le  States  end  Territories,  presenting  great  variations  in  climate  and  in  the  kind  and 
lality  of  their  soils.  Among  the  Indians  upon  these  several  reservations  there  exist  the 
ost  marked  differences  in  natural  traits  and  disposition  and  in  their  progress  toward  civil- 
ation.  While  some  are  lazy,  vicious  and  stupid,  others  are  industrious,  peaceful  and  in- 
lligent ;  while  a  portion  of  them  are  self-supporting  and  independent,  and  have  so  far  ad- 
mced  in  civilization  that  tlsey  make  their  own  laws,  administered  through  officers  of  their 
i^n  choice,  and  educate  their  children  in  schools  of  their  own  establishment  and  main- 
nance,  others  still  retain,  In  squalor  and  dependence,  almost  the  savagery  of  their, 
itura]  state. 


240  THE    INDIAN    BUREAU. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  the  desires  manifested  by  the  Indians  should  not  be 
ignored.  Here,  again,  we  find  a  g  reat  diversity.  With  some  the  tribal  relation  is  cherished 
with  the  utmost  tenacity,  while  its  hold  upon  others  is  considerably  relaxed:  the  love  of 
home  is  strong  with  all,  and  yet  there  are  those  whose  attachment  to  a  particular  locality 
is  by  no  means  unyielding;  the  ownership  of  their  lands  in  severalty  is  much  desired  by 
€ome,  while  by  others,  and  sometimes  among  the  most  civilized,  such  a  distribution  would 
be  bitterly  opposed. 

The  variation  of  their  wants,  growing  out  of  and  connected  with  the  character  of  their 
several  locations,  should  be  regarded.  Some  are  upon  reservations  most  fit  for  grazing, 
but  without  flocks  or  herds;  and  some,  on  arable  land,  have  no  agricultural  Implements; 
while  some  of  the  reservations  are  double  the  size  necessary  to  maintain  the  number  of 
Indians  now  upon  them;  in  a  few  cases  perhaps,  they  should  be  enlarged. 


THE  EFFECT  OF  CHRISTIAN  TEACHING. 

The  history  of  all  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  the  civilization  of  the  Indian, 
I  think  will  disclose  the  fact,  that  the  beginning  has  been  religious  teaching,  followed  by 
or  accompanying  secular  education.  While  the  self-sacrificing  and  pious  men  and  women 
who  have  aided  In  this  good  work  by  their  Independent  endeavor,  have  for  their  reward 
tbe  beneficent  results  of  their  labor  and  the  consciousness  of  Christian  duty  well  per- 
formed, their  valuable  services  should  be  fully  acknowledged  by  all  who,  under  the  law, 
are  charged  with  the  control  and  management  of  our  Indian  wards. 


RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  A  REFORMED  SYSTEM. 

I  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  six  commissioners, 
three  of  whom  shall  be  detailed  from  the  Army,  to  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  a  careful 
inspection  from  time  to  time  of  all  the  Indians  upon  our  reservations  or  subject  to  the 
care  and  control  of  the  Government,  with  a  view  of  discovering  their  exact  condition  and 
needs,  and  determining  what  steps  shall  be  taken  on  behalf  of  the  Government  to  Improve 
their  situation  in  the  direction  of  their  self-support  and  complete  civilization  ;  that  they 
ascertain  from  such  inspection  what,  if  any,  of  the  reservations  may  be  reduced  in  area, 
and  in  such  cases  what  part,  not  needed  for  Indian  occupatioa,  may  be  purchased  by  the 
Government  from  the  Indians,  and  disposed  of  for  their  benefit;  what,  if  any,  Indians 
may,  with  their  consent,  be  removed  to  other  reservations,  with  a  view  of  their  concentra- 
tion and  the  sale  on  their  behalf  of  their  abandoned  reservations  ;  what  Indian  lands  now 
held  in  common  should  be  allotted  in  severalty ;  in  what  manner  and  to  what  extent  the 
Indians  upon  the  reservations  can  be  placed  under  the  protection  of  our  laws  and  sub- 
jected to  their  penalties ;  and  which,  if  any,  Indians  should  be  invested  with  the  right  of 
citizenship.  The  powers  and  functions  of  the  commissioners  In  regard  to  these  subjects 
should  be  clearly  defined,  though  they  should,  in  coaj unction  with  the  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior, be  given  all  the  authority  to  deal  definitely  with  the  questions  presented,  deemed 
safe  and  consistent. 

They  should  be  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  ascertaining  the  Indians  who  might 
properly  be  furnished  with  Implements  of  agriculture,  and  of  what  kind ;  in  what  cases 
the  support  of  the  Government  should  be  withdrawn;  where  the  present  plan  of  distribu- 
ting Indian  supplies  should  be  changed ;  where  schools  may  be  established,  and  where  dis- 
continued ;  the  conduct,  methods  and  fitness  of  agents  in  charge  of  reservations ;  the  ex- 
tent to  which  such  reservations  are  occupied  or  intruded  upon  by  unauthorized  persons; 
and  generally  all  matters  related  to  the  welfare  and  improvement  of  the  Indian. 

They  should  advise  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  coacerning  these  matters  of  de- 
tail in  management,  and  he  should  be  given  power  to  deal  with  them  fully,  if  he  is  not  now 
invested  with  such  power. 

This  plan  contemplates  the  selection  of  persons  for  comniissioners  who  are  interested 
tnthe  Indian  question,  and  who  have  practical  ideas  upon  the  subject  of  their  treatment. 

In  his  second  annual  message  lie  considered  the  whole  question  more  fully  and 
inline  with  his  former  recommendations,  as  shown  by  the  following  extracts: 


THE    INDIAN    EURKAU.  241 


THB  AGSNCY  SYSTEM  LONG  OUTGROWN. 


The  present  system  of  agencies,  while  absolutely  necessary  and  well  adapted  for  the 
management  of  our  Indian  affairs  and  for  the  ends  in  view,  when  it  was  adopted,  is  in  the 
present  stage  of  Indian  management  inadequate,  standing  alone  for  the  accomplishment 
of  an  object  which  has  become  pressing  in  its  importance— the  more  rapid  transition  from 
tribal  organizations  to  citizenship,  of  such  portions  of  the  Indians  as  are  capable  of  civilized 
life. 

When  the  existing  system  was  adopted  the  Indian  race  was  outside  of  the  limits  of 
organized  States  and  Territories,  and  beyond  the  immediate  reach  and  operation  of  civil- 
ization ;  and  all  efforts  were  mainly  directed  to  the  maintenance  of  friendly  relations  and 
the  preservation  of  peace  and  quiet  on  the  frontier.  All  this  is  now  changed.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  the  Indian  fro  ntier.  Civilization,  with  the  busy  hum  of  industry  and  the  in- 
fluences of  Christianity,  surrounds  these  people  at  every  point.  None  of  the  tribes  are 
outside  of  the  bounds  of  organized  government  and  society,  except  that  the  territorial 
system  has  not  been  extended  over  that  portion  of  the  country  known  as  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory. As  a  race  the  Indians  are  no  longer  hostile,  but  may  be  considered  as  submissive  to 
the  control  of  the  Government ;  few  of  them  only  are  troublesonie.  Except  the  frag- 
ments of  several  bands  all  are  now  gathered  upon  reservations. 

SHOULD  BE  INCORPORATED  WITH  OUR  PEOPLE. 

Itlsnolonger  possible  for  them  to  subsist  by  the  chase  and  the  spontaneous  produo- 
tions  of  the  earth.  With  an  abundance  of  land,  if  furnished  with  the  means  and  imple- 
ments for  profitable  husbandry,  their  life  of  entire  dependence  upon  Government  rations 
from  day  to  day  is  no  longer  defensible.  Their  inclination,  long  fostered  by  a  defective 
system  of  control,  is  to  cling  to  the  habits  and  customs  of  their  ancestors  and  struggle 
with  persistence  against  the  change  of  life  which  their  altered  circumstances  press  upon 
them.  But  barbarism  and  civilization  cannot  live  together.  It  is  impossible  that  such  in- 
congrivjus  conditions  should  coexist  on  the  same  soil. 

They  are  a  portion  of  our  people,  are  under  the  authority  of  our  Government,  and 
have  a  peculiar  claim  upon  and  are  entitled  to  the  fostering  care  and  protection  of  the  na- 
tion. The  G  overnment  cannot  relieve  itself  of  this  responsibility  until  they  are  so  far  trained 
and  civilized  as  to  be  able  wholly  to  manage  and  care  for  themselves.  The  paths  in  which  they 
should  walk  must  be  clearly  marked  out  for  them,  and  they  must  be  led  or  guided  until 
they  are  familiar  with  the  way  and  competent  to  assume  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
our  citizenship. 

Progress  in  this  great  work  will  continue  only  at  the  present  slow  pace  and  at  great 
expense,  unless  the  system  and  methods  of  management  are  improved  to  meet  the 
changed  conditions  and  urgent  demands  of  the  service. 

A  CHANGE  OF  SYSTEM    AGAIN  ENFORCED. 

Hence  the  necessity  for  a  supplemental  agency  or  system,  directed  to  the  end  of  pro- 
moting the  general  and  more  rapid  transition  of  the  tribes  from  habits  and  customs  of 
barbarism  to  the  ways  of  civilization. 

With  an  anxious  desire  to  devise  some  plan  of  operation  by  which  to  secure  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Indians,  and  to  relieve  the  Treasury  as  far  as  possible  from  the  support  of  an 
die  and  dependent  population,  I  recommended  in  my  previous  annual  message  the  passage 
)f  a  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a  commission  as  an  instrumentality  auxiliary  to 
hose  already  established,  for  the  care  of  the  Indians.  It  was  designed  that  this  commis- 
ion  should  be  composed  of  six  intelligent  and  capable  persons— three  to  be  detailed  from 
he  At  my— having  practical  ideas  upon  the  subject  of  the  treatment  of  Indians,  and  inter- 
ssted  in  their  welfare;  and  that  it  should  be  charged  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary 
•f  the  Interior,  with  the  management  of  such  matters  of  detail  as  cannot  with  the  present 
irganization  be  properly  and  successfully  conducted,  and  which  present  different  phases, 
8  the  Indians  themselves  differ,  in  their  progress,  needs,  disposition,  and  capacity  for  im- 
Tovement  or  immediate  self-support. 

By  the  aid  of  such  a  commission  much  unwise  and  useless  expenditure  of  money, 
raste  of  materials,  and  unavailing  efforts  mighi  be  avoided ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  or 


L 


243  THE    INDIAN    BUREAU. 

some  measure  which  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  better  demise,  to  supply  the  deficiency 
of  the  preoent  system,  may  rtoeive  your  cons  fit  ration,  and  the  appropriate  legislation  h& 
provided.    The  time  is  ripe  for  the  work  of  such  an  agency. 


THE  GOOD  RESULTS  SURE  TO  FOLLOW. 

There  is  less  opposition  to  the  education  and  training  of  the  Indian  youth,  as  shown 
by  the  increased  attendance  upon  the  schools,  and  there  is  a  yielding  tendency  for  the- 
individual  holding  of  lands.  Development  and  advancement  in  these  directions  are  essen- 
tial, and  should  have  every  encouragement.  As  the  rising  generation  are  taught  the  lan- 
guage of  civilization  and  trained  in  habits  of  industry,  they  should  assume  the  duties*, 
privileges,  and  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 

]No  obstacle  should  hindtr  the  location  and  settlement  of  any  Indian  willing  to  take 
land  in  severalty ;  on  the  contrary,  the  inclination  to  do  so  should  be  stimulated  at  all 
times  when  proper  and  expedient.  But  there  is  no  authority  of  law  for  making  allotments- 
on  some  of  the  reservations,  and  on  others  the  allotments  provided  for  are  so  small,  that 
the  Indians,  though  ready  and  desiring  to  settle  down,  are  not  willing  to  accept  such  small 
areas,  when  their  reservatioas  contain  ample  lands  to  afford  them  homesteads  of  sufficient 
size  to  meet  their  present  and  future  needs. 

These  inequalities  of  existing  special  laws  and  treaties,  should  be  corrected  and  some 
general  legislation  on  the  subject  should  be  provided,  so  that  the  more  progressive  mem- 
bers of  the  different  tribes  may  be  settled  upon  homesteads,  and  by  their  example  lead 
others  to  follow,  breaking  away  from  tribal  customs  and  substituting  therefor  the  love  of 
home,  the  interest  of  the  family,  and  the  rule  of  the  State. 

The  Indian  character  and  nature  are  such  that  they  are  not  easily  led  while  broodisig 
over  unadjusted  wrongs.  This  is  especially  so  regarding  their  lands.  Matters  arising  from 
the  construction  and  operation  of  railroads  across  some  of  the  reservations,  and  claims  of 
title  and  right  of  occupancy  set  up  by  white  persons  to  some  of  the  best  land  within  other 
reservations,  require  legislation  for  their  final  adjustment. 

The  settlement  of  these  matters  will  remove  many  embarrassments  to  progress  in  the 
work  of  leading  the  Indians  to  the  adoption  of  our  institutions  and  bringing  them  under 
the  operation,  the  influence,  and  the  piotection  of  the  universal  laws  of  our  country. 


PKOGRESS  MADE  BY  INDIANS  UNDER  PRESENT  ADMINISTRATION.       ' 

A  marked  improvpment  in  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Indians  since  the 
commencement  of  the  present  administration  is  apparent.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
enter  into  statistical  statements  to  establish  this  fact,  as  their  substantial  progress 
toward  civilization  and  self-support  is  easily  observed  by  all  who  turn  their  atten- 
tion in  that  direction.  The  number  who  have  abandoned  the  blanket  and  teepee 
for  the  dress  and  dwelling  of  the  white  man  is  so  great  that  but  a  small  percentage 
still  hold  on  to  these  evidences  of  barbarism. 

Farming  is  now  so  general  among  them  as  to  promise  soon  to  be  the  universal 
pursuit  of  every  family.  The  increase  in  acreage  of  land  under  cultivation  by  In- 
dians is  great.  They  are  clamorous  for  agricultural  implements,  stock,  seeds,  etc.^ 
and  agents  are  held  responsible  now  that  their  Indians  know  how  to  use  what  is 
given  to  them  and  to  take  good  care  of  it,  so  that  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  tit  out 
an  Indian  farmer  with  a  complete  new  set  of  tools,  seeds,  etc.,  each  spring,  as  form- 
erly. Tribes  and  bands  are  constantly  being  added  to  the  list  of  those  who  are  not- 
only  self-supporting,  but  in  a  fair  way  to  establish  permanent  comfortable  homes. 

This  is  mainly  the  result  of  the  present  system.  Expensive  and  useless  agency 
farms  have  been  discontinued,  and  practical  farmers  located  among  the  Indians  at 
various  points  on  the  several  reservations  to  show  them  how  to  farm,  take  good  care 


THE    INDIAN    BUREAU.  2*3 

of  stock,  etc.,  are  required  to  report  to  this  office  monthly ;  a  very  great  improve- 
ment on  the  old  method,  and  promises  to  completely  and  satisfactorily  solve  the  im- 
portant "  Indian  question." 

The  present  plan,  if  faithfully  carried  out,  will  soon  relieve  the  Government 
from  the  necessity  for  all  gratuitous  appropriations  for  Indians,  and  those  who  take 
a  lively  interest  in  their  welfare  and  progress  will  have  much  to  gratify  them. 

Schools  among  the  Indians  and  for  them  at  points  outside  of  reservations  have 
been  largely  increased  and  the  attendance  is  growing  every  day,  so  that  it  will  soon 
be  a  rare  exception  to  find  an  Indian  child  of  school  age  who  does  not  attend,  and 
the  English  language  will  soon  be  universal  with  them. 

All  this  has  been  accomplished  by  the  present  administration,  not  only  without 
additional  expense  to  the  Government,  but  a  great  saving  has  been  the  result  of  its 
management,  which  will  appear  when  it  is  considered  that  although  the  entire 
amount  Congress  was  asked  to  appropriate  for  the  Indian  Department  for  the  next 
fiscal  year  was  some  $120,000  less  than  for  the  preceding  year,  and  nearly  $1,950,000 
less  than  that  estimated  for  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1886,  the  amount  to 
be  used  for  school  purposes  during  the  year  ending  June  30, 1889,  is  nearly  $200,000 
greater  than  that  for  the  year  1886,  making  a  total  saving  from  funds  formerly  re- 
quired for  support,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  about  $2,150,000  per  annum. 

The  burden  of  all  reports  from  inspectors,  agents,  special  agents  and  agency 
farmers  is  the  steady  and  remarkable  increase  of  the  interest  taken  by  Indians  in 
their  farming  operations  and  other  civilized  pursuits ;  their  willingness  to  send  their 
children  to  school,  and  their  general  thrifty,  contented  and  prosperous  conditions, 
compared  with  a  few  years  ago. 


THE  INDIANS  MORE  QUIET  THAN  EVER. 

As  the  result  of  a  wise,  precautionary  policy  inaugurated  with  the  incoming  of 
the  present  administration,  the  first  year  of  its  control  was  passed  with  but  a  single 
case  of  serious  disorder  among  the  260,000  Indians  for  whose  management,  care  and 
protection  the  Indian  Bureau  is  held  responsible. 

The  escape  from  the  San  Carlos  reservation  of  some  forty  Chiricahua  bucks  and 
a  few  women  and  children,  under  Chief  Geronimo,  the  history  of  whose  murders, 
depredations  and  pillaging  is  well  remembered  by  the  public,  affords  the  one  case  of 
Indian  outlawry  for  the  entire  year  (1885),  and  the  Indian  office,  under  its  present 
control,  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  that,  inasmuch  as  the  police  control  of  the 
Chiricahuas  was  then  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  military.  Furthermore,  the  very 
unwise  policy  of  congregating  large  bodies  of  wild  Indians  on  the  San  Carlos, 
berded  like  cattle  by  the  Republican  administration,  under  immediate  charge  of  the 
military,  and  fed  in  comparative  idleness,  led  to  serious  disturbances  in  1882-3,  of 
which  the  Geronimo  outbreak  was  merely  a  continuation;  so  timt,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  Chiricahua  troubles  were  entailed  upon  the  new  administration  by  the  pre- 
;eding  one. 

After  the  surrender  of  the  whole  band  of  Chiricahua  Apaches,  numbering  be- 
ween  300  and  400  men,  women  and  children,  were  removed  to  Florida  by  the  War 
Department,  and  there  has  not  been  a  single  case  of  open  hostility  on  the  part  ot 
aiy  band  or  tribe  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country  since  the  Gero- 

I  outbreak,  which  occurred  over  tiiree  years  ago,  nor  has  there  been  any  serious 


244  THE    INDIAN    BUKEAU. 

disturbance  or  disorder,  if  we  except  the  very  singular  occurrence  among  the  peace- 
ful Crows,  at  the  Crow  Agency,  in  Montana,  in  October  last,  when,  as  will  be  re- 
membered, a  handful  of  young  bucks  led  away  by  a  crazy-headed  "medicine  man," 
feigned  an  hostile  demonstration  against  the  Agency,  and  in  a  spirit  of  surprising 
bravado,  defied  the  Agent's  authority  and  challenged  the  military  to  attack  them, 
the  outcome  of  which  was  the  troops  did  attack,  compelling  an  almost  instant  sur- 
render, and  putting  an  end  to  the  disturbance. 

That  the  Indians  have  had  very  frequent  and  bitter  provocations,  there  can  be 
no  question. 

KEEPING  DOWN  INDIAN  WARS  BY  MAKING  NO  AGGRESSIONS. 

When  President  Cleveland  was  inaugurated,  the  powerful  tribe  ofNavajoes 
were  chafing  under  serious  grievances  and  threatening  trouble.  A  portion  of  theii 
reservation  had  been  wrongfully  taken  from  them  the  year  before,  without  their 
consent,  and  they  were  sufiering  for  water  to  supply  their  countless  herds  and  flocks 
of  sheep,  the  only  available  stream  of  water  having  been  segregated  from  their  res- 
ervation, and  the  adjoining  land  occupied  by  the  whites,  cutting  the  Indians  com 
pletely  ofi".  Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Indian  office,  these  lands  were  re 
stored  to  the  Navajoes,  and  a  threatened  bloody  outbreak  thereby  prevented. 

In  the  same  way  the  greater  portion  of  the  Crow,  Creek  and  "Winnebago  Res- 
ervations in  Dakota  had  been  wrested  from  the  Sioux,  without  authority  of  law 
or  the  consent  of  the  Indians.  Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Indian  office,  the 
lands  were  again  restored  to  the  Indians,  it  being  one  of  President  Cleveland's  first 
official  acts.    Here  again  was  serious  trouble  averted. 

The  continued  interference  with  the  Indians  in  their  fishery  rights  on  the  Co 
lumbia  River,  in  Oregon,  the  attempted  occupation  of  the  Zuni  lands,  in  Nei^ 
Mexico,  and  also  the  Klamath  River  Reservation,  in  California,  by  white  settlers 
came  very  near  provoking  violence  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  but  timely  action  bj 
the  Indian  Office  prevented  trouble.  So  with  the  Colville  and  Coeur  d'Alem 
Reservation,  which  would  have  been  overrun  by  miners  and  prospectors,  with  th( 
almost  certain  result  of  war,  but  for  the  prompt  action  of  the  Indian  office. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Indian  Bureau  since  March,  1885,  to  call  upon  th< 
military  whenever  and  wherever  trouble  has  been  anticipated,  and  by  the  timel) 
and  always  hearty  co-operation  of  the  War  Department,  peace  has  been  maintained 
and  white  trespassers  everywhere  have  been  made  to  understand  that  they  cannot 
encroach  upon  the  Indians  with  impunity,  and  the  Indians  have  learned  that,  while 
they  may  expect  protection  from  the  Government,  they  will  not  be  allowed  to 
interfere  with  the  whites. 

Moreover,  the  Indians  have  been  encouraged  in  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  civil 
ized  life  aa  never  before,  and  they  have  turned  their  attention  to  farming  and  stock- 
raising  with  a  zeal  hitherto  unknown. 

Perhaps  nothing  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  universal  peace  and  tran- 
quility which  now  prevails  among  the  Indian  tribes,  as  the  action  of  the  Indiac 
Office  in  requiring  Indian  Agents  everywhere,  on  pain  of  removal  from  office,  tc 
encourage,  aid  and  assist  the  Indians  by  every  means  in  their  power,  to  settle  down 
and  engage  in  agricultural  pursuits  and  farm  life. 


THE    INDIAN    BUREAU.  24$ 

As  early  as  March,  1886,  Indian  Agents  were  instructed  as  follows  : 
"The  one  great  object  this  Department  has  now  in  view.  Is  the  civilization  of  the 
Indian,  and  to  enable  him  to  support  himself  by  agriculture  as  soon  as  possible.  I  there- 
fore expect,  and  will  require  all  Indian  Agents  and  agency  employes  who  wish  to  bo 
retained  in  the  service,  to  use  every  means  at  their  command  to  instruct,  encourage  and 
assist  the  Indians  to  this  end,  and  their  marked  progress  in  successful  agriculture,  com- 
menoingwith  the  current  year,  is  indispensably  necessary  to  prove  the  agent  and  em- 
ployes of  an  agency  qualified  for  their  positions.  Nothing  less  than  a  very  great  improve- 
ment over  former  years  will  be  satisfactory.  That  the  area  of  land  cultivated  by  Indians 
may  be  increased  this  year,  to  its  utmost  possible  extent,  those  who  have  already  made  a 
beginning,  in  a  small  way,  must  be  encouraged  to  enlarge  their  operations,  and  those  who 
have  as  yet  made  no  effort  toward  cultivating  even  a  small  piece  of  land,  must  be  urged  to 
make  a  commencement,  and  give  all  possible  advice  and  assistance,  that  they  may  need,  to 
encourage  them." 

The  effect  of  the  application  of  this  system  was  magical.  The  acreage  of  cui- 
tivated  lands  has  been  increased  enormously,  and  the  beneficial  effect  upon  the 
Indians  has  been  correspondingly  great,  so  that  no  serious  Indian  troubles  are  to 
be  apprehended  so  long  as  this  humane  and  sensible  policy  is  carried  out. 

CARE  EXERCISED  IN  THE  CHOICE  OF  AGENCY  CLERKS  AND   OTHER  EMPOTES. 

Under  previov\s  administrations  little  attention  was  paid  by  the  Indian  Office  to 
the  qualifications  of  Agency  Clerks,  their  selection  and  appointment  being  left  to 
the  various  Agents.  Under  such  rule  an  agency  could  easily  be  conducted  so  that 
neither  Inspectors  nor  Special  Agents  could  ascertain  the  true  condition  of  affairs, 
much  less  could  the  office  have  any  accurate  or  reliable  information  in  relation  to 
the  business  at  any  agency  in  case  the  Agent  and  Clerk  should  combine  to  perpe- 
trate a  fraud  upon  the  Indian  Government. 

In  order  to  do  away  with  this  inducement  to  dishonesty  and  source  of  reproach, 
the  present  administration  determined  to  have  the  Agency  Clerks  appointed  by  the 
Office,  care  being  exercised  to  appoint  only  competent,  efficient  men,  thoroughly 
honest  and  trustworthy.  In  order  to  secure  men  properly  qualified,  the  Office  re- 
quires not  only  the  strongest  recommendations  and  endorsements  as  to  character 
and  ability,  but  before  an  appointment  is  made  a  letter  is  addressed  to  the  appli- 
:jant,  requiring  him  to  make  application  for  the  place  by  a  letter  in  his  own  compo- 
jition,  in  his  own  handwriting,  stating  his  age,  business  qualifications  and  experi- 
jnce.  He  is  also  furnished  with  a  synopsis  of  the  qualifications  and  duties  of  an 
Agency  Clerk  and  directed  to  state  whether  he  will  accept  the  place  subject  to  the 
jonditions  named  therein. 

AGENCY  PHYSICIANS. 

The  selection  of  physicians  at  Indian  Agencies  has,  for  many  years,  been  re- 
erved  to  the  Indian  Office,  but  previous  to  the  present  administration  but  little  at- 
ention  was  paid  to  this  branch  ol  the  service  further  than  simply  to  make  the  ap- 
>ointments.  No  restrictions  were  imposed  in  regard  to  engaging  in  private  practice 
>ff  the  reservations,  the  consequence  being  that  many  physicians  neglected  their 
>roper  official  duties  to  attend  to  outside  patients,  in  order  to  increase  their  income, 
^his,  of  course,  led  to  many  complaints  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  and  Agency  em- 
loyes  who  were  neglected,  and  caused  so  much  trouble  that  it  was  determined  to 
nprove  the  existing  state  of  affairs  by  prohibiting  Agency  Physiciana  from  engaging 
1  private  practice. 


346  THE    INDIAN    BUREAU. 

The  same  care  is  used  in  selecting  physicians  as  in  choosing  clerks,  and  no  ap- 
pointment is  made  until  the  applicant  is  furnished  "with  a  synopsis  of  qualifications 
and  duties,  and  required  to  furnish  the  information  called  for  therein,  and  state  by 
a  letter  of  his  own  composition,  in  his  own  handwriting,  whether  he  will  accept 
the  position,  subject  to  all  the  conditions  imposed. 

ADDITIONAL  FARMERS. 

For  several  years  past  Congress  has  appropriated  funds  for  the  pay  of  practical 
farmers  in  the  Indian  service,  to  be  employed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in 
addition  to  the  regular  Agency  farmers.  Under  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  the  selection  of  persons  for  these  places  has  been  made  by  the  Indian 
Office,  the  points  to  which  they  are  sent  being  determined  by  the  Secretary. 

Great  care  is  exercised  to  secure  only  competent  practical  farmers  for  these 
places,  men  who  not  only  understand  farming  in  all  its  branches,  including  the  use 
and  care  of  machinery  and  care  of  stock,  but  who  have  been  actually  engaged  in 
farmmg  for  at  least  five  years  previous  to  appointment. 

As  in  the  case  of  clerk  and  physician,  an  applicant  is  furnished  with  a  memo- 
randum showing  what  will  be  expected  and  required  in  event  of  his  appointment 
and  stating  the  necessary  qualifications,  and  required  to  signify  his  willingness  to 
accept  the  place,  subject  to  all  the  conditions  imposed. 

SAFEGUARDS  AGAINST  DECEPTION. 

When  any  appointment,  other  than  that  of  agent,  is  made  to  a  position  at  an 
agency,  the  appointee  is  told  that  he  must  defray  his  own  expenses  in  reaching  his 
post  of  duty,  as  the  appointment  does  not  take  efTect  until  he  reports  in  person  to 
the  agent.  This  fact,  in  connection  with  the  certainty  of  dismissal  in  the  event  of 
being  found  incompetent  or  unfitted  in  any  way  for  service,  thus  necessitating  the 
expenditure  of  more  money  for  traveling  expenses,  tends  to  prevent  attempts  to 
deceive  the  office  or  obtain  appointments  by  false  representations. 

agents'  relatives. 

Under  former  administrations  agents  were  not  required,  as  now,  to  certify  on 
the  sheet  upon  which  nominations  are  submitted,  the  relationship,  if  any,  which  the 
appointee  might  sustain  to  the  agent  The  consequence  was  that  a  number  of 
agents  surrounded  themselves  with  their  relatives,  giving  them  the  most  lucrative 
positions  at  their  disposal.  This  practice  has  been  broken  up,  and  agents  now  cer- 
tify after  each  nomination  whether  or  not  the  person  nominated  is  related  to  him  or 
to  his  bondsmen.  In  no  instance  is  an  agent  or  superintendent  allowed  to  nominate 
more  than  one  member  of  his  family  or  one  kinsman  in  any  degree. 

leaves  of  absence. 

Formerly  much  suffering,  and  in  many  cases  death,  resulted  from  granting  leaves 
of  absenee  to  agency  physicians  and  allowing  them  to  leave  their  posts  of  duty  with- 
out making  any  provision  for  the  care  of  such  cases  as  might  occur  during  their 
absence.    Under  the  present  rule  no  physician  in  the  service  is  granted  leave  of 


I 


THE    INDIAN    BUREAU.  S^C 

absence  without  being  required  to  leave  a  properly  qualified  substitute  to  attend  to 
4rgent  cases.  » 

This  ruling  has,  without  doubt,  been  of  immense  benefit  to  the  Indians  and 
agency  employees,  has  prevented  much  suffering  and  saved  many  lives. 

INDIAN   SCHOOLS. 

When  the  present  administration  took  charge  of  the  Indian  office  it  was  the 
almost  universal  custom  to  allow  the  agents  and  superintendents  of  schools  to  select 
the  entire  corps  of  employees.  There  were  no  regulations  requiring  any  informa- 
tion to  be  filed  as  to  qualifications,  experience,  relationship  or  character  of  the 
parties  appointed.  The  names  of  those  removed  and  appointed  were  merely  reported 
to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  and  were  recorded  on  the  "Record  of 
Employees"  without  any  question. 

The  new  Commissioner,  soon  after  taking  charge,  formulated  a  rule  by  which 
the  agents  and  superintendents  were  required  to  make  a  statement  of  the  qualifica- 
tions of  every  person  nominated  for  a  position  in  a  school,  and  to  state  the  reasons  for 
every  dismissal  made.  In  October,  1885,  a  circular  was  issued  to  all  persons  having 
charge  of  Indian  schools,  instructing  them  to  furnish  this  information,  and  in 
Tanuarj ,  1886,  another  circular  was  issued  requiring  a  statement  in  advance  of 
changes  proposed  in  employees,  giving  in  full  the  reasons  and  the  good  expected  to 
)e  accomplished,  and  it  was  stated  that  no  discharge  or  nomination  would  be 
ipproved  unless  the  previous  approval  of  the  Indian  Office  had  been  obtained  for 
uch  discharge  or  nomination. 

Instructions  were  also  issued  providing  that,  in  an  exigency,  changes  might  be 
aade,  and  that  a  full  statement  of  the  facte  in  such  cases  must  be  immediately  for- 
warded to  the  Indian  Office,  and  the  agents  were  informed  that  they  would  be  held 
trictly  responsible  for  the  recommendations  they  might  make,  and  would  be  held 
^sponsible  for  any  injury  to  the  service  caused  by  any  one  appointed  on  their 
jcommendations  who  proved  inefficient. 

It  is  now  required  that  applicants  for  positions  in  the  school  service  shall  file 
7idence  of  their  fitness.  These  testimonials  are  filed  in  the  Indian  Office,  and  can 
e  referred  to  at  any  time.  The  employees  are  thus  held  responsible  to  the  authori- 
es  at  Washington  for  the  performance  of  their  duties,  and  have  the  assurance  that 
ley  will  be  protected  so  long  as  they  faithfully  perform  their  duties.  The  wisdom 
'  this  change  in  the  manner  of  making  appointments  is  evidenced  by  the  increased 
terest  manifested  by  all  school  employees,  and  the  consequent  increased  efficiency 
'  the  schools. 

At  the  present  time  the  schools  are  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity,  and  the  only 
ason  why  more  children  are  not  in  school  is  because  there  are  no  accommodations 
r  them.  The  average  attendance  since  the  advent  of  the  present  adraistration  has 
ore  than  doubled,  being  in  1884,  6,115,  and  in  1887, 14,333,  while  during  the  current 
cal  year  it  has  increased  at  least  20  percent 


I 


248 


THE    INDIAN    BUREAU. 


EXPENDITURES  FOR  INDIAN  SERVICE. 

BtaUments  sTwwing  the  cost  of  Indian  Service,  the  efficiency  of  Indian  Schools,  Attendance,  etc, 

1882,1883and  1884 $19,518,613  06 

1886, 1887  and  1888 18,872,791  55 

Saving  in  favor  of  1886, 1887  and  1888 !g645.82t  51 

Out  of  the  above  expenditures  the  following-  sums  were  used  for  the  support  of  Indian 
Schools : 

1882, 1883  and  1884 : Sl.149.024  88 

1886, 1887  and  1888 3,215,4130  39 

Excess  over  1882, 1883  and  1884  for  educational  purposes. .   $2,06^,405  51 

Table  showing  comparative  average  attendance  at  Indian  Schools  during  the  years 
mentioned: 


TEAR. 

AVERAGE 

ATTENDANCE. 

YEAR. 

AVERAGE 
ATTENDANCE. 

1882 

4.066 
4.002 
6.115 

18«6 

9  630 

1883 

1887 

10.520 

1884 

*1888 

13,150 

*The  figures  for  1888  are  estimated.  All  returns  are  not  yet  received,  but,  from  those 
received,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  increase  over  1887  has  been  at  least  25  per  cent.  This  is 
the  actual  average  attendance.    The  enrollment  is  nearly  16,000. 


LAST   THREE  TEARS  OP    ARTHUR  S    ADMINISTRATION. 


TOTAIi  EXPENDITTTRES. 

SCHOOIi  EXPENDITURES. 

f  6.350. 5P2  86 
6,853,3fi6  56 
6,314.653  64 

$90,000  00 
466  506  CO 

Fiscal  year  1883 

Fiscal  year  1884 

592  518  28 

$19,518,613  06 

$1,149,034  88 

FIRST   THREE   TEARS   OF   CLEVELAND'S  ADMINISTRATION. 


TOTAL  EXPEND ITtrttKS. 

SCHOOL  EXPENDITURES. 

Fiscal  year  1886 

$6,286,984  84 
6,212.407  16 
6,373,39!)  55 

$962,340  25 
].150  097  77          V 
1.102.5-92  37      ^ 

Fiscal  year  1887 

Fiscal  year  1888 

$18,872,791  55 

$3,215,430  39     B 

1 

1 

THE  PATENT  OFFICE.  249 


CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  PATENT  OFFICE. 


THE  EFFICIENT  WOEK  WHICH   HAS  BEEN  DONE  IN  ONE  OF  THE  MOST 
IMPORTANT  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  BUREAUS. 


In  this  important  bureau  of  the  Interior  Department  the  same  salutary  reforms 
and  changes  have  characterized  the  advent  of  the  Democratic  party  to  power. 

The  country  was  met  with  what  seemed  to  be  a  very  plausible  and  vehement 
objection  at  first,  that  a  change  of  administration  would  work  disastrously  to  the 
business  of  the  departments  and  bureaus.  It  was  charged  that  turning  out  old  and 
trusted  officials  and  putting  in  new  ones  would  have  the  effect  of  impairing  the 
public  service.  That  this  was  believed  by  many  sincere  and  patriotic  people  cannot 
be  doubted  ;  but  the  change  came  and  with  it  a  change  in  the  officials  at  the  head 
of  the  Patent  Office. 

Time  has  contradicted  these  misgivings  and  forebodings  that  a  change  would 
impair  the  public  service,  and  it  is  certain  that  in  no  bureau  has  such  a  charge  been 
more  plainly  and  clearly  contradicted  than  in  the  Patent  Office.  There  has  been 
a  steady  growth,  both  of  the  business  of  the  office  and  the  respect  in  which  it  is 
held  by  the  inventors  of  the  country ;  and  that  this  steady  growth,  this  keeping  up 
in  its  full  vigor  the  business  of  the  office  his  been  accomplished  under  many  disad- 
vantageous circumstances. 

HIGH  ORDETl  OP  MERIT  IN  DECISIONS. 

The  decisions  of  this  office  take  a  high  rank.  Indeed,  so  marked  has  been  the 
judicial  ability  displayed  by  Commissioner  Hall,  that  it  has  drawn  from  the  leading 
papers  of  the  Republican  party  many  worthy  tributes  of  this  efficient  and  scholarly 
official.  Prominent  among  recognitions  in  the  Republican  party  of  the  efficiency 
and  capacity  with  which  this  office  is  now  conducted,  is  one  taken  from  the 
New  York  Tribuiie  of  October  1,  1887,  and  expresses  the  sentiments  of  all.  It 
says: 

"  In  brief  he  seems  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  Patent  Office  is  not  a  political  office ; 
that  it  is  supported  by  the  men  of  a  particular  class,  the  inventors— so  well  supported  in 
short  that  the  yearly  dividend  of  twenty  per  cent,  is  realized  from  the  fees  paid  in  while 
there  is  an  accumulated  surplus  of  three  millions  of  dollars  in  the  Treasury. 

"  Every  week's  issue  of  the  Official  Gazette  contains  from  one  to  three  of  the  Commis- 
sioner's decisions  on  points  of  office  practice,  designed  to  bring  uniformity  in  the  same 
among  the  different  divisions.  If  the  story  told  by  the  attorneys  is  to  be  believed  something 
of  that  kind  is  badly  needed." 


I 


250  THE  PATENT  OFFICE. 

The  Scientific  America/n,  the  ablest  industrial  journal  in  the  world,  then  com- 
ments upon  this  as  follows : 

"  The  encomium  of  the  Tribune  on  Commissioner  Hall  13  just,  and  reminds  one  of  the 
Patent  Office  administration  under  the  Commissionerships  of  Judge  Mason  and  Judge  Holt, 
which  was  a  good  while  ago,  but  whom  the  few  of  us  live  to  remember  with  satisfaction." 

CORPORATE  POWER  AND  THE  PATENT  LAWS. 

Corporate  power,  grown  to  an  alarming  size  during  the  past  quarter  of  a 
century  by  special  class  legislation  and  the  many  privileges  given  to  it  during  the 
Republican  regime,  has  pushed  its  baleful  influences  even  into  the  indus- 
trial arts. 

For  years  it  has  been  known  that  the  real  inventors  of  the  country,  most  of 
them  humble  but  skilled  mechanics  in  the  industrial  arts,  have  utterly  failed  to 
reap  the  benefits  of  their  inventive  genius.  Seldom  has  it  been  that  the  real 
inventor  has  reaped  the  harvest  of  his  patience  and  his  skill.  Almost  every 
invention  represents  years  of  some  ingenious  mechanic's  life,  is  immediately  seized 
upon  by  some  monopoly  or  other,  the  interest  of  the  inventor  bought  for  a  song, 
and  the  benefits  of  the  invention,  which  the  spirit  of  the  patent  laws  intended 
should  go  to  the  public  at  large,  has  been  held  for  the  advantage  of  the  special  few, 
to  be  doled  out  by  corporations  to  the  general  public  at  enormous  profits  to  the 
managers. 

Benton  J.  Hall,  the  incumbent  of  the  Commissioner's  office,  among  other  sug- 
gestions for  reform,  said  in  his  last  annual  report  that  the  statute  enables  rich  and 
influential  parties  to  keep  the  applications  for  patents,  of  which  they  are  the 
assignees,  pending  in  the  office  for  years  before  their  patent  is  issued.  In  the  mean- 
time they  are  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  putting  upon  the  market  the  article 
or  improvement,  but  warning  the  public  that  the  patent  is  "applied  for,"  the  efiect 
of  which  is  to  give  them  the  absolute  control  of  the  monopoly  of  the  invention 
and  to  deter  all  other  inventors  from  entering  the  same  field  of  invention  and 
manufacturing  the  same  article.  The  Commissioner  recommended  to  Congress 
that  this  section  should  be  modified,  and  that  there  be  vested  in  the  Commiasioner 
a  discretion  to  declare  any  application  forfeited  for  want  of  prosecution  whenever 
he  is  satisfied  that  such  should  be  done. 

In  harmony  with  this  suggestion,  the  Commissioner  also  recommended  that 
patents  should  be  limited  by  the  exercise  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  a  cer- 
tain discretion  vested  in  the  Commissioner, 

The  abuse  alluded  to  affects  the  farmer  directly  when  it  is  remembered  that 
barb-wire  is  made  the  basis  of  the  barb- wire  syndicates,  whose  enormous  profits 
must  be  paid  by  the  farmer ;  it  affects  the  mechanic  who  is  compelled  to  pay  a  profit 
by  way  of  royalty  upon  the  very  tools  he  uses,  to  some  powerful  syndicate;  it 
affects  the  poor  seamstress,  whose  daily  bread  comes  to  her  from  the  use  of  the  sew- 
ing machine ;  it  aSects  the  mass  of  people  who  are  compelled  to  pay  enormous  roy- 
alties upon  inventions  held  and  controlled  by  capital  and  monopolies. 

The  Commissioner  thus  formulates  his  conclusion. 

"I  suggest  for  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  propriety  of  providing  that  all  patents 
hereafter  issuing  shall  contain  a  provision  that  they  may  be  extinguished  by  the  govern- 
ment at  any  time  upon  the  payment  to  the  owners  of  the  property,  whether  the  patentee 
or  his  assigns,  of  a  reasonable  sum  of  money,  such  sum  to  be  determined  by  arbitration  or 
otherwise,  as  may  soem  appropriate  to  Congress.         »•♦»*• 


I 


THE   PATENT  OFFICE. 


251 


"The  profits  which  are  enjoyed  by  the  owners  of  property  of  this  character  are  rather 
the  result  of  having  control  of  the  mirlcet  and  being  everywhere  firmly  established  in  the 
business  of  manufacturing  the  patented  article," 


COMPARATIVE   STATEMENT   OF   WORK   DONE. 

The  following  tabulated  statement,  comparing  the  records  of  the  office  for  the 
first  three  years  of  democratic  administration  with  the  corresponding  three  years 
of  the  last  Republican  administration,  will  show  the  work  of  the  office  during 
these  periods : 


Applications. 

Caveats. 

Patents  and 
Reissues. 

Cash 
Received. 

Cash 
Expended. 

1881 
1882 
1883 
1885 
1886 
1887 

26,059 
31,522 
35,577 
35,717 
35,968 
35,613 

2,406 
2,553 
2,741 
2,552 
2,513 
2,622 

16,584 
19,267 
23,383 
24,233 
22,508 
21,477 

$  853,665.89 
1,00;»,219.45 
1,146,340.00 
1,188,098.15 
1,154,55  L.40 
1,144,509.60 

$  605,173.38 
683,867.67 
675,234.86 

1,024,378.85 
992,503.40 
994,472.33 

In  comparing  the  work  of  the  Patent  Office  at  diflFerent  periods,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  labor  employed  in  examining  in  any  given  year  the  same 
number  of  applications,  is  necessarily  greater  than  that  required  in  previous  years. 
This  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  field  of  invention  is  continually  expanding  and 
growing  wider,  and  each  year  adds  to  the  patented  inventions  that  must  be  exam- 
ined in  succeeding  years. 


262  THE   DEPARTMENT  OF   JUSTICE. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE   DEPARTMENT  OF  JUSTICE. 

THE   LEGAL  BUSINESS   CONDUCTED  WITH   ECONOMY  AND   THE  LAWS 
STRICTLY   ENFORCED  IN  ALL   PARTS   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 


This  Department,  to  whose  hands  is  entrusted  the  vast  litigation  incidental  to 
the  business  of  the  Government,  has  demonstrated  in  theliighest  degree  the  wisdom 
of  the  great  political  change  of  1884.  In  the  face  of  an  enormous  increase  of  law 
business  growing  out  of  new  and  far-reaching  legislation,  and  of  augmented  activity 
in  the  various  executive  departments,  the  work  of  prosecuting  suits  has  been  accom- 
plished with  marked  success  and  without  an  increase  of  force. 

The  following  acts,  passed  in  the  second  session  of  the  49th  Congress  alone, 
will  give  some  ir^ea  of  the  new  business  which  has  been  thrown  upon  the  shoulders 
of  the  Attorney- General  and  his  subordinates  : 

The  Act  of  February  4,  1887,  creating  the  Inter-state  Commerce  Commission. 

The  Act  of  February  23, 1887,  prohibiting  the  importation  of  opium. 

The  Act  of  March  2,  1887,  giving  the  United  States  courts  jurisdiction  over  crimes 
against  the  Indian  Police. 

The  Act  of  March  3, 1887,  giving  the  United  States  courts  concurrent  jurisdiction  with 
the  Court  of  Claims,  over  suits  against  the  Government. 

The  Act  of  March  3, 1887,  establishicg  the  Railroad  Commission. 

The  Act  of  March  3, 1887,  providing  for  the  adjustment  of  Land  Grants  to  railroads,  and 
for  the  forfeiture  of  unearned  lands. 

The  Act  of  March  3, 1887  (Anti-Polygamy  Act),  In  relation  to  the  Perpetual  Emigrating 
Fund  Company,  and  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  including  the 
annulment  of  the  charters  and  forfeiture  of  a  large  amount  of  property. 

ENFOKCING   THE  LAWS. 

Many  important  laws  had  for  years  lain  dormant.  The  people  had  inferred 
that  the  mere  passage  of  the  laws  for  needed  reform  had  effected  the  result  intended, 
whereas,  in  many  instances,  it  had  only  silenced  public  complaint  and  left  the  wrong 
unremedied. 

The  Department  of  Justice  under  President  Cleveland  inaugurated  a  new  era — 
that  reform  should  be  in  fact  and  not  in  form  only ;  in  deed  and  not  in  mere  word. 
A  faithful  enforcement  of  the  laws  found  upon  the  statute  books  was  determined 
upon,  and  proper  action  taken  in  pursuance  thereof.  Among  the  results  so  secured, 
the  Mormon  people  have  declared,  both  by  word  and  deed,  that  polygamy  shall  be 
no  more. 

In  the  landed  States  and  Territories  fraudulent  entries  have  become  less  fre- 
quent. 

Timber  trespasses  have  become  unprofitable. 

Bank  wrecking  has  become  dangerously  odious. 


THE   DEPARTMENT  OF    tusTICE. 


253 


[ 

BP    In  all  parts  of  the  country  all  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  recognized  as  of 

"binding  force. 

■■     In  all  the  landed  States  and  Territories  proceedings  are  pending  for  the  recov- 

^nr  of  vast  bodies  of  valuable  land,  unlawfully  withheld  from  the  public  domain  by 

railroads  and  other  corporations,  and  by  individuals.    Whatever  success  may  attend 

the  efforts  of  the  administration  for  the  recovery  of  these  lands,  the  Department  of 

rtice  is  entitled  to  its  share. 
The  same  is  true  in  suits  for  timber  trespass.  In  the  calendar  year  of  1887,  594 
criminal  prosecutions  were  instituted  at  the  request  of  the  Interior  Department,  and 
336  civil  suits  for  the  value  of  the  timber,  were  brought  aggregating  in  money  value 
two  million  four  hundred  and  nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollar* 
and  twenty  five  cents  (|2,409,163  25.) 

In  addition  to  these,  there  are  pending  civil  suits  against  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  the  Montana  Improvement  Company,  and  others,  in  the  terri- 
tories of  Washington,  Idaho  and  Montana,  for  two  million  dollars  ($2,000,000)  value 
of  lumber  unlawfully  cut  and  removed  from  the  public  domain.  Also  against  the 
Sierra  Lumber  Company,  in  California,  for  an  equal  amount,  and  numerous  other 
suits  in  the  different  landed  judicial  districts,  amounting,  all  told,  to  seven  or  eight 
million  dollars: 

UNITED   STATES  MARSHALS   IN   THE   SOUTH. 

One  of  the  most  noteworthy  features  of  the  present  administration  is  the  total 
absence  of  scandal  on  the  part  of  the  Marshals  in  the  South.  In  former  adminis- 
trations each  recurring  election  was  the  signal  for  habitual  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
the  people  on  the  part  of  tne^se  officials,  but  not  an  incident  of  the  kind  has  occuiTed 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  appointees. 

The  federal  officers  throughout  the  country  have  set  the  example  of  obedience 
to  the  laws. 

COURT  EXPENSES, 

The  annexed  tables  will  exemplify  the  strict  attention  to  economy  which  rules 
the  present  administration  of  the  Department  of  Justice. 

Taking  the  three  years  of  Mr.  Garland's  incumbency  as  a  basis  of  compari- 
son with  the  last  three  of  Mr.  Brewster's  administration,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
criminal  business  alone  (irrespective  of  the  civil  suits  of  which  an  accurate  report 
is  not  now  available),  has  increased  from  27,828  cases  during  1882,  1883  and  1884,  to 
39,361  cases  for  1885,  1886  and  1887— an  increase  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent;  while 
the  increase  in  the  court  expenses  for  the  same  period  from  $9,811,425.18,  to 
$10,078,500.20,  is  an  increase  of  but  two  and  two-thirds  per  cent. 


THREB  YEARS  OP  ARTHUR  S    ADMINISTRATION. 

Statement  of  the  number  of  criminal  prosecutions  terminated  in  the  District  and  Cir- 
cuit Courts  of  the  United  States  during  the  fiscal  years  1882, 1883,  and  1884. 


[internal      Post 
Customs  Revenue.    Office. 

Election 

IjiWS. 

Civ.   R'tf 
Acts. 

Natural- 
ization 
Acts. 

Inter- 
coui'se 
Laws. 

Pension 
Laws. 

Embez- 
zlement. 

Miscella- 
neous. 

TotaU 

1882. 
1883. 
1384. 

184 

235 
491 

4611 
4063 

5026 

244 

446 

758 

265 

287 
190 

8 

9 

23 

4 

2 
5 

377 

5a5 

682 

114 

100 
260 

29 
37 
88 

1658 
1478 
5069 

7494 

779:3 

12.542 

Total 

910 

14300  1  1448    1     743 

40 

11   !  irm 

474 

104    1    8205  i  27828 

254 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  JUSTICE. 


THREE  TEARS  OF  CliEVELAND'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Statement  of  the  number  of  criminal  prosecutions  terminated  in  the  District  and  Cir- 
cuit Courts  of  the  United  States  during  the  fiscal  years  18a5, 1886,  and  1887. 


Oiistoms 

Internal 
Revenue 

Post 
Office. 

Election 
Laws. 

vi 
hts 
ot. 

Natural- 
ization 
Acts. 

Inter- 
course 
Laws. 

Pension 
Laws, 

Embez- 
zlement. 

Miscella- 
neous. 

Total. 

1885 

1886 
1887 

142 

136 

237 

4,738 
6,243 
5,064 

502 
565 
540 

283 
47 
96 

6 

2 

459 
536 
298 

187 
351 
175 

41 
45 
36 

5,638 
6,656 
6,463 

11,977 
14,479 
13,905 

Total 

505 

16,045 

1,607 

426 

16 

2 

1,383 

613 

132    Il8,742 

39,361 

COURT    EXPENSES. 


Statement  of  the  expenses  of  United  States 
Courts  for  the  fiscal  years  1882-'83-'84. 

Statement  of  the  expenses  of  United  States 
Courts  for  the  fiscal  years  1885-'86-'87. 

1882 

$3,193,393  67 
3,373,465  45 
3,346,566  06 

1885 

1886 

$3,399,703  33 
3,561,134  39 
3,317,673  58 

1883 

1884 

1887 

Total 

$9,811,435  18 

Total 

$10,078,500  30 

UNITED  STATES  JUDGES  APPOINTED  SINCE  MARCH  4,  1885. 

Justices  of  Supreme  Court : 
Name.  Date  of  Com. 

Chief  Justice,  Melville  W.  Fuller July       20,1888 

Associate  Justice,  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar January  16, 1888 


Circuit  Judges: 
Circuit.  Name.  Date  of  Com. 

Sixth  Circuit Howell  E.  Jackson April         12,  1886. 

Februai7  28,  1888. 


Second  Circuit Emiie  H.  Lacombe . 


District  Judges: 
'District.  Name.    » 

West  Michigan Henry  F.  Severens , May 

South  Carolina C.  H.  Simonton January 

North  Georgia ^ Wm.  T.  Newman January 

South  Alabama H.  T.  Toulmin January 

South  California E.  M.  Ross January 

East  Missouri A.  M.  Thayer - February  26,1887 

South  Illinois Wm.  J.  Allen January    19,  1888 

West  Texas Thomas  S.  Maxey June  25,  1888 

West  Missouri John  F.  Philips .June         25,  1888 

East  Wisconsin James  G.  Jenkins July  2,  1888 


Date  of  Com. 

25. 1886 

13. 1887 
13, 1887 
13, 1887 
13, 1887 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE.  255 


CHAPTER   XXII. 
THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


THE   EXCELLENT   EECORD   MADE    DURING  THE    PAST   THREE   YEARS 
IN   PROMOTING  THE   PROSPERITY   OF   THE   FARMER. 

The  Interests    of  Agriculture   Have    Been   Looked  After 

With  an  Intelligence  Never  Manifested — The 

History  of  the  Department. 


I. 

The  present  administration  of  this  Department  became  responsible  for  its  man- 
agement April  4th,  1885.  Norman  J.  Colman  of  Missouri,  the  gentleman  selected 
by  President  Cleveland  for  the  office  of  CommissioDer,  had  been  identified  for  many- 
years  with  agricultural  progress  and  thoroughly  appreciated  the  value  of  science  to 
agricultural  operations. 

At  the  very  outset  of  his  administration  there  was  found  an  embarrassment  in 
the  matter  of  exhausted  appropriations  in  some  of  the  divisions  of  the  Department, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  immediately  furlough  a  large  portion  of  the  force.  After 
the  beginning  of  the  new  fiscal  year — July  1st,  1885— the  real  work  of  the  Depart- 
ment— so  far  as  the  present  administration  is  concerned — began. 

RELATIONS  WITH  COLLEGES  AND  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 

The  Commissioner  had  always  believed  that  the  problems  of  agriculture  were 
only  to  be  solved  by  means  of  a  liberal  scientific  and  industrial  education.  He 
knew  that  the  several  State  Agricultural  Colleges,  endowed  by  Congress,  were  not 
accomplishing  the  results  which  would  be  possible  through  a  harmonious  co- opera- 
tion with  the  Department  of  Agriculture;  and  which,  could  their  work  be  co  ordi- 
nated  and  the  results  of  their  experiments  unified,  edited  and  published  as  a  whole, 
would  at  once  become  a  pojver  for  good  whose  measure  could  not  be  easily  taken. 

A  convention  of  delegates  from  the  Agricultural  Colleges  and  Experiment 
Stations  of  the  country  was  therefore  called  by  the  Commissioner  to  meet  in  the 
Department  building  early  in  July.  It  was  a  bold  undertaking  to  attempt  to  con- 
vene a  successful  gathering  of  such  a  character  in  the  city  of  Washington  in  mid- 
summer ;  but  the  agricultural  needs  of  the  country  fully  warranted  the  undertaking, 


r 


256  THE  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

and  the  colleges  of  the  several  States  being  honored  with  their  first  attention  on 
the  part  of  the  new  administration  of  the  afltiirs  of  the  Department,  responded 
almost  unftaimously  by  accepting  the  invitation  and  sending  delegates.  The  out- 
come of  that  convention  was  the  fullest  endorsement  of  the  Department's  aims  and 
efforts.  Among  the  results  which  attended  the  convention  may  be  mentioned  the 
following,  and  their  importance  to  the  farmer  will  be  readily  recognized : 

1.  A  better  understanding  among  the  colleges  and  experiment  stations,  and  a 
general  mapping  out,  after  conference  and  discussion,  of  hues  of  work  for  the 
future. 

2.  The  adoption  of  plans  which  when  put  in  operation  would  prevent  unneces- 
sary duplication  of  work. 

3.  The  resolution  to  exchange  results  of  experimeiats,  through  a  central  station, 
in  order  that  experiments  might  have  more  than  a  local  value. 

4.  The  success  of  the  legislative  committee  of  the  convention  in  securing  the 
passage  of  a  bill  establishing  experiment  scations  in  the  several  States  and  Territo- 
ries, with  an  annual  appropriation  of  $15,000  each  for  their  maintenance. 

5.  The  benefit  to  the  whole  country  which  accrues.  Every  section,  State, 
county  and  town,  and  the  individual  farmer  must  sooner  or  later  be  benefited 
directly,  as  they  are  already  indirectly,  by  reason  of  this  action. 

These  and  other  results  were  anticipated  by  the  present  administration  when 
the  convention  was  called,  and  its  satisfaction  has  just  been  crowned  by  legislation 
at  the  present  Congress,  approved  by  the  President  July  18th,  which  places  in  its 
hands  the  organization  of  a  bureau  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  which. is  to 
act  as  a  clearing-house  for  the  several  colleges  and  stations — thus  enabling  it  to  dif- 
fuse among  the  farmers  of  the  country  a  vast  amount  of  information  affecting  their 
business. 

INYESTIGATINQ  ADULTERATIONS  AND  IMITATIONS. 

The  first  order  given  to  a  subordinate  by  the  new  administration  was  given  to 
the  Chemist.  He  was  directed  to  proceed  at  once  with  an  investigation  into  the 
subject  of  adulteration  of  foods  and  food  products.  Enough  was  done  in  the  earli- 
est stages  of  the  examination  to  show  the  pernicious  extent  of  the  adulteration  of 
dairy  products,  and  the  attention  of  Congress  was  called  to  the  matter  in  the  first 
report  of  the  Department  made  under  the  present  administration.  The  agitation 
of  this  subject  resulted  in  a  bill  originating  in  a  Democratic  House  of  Representa- 
tives which  was  approved  by  a  Democratic  PresidcDt  before  he  had  been  eighteen 
months  in  office,  regulating  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  oleomargarine.  The 
enactment  of  that  law  was  hailed  with  delight  by  every  dairyman  and  friend  of 
pure  butter,  and  its  beneficial  results  to  dairymen  are  too  well  known  to  require 
repetition.  Bulletins  have  been  published  by  the  Department  on  the  subject  of 
"butter  substitutes;  impure  wines  and  liquors-;  adulteration  of  spices  and  condi- 
ments, etc.,  and  it  is  the  intention  of  the  administration  to  analyze  and  publish 
every  article  of  consumption,  whether  it  be  a  substitute  in  whole  or  in  part,  which 
competes  with  or  reflects  upon  the  handiwork  of  the  honest  farmer. 

STAMPING  OUT  CATTLE  DISEASES. 

The  present  administration  was  confronted  from  the  beginning  by  momentous 
problems  arising  from  the  existence  of  contagious  diseases  of  cattle.  Pleuro- pneu- 
monia, the  most  dreaded  cattle  plague  of  Europe,  had  been  introduced  into  the 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE.  257 

United  States  and  allowed  to  propagate  itself  almost  without  hindrance  in  various 
States  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  For  years  the  cattle  raisers  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  and  of  the  Western  States  and  Territories  had  been  alarmed  at  its  steady 
increase,  and  had  secured  the  adoption  of  local  laws  and  regulations  which  threat- 
ened to  destroy  inter-state  commerce  in  cattle,  while  for  the  same  reason  Great 
Britain  had  for  five  years  prohibited  our  cattle  from  going  inland  and  required 
them  to  be  slaughtered  at  the  docks  where  landed.  To  make  the  matttr  still  worse, 
this  dreaded  disease  had  very  recently  been  carried  to  the  great  cattle  raising 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  the  people  were  is 
consternation  at  its  presence 

This  burden  upon  our  domestic  and  foreign  commerce  was  at  the  same  time  a 
menace  to  one  of  the  most  important  sources  of  our  food  supply  and  reacted  with 
serious  eflFect  upon  the  agricultural  interests.  It  demanded  immediate  attention 
and  prompt  action. 

By  co-operation  with  State  authorities,  the  general  Government  has  completely 
eradicated  the  contagion  from  the  States  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  In 
New  York  it  has  also  eradicated  it  from  Washington  and  Delaware  counties  and 
from  the  greater  part  of  Westchester  and  Richmond  counties.  In  New  Jersey  the 
plague  is  now  confined  to  a  very  small  section  of  the  State.  In  Pennsylvania  it  is 
practically  eradicated.  In  Maryland  it  is  confined  to  a  single  county.  In  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  and  Virginia  it  has  been  completely  eradicated. 

This  greatly  feared  danger  has,  therefore,  been  removed  from  nearly  all  parts  of 
the  country  where  it  existed,  and  trade  and  commerce  have  been  relieved  of  the 
necessity  of  embarrassing  restrictions  outside  of  the  seven  or  eight  counties  to  which 
the  disease  is  now  confined.  In  these  counties  the  regulations  are  still  strictly 
enforced,  every  bovine  animal  is  numbered  and  registered  by  the  officers  of  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  not  one  can  be  moved  from  its  owner's  premises  with- 
out a  written  permit,  and  each  herd  in  which  the  malady  appears  is  slaughtered  as 
soon  as  its  presence  is  discovered,  and  the  premises  are  then  disinfected.  By  the 
careful  and  constant  enforcement  of  these  regulations  this  imported  plague  is  rapidly 
disappearing,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  by  continuing  them  for  a 
short  time  our  country  will  be  rescued  from  this  danger  and  the  restrictions 
removed  from  our  trade  in  live  cattle. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  few  countries  have  ever  succeeded  in  extir-pating 
this  destructive  plague  after  it  was  once  introduced,  and  none  have  made  such  rapid 
progress  as  has  been  shown  here  during  the  last  two  years.  Within  this  time  it  has 
been  necessary  to  inspect  81,446  herds  of  cattle,  and  to  number,  register  and  keep  a 
history  of  the  283,270  individual  animals  which  they  contained.  The  success  of  the 
work  has  required  the  slaughter  of  10,600  head  of  cattle,  and  the  disinfection  of  1,743 
stables.    The  total  expense  of  this  great  work  has  been  less  than  $700,000. 

f  SIGNAL  SERVICE  STATIONS  FOR   FARMERS. 

Among  the  recommendations  made  to  Congress  the  first  year  of  the  present 
administration  for  the  welfare  of  the  farmer  and  the  advancement  of  his  interests, 
may  be  mentioned  the  establishment  of  the  Signal  Service  Station  in  connection 
with  each  agricultural  college,  and  experiment  station  for  the  purpose  of  investigat- 
ing meteorological  conditions  affecting  the  health   and  growth  of  plants;   the 


258  THE  DEPABTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

introduction  of  medical  plants ;  the  investigation  of  the  agricultural  capabilities  of 
Alaska ;  the  completion  of  a  report  on  wool,  giving  a  scientific  endorsement  of 
American  grown  wool ;  increased  attention  to  matters  of  forestry,  etc.  Several  of 
these  were  met  with  appropriate  legislation  and  the  results  have  been  laid  before  the 
country.  Congress  also  provided  for  increased  duties  in  certain  branches  of  Depart- 
mental work,  and  in  new  fields,  which  required  careful  direction  in  their  inaugura- 
tion. 

GENERAL  EXTENSION  OP  THE  DEPARTMENT  WORK. 

It  was  not  long  under  the  new  regime  before  this  infusion  of  new  life  began  to> 
be  manifest  in  every  division,  and  the  Department  itself  began  to  reach  that  emi- 
nence which  its  founders  had  hoped  for.  Instead  of  being  the  butt  of  the  news- 
paper paragrapher,  the  object  of  ridicule  among  a  portion  of  the  agricultural  press^ 
the  useless  appendage  of  the  Government  in  scientific  minds,  its  work  began  to 
inspire  the  confidence  of  all.  Its  scientific  branches  were  consulted  more  and 
more  by  those  whom  the  Department  was  established  to  benefit,  its  deductions 
began  to  be  received  with  confidence  and  with  credit,  and  its  standard  began  to  rise 
to  a  plane  commensurate  with  a  Department  intended  to  assist  in  the  protection 
and  promotion  of  the  greatest  of  all  industries.  And,  as  these  scientific  investiga- 
tions increased,  and  were  stimulated  by  increasing  inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  country 
for  that  class  of  information,  new  fields  for  investigation  were  entered,  and  in  certain 
cases  new  divisions  and  sections  were  established  in  the  Department  to  keep  pace 
with  the  progress  that  was  being  made. 

Thus  a  new  division  was  created  to  take  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  dairy, 
preliminary  steps  were  taken  to  stimulate  the  pomological  and  horticultural  interests 
of  the  country,  a  section  for  experiments  in  silk- reeling  was  organized,  and  other 
investigations  inaugurated  of  more  or  less  note.  The  most  important  experiment 
during  the  year,  and  one  that  is  destined  to  favorably  afiect  the  future  of  this  country, 
was  that  conducted  by  the  Department  of  manufacturing  sugar  from  sorghum  by 
the  diffusion  process.  Silk-reeling  experiments  were  instituted  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  in  order  to  ascertain  if  the  reeling  of  silk  from  the  cocoons  might  be  made 
profitable  in  this  country;  and  investigations  of  the  diseases  of  fruits  and  vegetables 
were  prosecuted,  a  separate  section  being  organized  for  the  purpose.  A  most 
important  reform  was  introduced  in  the  Seed  Division.  Prior  to  the  advent  of  this 
administration  no  test  of  seed  distributed  by  the  Government  had  ever  been  made 
to  prove  its  purity,  its  freshness,  or  its  freedom  from  the  germs  of  disease  or  of 
noxious  weeds  or  insects.  A  system  was  adopted  which  absolutely  prevents  the 
distribution  of  any  seed  untrue  to  name,  wanting  in  vitality  or  containing  any  ele- 
ment which  the  Government  ought  not  to  distribute  throughout  the  country.  This 
has  proven  a  great  boon  to  the  farmers,  as  will  be  readily  acknowledged,  and  as 
thousands  of  letters  amply  testify. 

A  change  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Department— a  document  of  which  there 
are  now  published  400,000  copies,  the  largest  edition  by  far  of  any  report  published 
by  the  Government — deserves  a  notice.  For  several  years  the  report  has  been  con- 
fined exclusively  to  the  operations  of  each  division  of  the  Department.  The  First 
Annual  Report  under  the  new  administration  contained  besides  the  above  other 
articles  of  popular  interest  to  all  classes  of  our  farmer- citizens.  Among  them  was 
an  article  upon  "Wheat  Culture  in  India"  and  another  upon  "Truck  Farming." 


THE   DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE.  859 

THE.  OLDER  DIVISIONS  MADE  MORE  EFFECTIVE. 

The  older  divisions  were  by  no  means  idle  while  these  new  departures  were 
being  made.  Indeed  the  same  pro^^ressive  policy  and  spirit  controlled  and  directed 
them.  Activity  was  apparent  everywhere,  better  organizatioa  was  noticeable,  bet- 
ter discipline  was  maintained,  every  effort  was  made  to  bring  the  investigations  and 
studies  nearer  to  the  farmer,  and  the  farmer's  best  interests  nearer  to  the  Depart- 
ment, and  the  firt-t  year  ended  under  most  favorable  and  gratifying  auspices. 

■  In  1886  the  result  of  the  special  investigation  to  promote  the  Pomological 
industry,  heretofore  alluded  to,  was  such  as  to  secure  Irom  Congress  authority  tO' 
establish  a  division  in  the  Department  devoted  exclusively  to  this  question,  aiid  thus 
another  important  division  was  added  to  the  Department  to  foster  this  great  and 
growing  industry. 

In  the  same  year  the  attention  of  Congress  was  directed,  through  the  Presi- 
dent, to  the  subject  of  irrigation.  The  Department  had  completed  and  distributed 
an  exhausted  report  upon  the  subject.  The  Department  also  compiled  in  this  year 
and  made  ready  for  publication  an  important  treatise  on  tobacco;  it  completed  and 
distributed  the  report  on  wool,  heretofore  alluded  to ;  it  enlarged  the  section  which 
had  been  organized  to  investigate  the  matter  of  the  diseases  of  fruits,  and  it  estab- 
lished a  Division  of  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy,  whose  duty  it  was  made  to  study 
the  habits  of  birds  and  mammals  in  their  relation  to  agriculture. 

VALUABLE   EXPERIMENTS  IN   SUGAR   FROM    SORGHUM. 

But  of  more  importance  perhaps  than  all  other  subjects  combined  was  the  investi- 
gation made  into  the  manufacture  of  sugar  from  sorghum,  and  sugar  cane,  by  what 
is  called  the  diffusion  process.  Most  astounding  results  were  obtained.  The  old 
process  secured  betwegn  forty  and  fifty  per  cent.,  or  at  the  utmost  but  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  juice  of  the  plant.  The  new  process  secured  practically  all.  Whitney'& 
cotton  gin  was  of  no  more  importance  to  cotton-growers  than  was  the  diffusion  bat- 
tery to  the  sorghum  grower.  An  increase  of  fifty  per  cent,  meant  that  sorghum, 
the  growers  of  which  had  become  discouraged  and  disheartened  over  repeated  fail- 
ures to  secure  profitable  results,  was  to  be  rescued  and  placed  in  the  very  front 
rank  of  sugar-yielding  plants,  that  interest  in  it  was  to  be  revived,  that  its  cultiva- 
tion was  to  be  profitable  to  the  farmer,  that  it  was  to  open  a  new  industry  to  him, 
that  it  was  to  be  as  sure  a  crop  as  any  on  the  farm,  that  the  increase  in  yield  ot 
sugar  from  southern  cane  would  be  nearly  double  what  it  had  been,  and  that  a  revo- 
lution in  the  sugar  output  of  the  United  States  was  impending. 

CLOSER   RELATIONS   WITH   PRACTICAL   FARMERS. 

During  the  year  the  Department's  agents  were  sent  into  all  sections  of  the 
country  to  meet  and  confer  with  the  people,  called  together  to  discuss  the  problems 
of  agriculture.  In  this  way  the  immediate  wants  of  the  farmers  were  made  known 
to  the  Administration,  and  information  in  the  possession  of  the  Department  was  im- 
parted and  explained  by  word  of  mouth  as  well  as  through  books  and  correspon- 
dence; scientific  bodies  were  invited  to  hold  their  annual  conventions  at  the 
Department,  in  order  that  the  Department's  officialo  might  partake  of  the  benefits 
derived  from  the  discussions,  and  in  turn  impart  the  information  to  the  farmers 
17 


I 


360  THE  DEPAKTMENT   OF  AGRICULTUKE. 

through  various  publications  ;  advantage  was  taken  of  the  journeys  abroad,  of  citi- 
zens identified  with  the  agriculture  of  this  country,  to  secure  such  valuable  infor- 
mation as  might  be  obtained  in  foreign  countries  of  interest  to  our  farming  commu- 
nity ;  and  in  short  the  Department  was  constantly  on  the  alert  for  the  leading 
agricultural  thought  of  the  world . 

During  the  past  year  the  work  of  the  Department  has  been  vigorously  prose- 
cuted, and  the  policy  of  extending  the  influence  and  usefulness  of  the  Department 
continued,  as  the  result  and  its  reports  abundantly  prove.  The  last  vestige  of  diffi- 
culty in  the  matter  of  making  sugar  from  sorghum  was  removed,  apparently,  and 
sugar  was  made  from  both  northern  and  southi  rn-grown  cane  successfully,  practi- 
cally and  commercially  by  the  diffusion  process— a  process  developed,  improved  and 
applied  wholly  by  this  administration — and  so  successfully  as  to  eclipse  all  prior 
attempts  to  make  sugar  profitable  in  northern  sections,  or  to  increase  the  yield  of 
sugar  in  southern  sections  of  the  country,  and  to  make  the  year  1887  illustrious 
in  the  history  of  the  country.  The  farmers  of  the  north,  east  and  west  are  now  able 
to  take  their  place  in  the  sugar  markets  of  the  world  in  the  same  relation  that  they 
have  enjoyed  in  markets  dealing  with  their  own  products,  and  the  sugar  planters  of 
the  South  have  also  to  be  grateful  for  so  important  a  discovery. 

STILL  FURTHEK  REFORMS  SUGGESTED. 

In  his  last  report  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  made  many  suggestions 
which  were  valuable.    Principal  among  these  is  that  on  the  subject  of  irrigation.    It 
suggested,  among  other  things,  the  building  of  reservoirs  among  the  mountains  in  the 
arid  regions  for  the  purpose  of  storing  the  water  now  wasted  in  spring  floods.    The 
purpose  was  two- fold ;  first  it  looked  to  the  redemption  of  arid  tracts,  and  second  to 
the  protection  of  those  sections  which  are  annually  devastated  by  the  floods  of 
spring.    This  suggestion  seems  to  have  been  considered  wise,  as  the  present  Senate 
lias  appropriated  to  the  Geological  Survey  $250,000  for  preliminary  surveys  for  por- 
tions of  this  work.    Thus  must  the  present  administration  have  the  credit  for  sug- 
gesting an  attempt  to  increase  the  resources  of  the  cultivators  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain slope,  and  for  this  endeavor  to  develop  the  arid  regions  to  make  them  inhabi 
able  for  immigrants  and  practicable  for  the  manufacturer,  and  to  make  it  possib| 
to  combine  the  hand-maidens  of  commerce — agriculture  and  manufacture— -in  t^ 
heart  of  the  "Great  American  Desert,"  while  at  the  same  time  protecting  the  hom« 
the  property  and  the  crops  from  the  devastation  of  floods. 

A  GENERAL   RECORD  OF   ITS  WORK. 

To  briefly  summarize  the  operations  of  the  Department,  the  reforms  inau| 
rated  and  the  improvements  made,  it  can  be  said  that  its  work  has  been  simphfit 
systematized  and  made  eff'ective ;  its  researches  and  investigations  have  been  aloi 
fines  both  practical  and  popular ;  it  has  divided  divisions,  and  created  new  sectioj 
in  order  that  new  investigations  might  not  interrupt  those  already  in  progress, 
distract  attention  therefrom ;  it  has  estabfished  new  divisions  for  the  promotion] 
new  studies ;  it  has  sent  to  the  country  more  information  upon  timely  topics  tli 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  Department ;  it  has  maintained  State  agencies  | 
several  States,  and  one  in  Europe  for  personal  investigation  of  agricultural  capal 
itifes  and  prospects ;  its  continued  study  of  the  grasses  of  the  country  has  been 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE.  261 

the  Utmost  importance,  and  has  prompted  an  appropriation  by  the  present  Congress 
ior  the  especial  purpose  of  establishing  experimental  grass  stations;  its  investiga- 
tion of  destructive  insects  and  methods  for  destroying  them,  as  well  as  of  the  habits 
of  useful  insects  to  agriculture,  has  been  vigorous  and  useful  to  all  sections ;  its 
studies  of  animal  diseases  have  been  such  as  to  reflect  credit  upon  this  or  any  scien- 
tific institution;  its  investigation  into  the  utility  of  American  grown  cocoons  promises 
results  of  far  reaching  importance;  its  investigation  into  diseases  of  fruits  and 
vegetables  has  created  wide-spread  interest ;  its  investigation  into  food  adulterations; 
its  triumph  in  sorghum  sugar  making;  its  victory  in  stamping  out  a  disease  among 
cattle  which  threatened  the  ranges  of  the  West,  and  its  continued  success  in  decreas- 
ing the  boundaries  in  which  the  disease  is  confined,  fully  attest  how  useful  thia 
Department  can  be  made.  It  has  publicly  recognized  the  work  of  its  10,000  corres- 
pondents, and  encouraged  them  to  more  vigilant  efibrts  and  more  correct  return  of 
tjrop  statistics ;  it  has  revived  a  system  of  foreign  exchanges  with  the  library,  which 
was  abolished  by  a  prior  administration ;  it  has  not  only  vastly  improved  the  quality 
•of  seed  sent  out,  but  it  has  largely  increased  the  quantity ;  it  has  distributed  more 
seed  for  less  money  than  ever  before ;  it  has  abolished  positions  which  existed  under 
former  administrations  and  which  were  useless,  and  increased  them  where  useful  to 
the  country ;  it  has  ditfused  among  the  people  more  information  upon  a  greater 
number  of  topics  than  was  ever  before  sent  out  to  the  people ;  it  has  established 
intimate  relations  with  scientific  bodies  and  institutions ;  it  has  answered  a  larger 
correspondence  than  ever  before  on  a  greater  variety  of  subjects ;  it  has  so  con- 
ducted its  afl*air8  as  to  receive  the  plaudits  of  the  press,  both  agricultural  and  com- 
mercial ;  its  reports  have  been  copiously  extracted  by  the  press  of  foreign  countries, 
and  favorably  criticised ;  its  scientific  articles  have  been  translated  into  many  lan- 
guages; it  has  received  the  praise  of  the  leading  agricultural  thinkers  of  thiscountry, 
irrespective  of  politics ;  and  its  work  has  been  complimented  not  only  by  agricul- 
tural organizations,  but  in  public  debate,  \ipon  the  floor  of  the  Senate  by  a  Senator 
Df  an  opposite  political  faith;  it  has  adopted  methods  for  a  better  protection  of  pub- 
lic property  in  its  charge,  for  a  better  system  of  accounts,  and  a  more  prompt  ren- 
iering  of  them  to  proper  accounting  officers ;  the  conventions  called  under  its 
iuspices  have  been  better  attended  than  before,  and,  measured  by  the  test  of  the  confl- 
ience  expressed  by  Congress  in  annual  appropriations,  and  of  the  people  who  are 
iemanding  its  publications;  its  administration  has  been  useful,  influential,  business- 
ike,  economical,  successful,  and  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  true  democ- 
•acy.  Indeed  nothing  better  illustrates  the  character  of  the  administration  than  tho 
act  that  each  year  since  its  inauguration  the  appropriations  granted  for  its  woxK 
lave  increased,  as  follows : 

For  1885-86  $598,452. 

^OT  1886-87  $668,684. 

For  1887-88         $1,046,730. 

For  1888-89         $1,746,000  (including  $585,000  for  experiment  stations). 

A  table  hereto  appended  also  shows  a  flattering  increase  in  the  demand  of  the 
ountry  for  the  publications  of  the  Department.  This  table  abundantly  proves  the 
ctivity  of  the  Department  in  all  branches  of  its  studies,  and  the  work  which  it  haa 
ccomplished  during  the  present  admimstmtion  is  commended  to  those  whose  inter- 
sts  arc  identified  with  the  Department,  those  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of 


262 


THE   DEPARTMENT  OP   AGRICULTURE. 


this  important  institution,  tlio^e  who  love  their  country  and  who  are  gratified  to  see 
its  affairs  administered  wisely  and  well. 


DOCUMENTS   AND   REPORTS   ASKED   FOR. 


Table  of  Bulletins  and  Reports  issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  during 
the  yeai-s  1884, 1885, 1886  and  1887 : 


Division, 


Entomological. 

Statistical 

Chemical 

Botanical 

Forestry 

Pomological . . . 
Miscellaneous. 


Total. 


1884. 


O  W 


1885. 


^    Hi 

12;  PQ 


3,000 

108,000 

10,500 

3,000 


21,000: 
145,5001 


O  w 


8,500 

151,000 

12,500 

5,000 

20,000 

197.000 


1886. 


d  ^ 


m 


8,700 

165,000 

14,500 

5,000 


13,500 


206,7001 


1887. 


6  ^ 


'is 


17,300 
189,.500 
38,000 
42,000 
6,800- 
35,000 
16,000' 

358,800 


II. 


THE    president's    MEfSAGE    ON    OLEOMARGARINE — THE  CARE    TO  BE    EXERCISED 
IN   PROTECTING   THE   INTERESTS  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

On  August  2, 1886,  the  President  signed  the  bill  imposing  an  internal  revenue 
tax  upon  olf  omargarine,  filing  with  it  a  memorandum,  from  which  the  following 
extract  is  made  to  show  its  spirit  and  his  intelligent  interest  in  matters  of  interest 
to  the  agriculturist  as  well  as  to  the  consumer: 

"There  is  certainly  no  industry  better  entitled  to  the  Incidental  advantages  which  may 
follow  this  legislation  than  our  farming-  and  dairy  interests;  and  to  none  of  our  peop.-e- 
Should  they  be  less  begrudged  than  our  farmers  and  dairymen.  The  present  depression  of 
their  occupations,  the  hard,  steady  and  often  unremunerative  toil  which  such  occupation* 
exact,  and  the  burdens  of  taxation  which  our  agriculturists  necessarily  bear,  entitle  them 
to  every  legitimate  consideration. 

*'Nor  should  there  be  opposition  to  the  incidental  effect  of  this  legislation  on  the 
of  those  who  profess  to  be  engaged  honestly  and  fairly  in  the  manufacture  and  sale 
wholesome  and  valuable  article  of  food,  which  by  its  provisions  may  be  subject  to  taxatic 
As  long  as  their  business  is  carried  on  under  cover  and  by  false  pretences,  such  men  ha'J 
bad  companions  in  those  whose  manufactures,  however  vile  and  harmful,  take  their  place 
without  challenge  with  the  better  sort,  in  a  common  crusade  of  deceit  against  the  publico 
But  if  this  occupation  and  its  methods  are  forced  into  the  light  and  all  these  manufacti 
must  thus  either  stand  upon  their  merits  or  fall,  the  good  and  bad  must  soon  part  compa? 
and  the  fittest  only  will  survive. 

"Not  the  least  important  incident  related  to  this  legislation  Is  the  defense  afforded 
the  consumer  against  the  fraudulent  substitution  and  sale  of  an  imitation  for  a  genuli 
article  of  food  of  very  general  household  use.    Notwithstanding  the  immense  quantity  of 
the  article  described  in  this  bill  which  is  sold  to  the  people  for  their  consumption   as  fc 


:^hein 

i 

ti« 
ha^ 
jlace 
3blio^ 

tUflfl 

dfl 
iUi^ 


I 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE.  26^, 


notwithstandingr  the  claim  made  that  its  manufacture  supplies  a  cheap  substitute  for 
butter,  I  venture  to  say  that  hardly  a  pound  ever  entered  a  poor  man's  house  under  its  real 
name  and  in  its  true  character. 

"While  in  its  relation  to  an  article  of  this  description  there  should  be  no  governmental 
regulation  of  what  the  citizen  shall  eat,  it  is  certainly  not  a  cause  of  regret  if  by  legisla- 
tion of  this  character  he  is  afforded  a  means  by  which  he  may  better  protect  himself  against 
imposition  in  meeting  the  needs  and  wants  of  his  dally  life. 

"Having  entered  upon  this  legislation,  it  is  manifestly  a  duty  to  render  It  as  effective 
as  possible  in  the  accompiiahment  of  all  the  good  which  should  legitimately  follow  in  its 
*rain." 


SPECIAL  COMMENDATION  OP   THE  DEPARTMENT. 

In  his  first  annual  message,  sent  to  Congress  December  8,  1885,  the  President 
thus  referred  to  the  work  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture: 

"The  agricultural,  interest  of  the  country  demands  just  recognition  and  liberal  encour- 
agement. It  sustains  with  certainty  and  unfailing  strength,  our  nation's  prosperity  by  the 
products  of  its  steady  toil,  and  bears  its  full  share  of  the  burden  of  taxation  without  com- 
plaint. Our  agriculturists  have  but  slight  personal  representation  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  and  are  generally  content  with  the  humbler  duties  of  citizenship  and  willing  to 
trust  to  the  bounty  of  nature  for  a  reward  of  their  labor.  But  the  magnitude  and  value  of 
this  industry  are  appreciated,  when  the  statement  is  made  that  of  our  total  annual  exports 
more  than  three-fourths  are  the  products  of  agriculture,  and  of  our  total  population 
nearly  one-half  are  exclusively  eniraged  in  that  occupation. 

"The  Department  of  Agriculture  was  created  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  anddiff  us- 
ing among  the  people  useful  Information  respecting  the  subjects  it  has  in  charge,  and 
•aiding  in  the  cause  of  Intelligent  and  progressive  farming,  by  t'.e  collection  of  statistics, 
by  testing  the  value  and  usefulness  of  new  seeds  and  plants,  and  distributing  such  as  are 
found  desirable,  among  agriculturists.  This  and  other  powers  and  duties  with  which  this 
Department  is  invested  are  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  if  wisely  exercised  must  be  of 
great  benefit  to  the  country.  The  aim  of  our  beneficent  Government  is  the  improvement 
of  the  people  in  every  station,  and  the  amelioration  of  their  condition.  Surely  our  agri- 
culturists should  not  be  neglected.  The  iustrumentality  established  in  aid  of  the  farmers 
of  the  land  should  not  only  be  well  equipped  ^for  the  accomplishment  of  its  purpose,  but 
those  for  whose  benefit  it  has  been  adopted  should  be  encouraged  to  avail  themselves  fully 
of  its  advantages." 


AGAIN   COMMENDING   IT   TO   ATTENTION. 

In  his  annual  message  for  1886  he  referred  to  the  Department  and  its  works  in 
these  terms: 

"The  Department  of  Agriculture,  representing  the  oldest  and  largest  of  our  national 
Industries,  is  subserving  well  the  purposes  of  its  organization.  By  the  introduction  of  new 
subjects  of  farming  enterprise,  and  by  opening  new  sources  of  agricultural  wealth  and  the 
•dissemination  of  early  information  concerniog  production  and  prices,  it  has  contributed 
largely  to  the  country's  prosperity.  Through  this  agency,  advanced  thought  and  investi- 
gation touching  the  subjects  it  has  in  charge  should,  among  other  things,  be  practically 
applied  to  the  home  production  at  a  low  cost  of  articles  of  food  which  are  now  Imported 
from  abroad.  Such  an  innovation  will  necessarily  of  course  in  the  beginning  be  within  the 
domain  of  intelligent  experiment:  and  the  subject  in  every  stage  should  receive  all  possi- 
ble encouragement  from  the  Government. 

"The  interests  of  millions  of  our  citizens  engaged  In  agriculture  are  involved  In  an 
•enlargement  and  Improvement  of  the  results  of  their  labor;  and  a  zealous  regard  for  their 
-welfare  should  be  a  willing  tribute  to  those  whose  productive  returns  are  a  main  source  ot 
our  progress  and  power." 


S64  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRTCULTUHE. 

On  March  27, 1888,  the  President  sent  a  message  to  Congress  recommend! 
additional  legislation  prohibiting  the  importation  of  swine  or  their  products  fiot 
certain  countries.    The  message  was  as  follows : 

I  transmit  herewith  a  report  trom  Hon,  George  H.  Pendleton,  our  minister  to  Germj 
dated  January  30, 1888,  from  which  it  appears  that  trichinosis  prevails  to  a  consideral 
extent  in  certain  parts  of  Germany,  and  that  a  number  of  persons  have'already.died  from  i 
effects  of  eating  the  meat  of  deceased  hogs  which  were  grown  in  that  country. 

I  also  transmit  a  report  from  our  consul  at  Marseilles,  dated  February  4,  1888,  rei 
Benting  that  for  a  number  of  months  a  highly  contagious  and  fatal  disease  has  prevall€ 
among  the  swine  of  a  large  section  of  Prance,  which  disease  is  thought  to  be  very  similar' 
to  hog  cholera  by  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  whose  statement  is  herewith  sub- 
mitted. 

It  is  extremely  doubtful  if  the  law  passed  April  29, 1878,  entitled  "An  act  to  prevent  the 
Introduction  of  contagious  or  infectious  diseases  into  the  United  States,"  meets  cases  of 
this  description. 

In  view  of  the  danger  to  the  health  and  lives  of  our  people  and  the  contagion  that  may 
be  spread  to  the  live-stock  of  the  country  by  the  importation  of  swine  or  hog  products  from 
either  of  the  countries  named,  I  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  such  irnpo*^ 
tatlon,  with  proper  regulations  as  to  the  continuance  of  such  prohibition,  and  permittinc 
Buch  further  prohibitions  in  other  future  cases  of  a  like  character  as  safety  and  prudence, 
may  require. 


.>^.:^.,J:^''^"'^^ 


THE   WAU  Ul::i'AKTMJJlNT.  266 


CHAPTEK  XXIII. 
THE  AVAR   DEPARTMENT. 


MANAGED    WITH   CARE  AND  CONSERVATISM — PUTTING  DOWN  FAVOR- 
ITISM— THE    BATTLE    FLAG   INCIDENT. 


Under  the  present  administration  the  Department  of  War,  which  deals  with 
the  mihtary  establishment  of  the  country  and  directs  the  movements  of  the  regular 
army,  has  been  conducted  with  economy  and  efficiency.  Its  administration  has 
been  free  from  that  reproach  or  favoritism  which  too  often  scandalized  some  of  its 
predecessors,  and  there  has  been  no  suspicion  even  of  the  fraudulent  practices  and 
shameful  corruption  which  so  deeply  stained  this  department  of  the  Government 
some  years  ago. 

The  conservative  spirit  which  has  restrained  frequent  removals  in  this  depart- 
ment has  been  respected  ;  and  comparatively  few  changes  have  been  made  in  the 
force  of  the  office.  The  labors  of  the  Pension  Department,  to  secure  promjn  action 
on  cases  submitted  for  adjudication,  have  had  valuable  auxiliary  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment ;  and  in  all  its  divisions  administrative  work  has  been  dispatched  with  great 
promptitude.  The  catastrophe  of  Indian  wars  has  been  averted  by  sagaciouB 
anticipated  frontier  disturbances;  the  numbers  of  the  regular  array  have  been 
maintained;  its  discipline  promoted,  and  all  the  routine  business  of  the  War 
Office  has  been  faithfully  done. 

H{|  DOING  AWAY   WITH  FAVORITISM. 

The  President  deserves  much  credit  for  breaking  up  the  discreditable  system  of 
favoritism  which  had  existed  for  many  years  before  the  advent  of  the  Cleveland 
idministration.  It  was  the  policy  of  Secretaries  of  War  in  preceding  administra- 
iions  to  yield  to  the  pressure  brought  by  political  and  personal  friends  of.  oflacers 
md  thus  keep  a  certain  small  coterie  at  the  pleasant  stations  on  the  At^aiitic  or 
Pacific  coasts,  or  in  the  Department  at  Washington. 

The  result  was  that  there  were  so oie  officers  of  the  army  who  had  not  seen 
lervice  with  their  regiments  for  many  years.  This  vicious  system  has  been  bo 
horoughly  broken  up  that  the  discipline  of  the  army  was  never  more  perfect  ifian. 
low,  and  its  efficiency  has,  as  a  consequence,  been  greatly  improved. 


I 


266  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT. 


THE   BATTLE   FLAGS  INCIDENT. 

General  R.  C.  Drum  is  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army  appointed  by  Mr. 
Hayes.  His  tenure  is  irrevocably  fixed  by  law.  He  has  been  so  strong  a  Republi- 
can that,  in  spite  of  the  supposed  non- partisanship  of  the  men  in  his  arm  of  the 
service,  he  sent  to  General  Harrison,  whose  military  adviser  he  is  said  to  have  been 
during  the  latter's  term  of  service  in  the  Senate,  the  following  congratulatory  dis- 
patch : 

Washington,  June  26, 1888. 
General  Benjamin  Harrison,  Indianapolis,  Ind. : 

Accept  my  sincere  congratulations. 

R.  C.  DRUM. 


In  April,  1887,  this  officer  sent  the  following  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War : 

War  Department,  Adjutant-General's  Office, 

Washington,  April  30, 1887. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  there  are  now  in  this  office  (stored  in  one  of  the  attic 
rooms  of  the  building)  a  number  of  Union  flags  captured  in  action  but  recovered  on  the 
fall  of  the  Confederacy  and  forwarded  to  the  War  Department  for  safe  keeping,  together 
with  a  number  of  Confederate  flags  which  the  fortunes  of  war  placed  in  our  hands  during 
the  late  civil  war. 

While  in  the  past  favorable  action  has  been  taken  on  applications  properly  supported 
for  the  return  of  Union  flags  to  organizations  representing  the  survivors  of  the  military 
regiment  in  the  service  of  the  government,  I  beg  to  submit  that  it  would  be  a  graceful  act 
to  anticipate  future  requests  of  this  nature,  and  venture  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  retam- 
ing  all  the  flags.  Union  and  Confederate,  to  the  authorities  of  the  respective  States  in  which 
the  regiments  which  bore  these  colors  were  organized,  for  such  final  disposition  as  they  may 
determine.  While  in  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world  trophies  taken  in^the  war  against 
foreign  enemies  have  been  carefully  preserved  and  exhibited  as  proud  mementoes  of  the 
nation's  military  glories,  wise  and  obvious  reasons  have  always  excepted  from  the  rule 
evidences  of  past  internecine  troubles  which  by  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword  have 
disturbed  the  peaceful  march  of  a  people  to  its  destiny. 

Over  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  termination  of  the  late  civil  war.  Many  of 
the  prominent  leaders,  civil  and  military,  of  the  late  Confederate  States  are  now  honored 
representatives  of  the  people  in  the  national  councils,  or  in  other  eminent  positions  lend 
the  aid  of  their  talents  to  the  wise  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  whole  country,  and 
the  people  of  the  several  States  composing  the  Union  are  now  united,  treading  the  broader 
roads  to  a  glorious  future 

Impressed  with  these  views,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  suggestions  made  in 
letter  for  the  careful  consideration  it  will  receive  at  your  hands. 

R.  C.  DRUM,  Adjutant-General.! 

Hon.  WiiiiiiAM  C.  Endicott,  Secretary  of  War. 


TO  PROHIBIT  THE   PBESIDENT'S  ONLY  ACTION. 

Thereupon,  without  any  action  being  taken  by  the  President  or  the  Cabinc 
General  Drum  wrote  letters  to  the  Governors  of  all  the  States  offering  to  return 
Confederate  flags  stored  in  the  "War  Department.    The  President  never  signed 
letter,  order  or  document  ot  any  kind  suggesting  the  return  or  offering  to  return, 
endorsing  the  return  of  any  flag,  except  the  following  order  to  the  Secretary 
War: 


THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT.  267 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  June  18, 1887. 

I  have  to-day  considered  with  more  care  than  when  the  subject  was  orally  present-ed 
jne,  the  action  of  your  Department  directing  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the  Governors  of 
all  the  States  offering  to  return,  if  desired,  to  the  loyal  States  the  Hags  captured  in  me  war 
of  the  rebellion  by  the  Confederate  forces,  and  afterwards  recovered  by  Government 
troops,  and  to  the  Confederate  States  the  flags  captured  by  the  Union  forces,  all  of  which 
have  been  packed  in  boxes  and  stored  in  the  cellar  and  attic  of  the  War  Department. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  return  of  these  flags  in  the  manner  thus  contemplated  is 
not  authorized  by  existing  law  nor  justified  as  an  executive  act. 

I  request,  therefore,  that  no  further  steps  be  taken  in  the  matter,  except  to  examine 
and  inventory  these  flags  and  adopt  proper  measures  for  their  preservation.  Any  directioa 
as  to  final  disposition  of  them  should  originate  with  Congress. 

Yours,  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

The  Sbcrbtary  of  War. 

The  President  cannot  remove  an  officer  of  the  Army,  but  this  order  shows  how 
promptly  he  rescinded  the  action  of  a  subordinate.  Not  only  have  no  Confederate 
flags  ever  been  returned  by  President  Cleveland  or  his  administration,  but  it  is  a 
well  known  fact  thnt  under  the  administration  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton  twenty-one 
such  flags  were  surrendered. 


k 


ses 


DBMOCKACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 
DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

PRESIDENT  Cleveland's  consistent  support  of  every  weli 

CONSIDERED   MEASURE   IN   THE  SOLDIER'S  INTEREST. 


Bvery  Pension  Agent  Appointed  hy  Him  an  Ex-Soldier- 
Unexampled  Increase  in  the  Grant  of  Pensions — Lib- 
erality and  Promptness  in  the  Belief  of  Worthy 
Applicants — The    Vetoes    of   Questionahle 
Private  Pension  Bills — Acts  of  Justice 
to  Deserving  Pensioners. 


I. 

MORE    PENSIONS    GRANTED. 

▲  LARGER  NUMBER  OF   CASES    CONSIDERED   AND  ALLOWED   THAN    EVER  BEFORl 


In  no  phase  of  the  exercise  of  his  executive  fanctions  has  the  Democrati 
President  exhibited  greater  patriotism,  more  unerring  discrimination,  larger  intelli^ 
gence  and  more  untiring  industry  than  in  the  consideration  and  determination  of 
all  matters  touching  the  relations  of  the  Federal  Government  with  the  Union 
soldiers  of  the  late  war.  E^^ery  well-considered  measure  for  the  equalization  and 
enlargement  of  bounty  rendered  to  them  from  their  grateful  fellow-countrymen 
has  had  his  approval  and  support;  every  movement  to  honor  their  memory  and 
perpetuate  their  glory  has  had  his  individual  and  official  aid ;  the  Pension  Department 
under  his  administration  has  been  organized  especially  with  a  view  to  the  expedi- 
tion of  the  business  which  it  conducts,  and  it  has  been  administered  with  unpre- 
cedented liberality  and  promptitude. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  269 

Especially  in  the  exercise  of  his  veto  power  has  the  President  been  watchftil 
for  the  true  interest  of  the  deserving  soldiers ;  and  all  of  hie  executive  acts  have 
been  characterized  by  what  General  Grant's  closest  friend  pronounces  an  effort  "  to 

MAKE  THE   PENSION  LIST  A  ROLL  OF  HONOR  AND  EVERY  PENSION  CERTIFICATE  A 
TOKEN  OF  VALOR  AND    PATRIOTISM." 

Next  to  the  denial  of  worthy  claims  nothing  works  greater  injustice  to  the- 
soldiers  who  fairly  earned  the  gratitude  and  liberal  rewards  of  the  Government 
than  the  grant  of  pensions  to  unworthy  applicants,  impostors,  deserters  and 
shirkers.  In  no  respect  has  the  President  gained  the  confidence  and  the  admira- 
tion of  the  soldiers  and  citizens  of  the  country  more  effectually  than  in  the  detection 
and  exposure  of  numerous  frauds  attempted  upon  Congress  and  the  country,  to 
the  discredit  and  damage  of  honest  pensioners  and  gallant  soldiers. 

THE  PENSION   AGENTS— SOLDIERS  IN  OFFICE. 

To  the  hf  ad  of  the  Department  of  Pensions  President  Cleveland  appointed 
Gen.  John  C.  Black,  a  gallant  Union  soldier  of  Illinois,  whose  military  record  was  one- 
of  the  highest  and  best  in  the  entire  history  of  the  war,  and  whose  signal  executive- 
qualities  have  given  to  the  work  of  his  department  a  dispatch  and  thoroughness 
never  before  known  in  its  history.  As  pointed  out  in  a  speech  on  the  floor  of  th& 
House,  August  3, 1888,  by  Representative  McKinney,  of  New  Hampshire,  besides 
Seneral  Black, 

"President  Cleveland  has  appointed  to  office:  General  Rosecrans,  General  Corse,  General 
f  eJ,  General  Bragg,  General  BuelL,  General  McMahon,  General  Franklin,  General  Davis, 
General  Bartlett,  Colonel  McLean  and  Colonel  Denby,  and  hundreds  of  others  who  have 
leen  appointed  as  postmasters  and  to  fill  offices  in  various  departments  of  the  Government^ 
nd  tfiere  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Government  since  the  war  when  there  were  more 
oldiers  employed  in  the  service  than  now. 

"Of  the  seventeen  pension  agents  appointed  by  President  Cleveland,  sixteen  were  soldiers 
I  the  Union  Army,  and  the  seventeenth,  Mrs.M.A.MvMgan,  is  the  widow  of  a  distinguished  Federal' 
ildier  who  was  killed  in  battle.  Mr.  S.  L.  Wilson,  the  eighteenth  pension  agent,  appointed  by 
ipesident  Arthur,  who  lost  both  legs  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  has  been  continued  in  office- 
/  t?ie  present  administration.  Thus  every  doUar  of  the  nearly  $80,000,000  distributed  each 
9ar  to  soldiers  by  the  Government  passes  through  the  hands  of  veterans  who  defended 
le  Union." 


'570  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

II. 

DEPARTMENT  WORK. 

increased  eppiciency  and  unprecedented  liberality  under  democratic 

•administration  op  the  pension  office. 

For  years,  prior  to  the  accession  of  the  Democratic  party  to  Netional  power, 
one  of  the  stock  arguments  of  the  Republican  press  and  speakers  in  every  campaign 
was,  that  should  the  Democratic  party  be  entrusted  with  the  administration  of 
national  affairs,  the  interests  of  Union  soldiers  in  the  matter  of  pensions  would  be 
seriously  jeopardized.  The  Democratic  party  has  now  been  in  power  for  more  than 
three  years,  and  what  do  the  official  records  show  has  been  done  in  the  way  of 
pensions  for  Union  soldiers,  their  widows,  orphans  and  dependent  relatives?  Com- 
pare the  new  with  the  old,  as  shown  by  the  official  records  of  the  Pension  Bureau. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions  for  the  fiscal  years  1883, 
1884  and  1885,  show  that  during  those  years  108,131  original,  79,268  increase  and 
3.852  miscellaneous  certificates  were  issued.  Total  claims  admitted  during  the  last 
^hree  years  of  Republican  rule,  191,221. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions  for  the  fiscal  years  1886 
^nd  1887  and  the  records  of  the  Pension  Bureau  for  the  fiscal  year  1888  (the  annual 
report  of  the  Commissioner  for  the  last  year  not  having  yet  been  made),  show  that 
<luring  those  three  years  156,226  original,  181,173  increase  and  22,055  miscellaneous 
-certificates  were  issued.  Total  claims  admitted  during  the  first  three  years  of  Demo- 
fatic  rule,  359,453.    Exce>i8  of  cerUfinates  issued  by  the  Democrats,  168,231. 

In  order  that  the  public  may  be  satisfied  of  the  accuracy  of  this  statement,  there 
is  appended  the  official  figures  taken  from  the  records  of  the  Pension  Department: 

LAST  THREE  TEARS  OF  DUDLEY'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

FISCAL  TEAR  1883. 

"Claims  Admitted. 

Original 38,162 

Increase 22,746 

Miscellaneous 7% 

Total 61,704 

FISCAL  YEAR  1884. 

Claims  Admitted. 

Original 34,l! 

Increase 22,51 

Miscellaneous 1^331 

Total .5",930 

FISCAL  TEAR  1885. 


f 


Claims  Admitted 

Original 35,^ 

Increase 33,985 

JVIiscellaneous 1,83.5 

Total 71,587 

Grand  total,  claims  admitted  for  three  years 191,331 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER.  27iL 

FIRST  THREE  YEARS  OF  BLACK'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

FISCAL  TEAR  1886. 

laims  Admitted. 

Original 4005^ 

Increase -j^j^g  271^ 

Miscellaneous 2  22^ 


Total 15e,357 

FISCAL  TEAR  1887. 

Claims  Admitted. 

Original 55194 

Increase 32,  lOr 

Miscellaneous 2,707 


Total 90,oos 

FISCAL  YEAR  1888. 

Claims  Admitted. 

Original , 60, 175 

Increase 35,79.> 

Miscellaneous 17  hq, 


Total 113,087 


NET   INCREASE   TO   TENSION   ROLLS. 


Grand  total,  claims  admitted  for  three  years 359,155 

Excess  of  certificates  issued  during  first  three  fiscal  years  of  Commissioner  Black's 
^^  administration  of  the  Pension  Bureau  over  the  number  issued  during  the  last 
^ft  three  years  of  Commissioner  Dudley's  administration 168,231 

^^  The  net  increase  to  the  rolls  during  the  fiscal  years  1883, 1884  and  1885  wa& 
59,428.  The  net  increase  to  the  pension  rolls  during  the  fiscal  years  1886,  1887  and 
1888  was  105,875. 

Fiscal  year  1883 17,961 

"  1884 , . . . .  19,098^ 

"  1885. 22,369 

Total 59,438 

Fiscal  Year,  1886 20,658: 

1887 40,224 

"         1888  (approximate) 44,993 


W,    Total 105,87.> 

Excess  of  net  increase  during  first  three  years  of  Commissiouer  Black's  adminis- 
tration over  that  of  the  last  three  years  of  Commissioner  Dudley's  administra- 
tion  46.447 


I 


^72  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER. 

PDND8  DISBURSED   ON  ACCOUNT   OF   PENSIONS. 

During  the  fiscal  years  1883, 1884  and  1885,  $183,399,216.31  were  disbursed  on 
account  of  pensions.  During  the  fiscal  years  1886,  1887  and  1888,  |217,399,757.30 
were  disbursed  on  acccant  of  pensions. 

Fiscal  Year,  1883 $60,43 1,973  85 

"  1884 57,373,536  74 

"  1885 65,693,706  73 

Total $183,399,216  31 

Fiscal  Year,  1886 $64,584,370  45 

1887 74,815,486  85 

♦'  1888  (approximate) 78,000,000  00 

Total $217,399, 757  30 

Excess  of  disbursements  during  first  three  years  of  Commissioner  Black's 
administration  over  the  amount  disbursed  during  last  three  years  of 
Commissioner  Dudley's  administration 834,000,540  99 


NEW  NAMES  ADDED  TO  PENSION  ROLLS. 

The  total  number  of  new  names  (original  certificates)  added  to  the  rolls  during 
the  last  three  fiscal  years  of  Commissioner  Dudley's  administration  (which  include 
the  names  of  15,906  new  names  added  to  the  rolls  by  General  Black  from  March  17, 
1885,  to  June  30,  1885,  the  last  three  and  one-half  months  of  the  fiscal  3  ear  1885) 
was  108,121. 

The  total  number  of  new  names  added  to  the  rolls  during  the  first  three  fiscal 
years  of  General  Black's  administration  as  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  from  July 
1, 1885,  to  June  30,  1888,  was  156,226.  If  we  add  to  this  156,226,  the  15,906  new 
names  put  upon  the  rolls  by  General  Black  from  Mai  eh  17  th,  1885,  the  day  on  which 
he  assumed  charge  of  the  Pension  Bureau,  to  Juue  30, 1885,  it  makes  a  total  of 
172,132  new  names  added  to  the  rolls  since  Commissioner  Black  assumed  charge  of 
the  Pension  Bureau.  Giving  the  Republican  administration  the  benefit  of  the 
15,906  new  names  added  to  the  rolls  during  the  last  three  and  a  half  months  of  the 
fiscal  year  1885,  during  which  time  the  Pension  Bureau  was  under  Democratic  con- 
trol, we  find  that  the  excess  of  new  names  added  to  the  rolls  by  the  Democratic 
administration  during  its  first  three  years  exceeds  those  added  to  the  rolls  during  the 
last  three  years  of  B&j.  uUidan  administration  by  48,105. 

ANNUAL  VALUE  OF  PENSIONS  AND  THE  INCREASE. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  Republican  administration  the  annual  value  of  all 
pensions  was $38,090,985 

At  the  close  of  the  first  fiscal  year  of  the  Cleveland  administration  the 
annual  value  was , 44,708,027  i 

At  the  close  of  1887  the  annual  value  was 53,824,641 


ftxcrease  In  annual  vafue  oflpenslons  between  June  30^  1885,  and  June  80, 1887. $14, 783, 685 


DBMOCRACr  AND  THB  80LDIBR.  278 

General  John  C.  Black,  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  said  in  a  recent  speech: 

"The  Democracy  has  held  sacred  and  has  far  advanced  the  claims  of  the  pensioner  as  the 
common  debt  of  the  common  people,  to  be  sacredly,  honestly  andimuniflcently  paid.  Never 
since  the  tender  hand  of  peace  first  bound  up  the  wounds  of  rugged  war;  never  since  the 
awful  fruit  of  battle  cumbered  the  red  earth  ;  never  since  men  died  and  women  wept,  and 
<»hildren  sorrowed,  has  greater  munificence  or  more  eager  willingness  been  manifest  than 
K»  been  shown  to  the  pensioners  by  the  triumphant  democracy— which,  God  willing,  shall 
\    t  many  years  pour  the  nation's  reviving  streams  by  the  stricken  and  desolate." 

THE   WORK  OP    THE   EXAMINERS. 

In  the  same  speech  of  Representative  McKinney,  from  which  quotations  have 
been  made,  are  presented  other  undeniable  figures  to  show  the  vastly  greater  efficiency 
•f  the  Pension  Department  now  than  under  any  Republican  administration : 

With  no  increase  of  force  In  the  Department,  but  with  a  decrease,  without  superior 
opportunity  for  collecting  evidence,  the  administration  of  General  Black  has  shown  almost 
100  per  cent,  of  increase  of  work  performed  and  of  certificates  issued.  The  work  of  the 
Department  has  been  brought  up  to  date;  old  claims  have  been  disposed  of;  and  the  bureau 
is  now  doing  current  work,  and  every  claim  is  assured  of  prompt  consideration  when  the 
claimant  presents  the  necessary  evidence  required  by  law.  If  we  will  turn  to  the  work- 
ings of  the  special  examiner's  division  we  will  find  the  comparison  equally  favorable  to 
the  present  administration. 

The  comparison  is  made  between  the  years  1884  and  1885,  under  CJommlssioner  Dudley, 
with  the  years  1888  and  1887,  under  Commissioner  Black.  The  reason  for  not  comparing 
with  the  three  full  years  Is  because  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  for  1888  is  not  yet 
complete. 

UNDER  REPUBIilCAN  ADMINISTRATION. 

?or  1884 : 

Examiners  in  field 351 

Cases  Investigated 7,452 

Reports  made 2,187 

Depositions  taken ^ 18,4S4 

For  1885 : 

Examiners  In  field 308 

Cases  in  vest  igated 9,831 

Reports  made 29,234 

Depositions  taken 189,743 

Credibility  reports 23,623 

Expense  account  for  the  two  years,  $514,269.18.    Of  this  sum  $343,551  was  charged  as 

iraveling  expenses;  average  cost  of  investigating,  $52.31  per  case. 

UNDER  DEMOCRATIC  ADMINIt-TRATION. 

For  1886 : 

Exam<ners  in  field 277 

Cases  investigated 13,715 

Reports  made 29395 

Depositions  taken 171,380 

Credibility  reports 23,346 

For  1887 : 

Examinersin  field 253 

Cases  investigated 31,010 

Reports  made 26,899 

Depositions  taken 140,544 

Credibility  reports 33,192 

Total  expenses  for  two  years,  1427,404.    Of   which    sum  $153,180.20  was  charged  for 

traveling  expenses.    Average  cost  of  investigation,  $13.78  per  oaae. 


I 


274  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER. 

"This  work  was  done  with  an  average  force  of  sixty- four  examiners  lees  than  were- 
employed  by  Mr.  Dudley.  The  result  was  the  investigation  under  Mr.  Blaclc  of  43,725  cases 
as  against  17,383  cases  under  Mr.  Dudley,  a  saving  in  traveling  expenses  alone  of  $190,371; 
a  saving  in  total  expense  account  to  the  Government  of  $86,865;  a  saving  in  each  case 
investigated  of  *38.53.  In  other  words,  it  costs  under  the  present  administration  only  26H 
per  cent,  as  much  to  investigate  a  special  case  as  it  did  under  Mr.  Dudley.  It  seems  to 
me  that  every  honest  man  must  admit  by  this  comparison  that  both  the  soldier  and  the 
Treasury  have  been  greatly  benefited  by  a  Democratic  administration,  as  compared  with 
the  administration  preceding  it.  I  heard  two  Republicans  now  on  this  floor  make  the 
statement  that  every  facility  was  offered  under  the  present  Commissioner  for  a  speedy 
adjudication  of  pension  claims.  One  of  the  best  friends  of  the  soldier  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  a  Republian,  told  me  that  during  the  fourteen  years  he  had  been  in  Congress  the 
Pension  Bureau  had  never  been  in  so  good  condition,  nor  the  ruling  of  the  Department  so 
liberal  and  just  to  the  soldier  as  it  is  under  General  Black. 

MORE  EX-SOLDIBRS  APPGINIED  TO  OFFICE. 

"If  we  turn  to  the  record  of  appointments  under  the  present  administration  of  the . 
Pension  Bureau  we  will  find  the  comparison  is  not  to  the  glory  of  the  Republican  party.  Of 
416  appointments  made  by  General  Black  from  March  17,  1885,  to  June  30,  1887,  230  were 
soldiers  or  soldiers'  kindred,  and  188  were  civilians— a  net  difference  in  favor  of  soldiers  of 
44,  or  about  24  per  cent.  General  Black  has  appointed  29  ex  Union  soldiers  in  excess  of  the 
total  number  dropped  from  the  rolls  by  death,  discharge,  resignation,  or  otherwise;  and 
this  wiih  150  employes  less  than  were  on  the  rolls  during  the  fiscal  years  of  the  previous 
administration  would  make  a  net  difference  in  favor  of  the  soldier  of  179,  or  about  13  per 
cent,  more  soldiers,  sailors,  or  their  widows  and  kindred  upon  the  pay-rolls  than  were  ever 
upon  the  rolls  in  the  history  of  the  olfice.  Three  hundred  and  seventy  soldiers  or  their 
kindred  occupy  the  higher  positions  in  the  Bureau,  paying  $1,200  a  year  and  upTTard8> 
ugainst  293  civilianB— a  difference  in  favor  of  the  soldier  of  37  per  cent." 


III. 
CLEVELAND  AND  THE  SOLDIERS. 

AS  MAYOR  OP  BUFFALO  AND  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  TORK  HE  NEVER  FAILED  TO 
REVERE  THEIR  MEMORY  AND  TO  CONTRIBUTE  TO  THEIR  COMFORT. 

The  record  of  President  Cleveland  shows  that  his  interest  in  the  soldiers  who 
went  to  battle  in  defense  of  the  Union,  is  not  alone  confined  to  words.  He  has 
never  failed  in  any  respect  to  give  such  assistance  to  the  veteran  soldiers  as  lay  in 
his  power,  either  as  a  public  official  or  as  a  private  citizen.  When  unable  to  give 
his  sanction  to  the  use  of  public  moneys  for  the  erection  of  a  soldier's  monument» 
as  the  chief  executive  of  Buffalo,  he  led  the  movement  for  the  procurement  of  the 
funds  necessary  for  the  purpose,  by  heading  the  subscription  list  as  a  priva|| 
citizen.  ^ 

When  unable  to  sign  an  ordinance  voting  away  public  moneys  for  decoratioft 
day  purposes  without  disregarding  his  official  oath  and  violating  the  law,  he  indi- 
vidually headed  a  subscription  for  the  purpose  with  a  liberal  sum,  and,  with  a  hearty 
co-operation  of  citizens  approving  his  action,  the  desired  fund  was  raised  promptly 
without  resort  to  public  moneys. 

As  Governor  of  New  York  he  promptly  signed  the  bill  passed  in  1883  (( 
247,  N.  Y  Laws  of  1883),  entitled  "An  act  to  amend  chap. -203  of  the  Laws  of 


DEMOCKACT  AND   THE   SOLDIER,  275 

entitled  'An  act  to  authorize  the  burial  of  the  bodies  of  any  honorably  discharged 
soldier,  sailor  or  marine  who  shall  hereafter  die  without  k-aving  means  sulTicient 
to  defray  funeral  expenses,"  "  This  act  took  soldiers  and  sailors  who  died  indigent 
out  of  the  pauper  class  and  gave  them  honorable  burial  at  public  expense,  and  a 
headstone  to  their  graves. 

He  approved  the  acts  of  the  New  York  Legislature  giving  ex-soldiers  and  sailors 
preference  in  public  employment ;  providmg  for  the  completion  of  the  records  of 
New  York  volunteers  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  adju- 
tant-general of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  for  the  safe-keeping  thereof. 

SPEECH  BEFORE  THE  GRAND  ARMY, 

Iq  the  following  speech  is  expressed  the  pride  he  takes  in  the  achievements  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  regret  over  the  lives  of  her  sons 
sacrificed  in  the  cause.  It  was  the  response  of  Governor  Cleveland  to  the  toast 
"The  State  of  New  York,"  at  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  Banquet,  in  honor 
of  the  unveilmg  of  the  Soldiers'  Monument  at  Buffalo,  July  4, 1884 : 

I  am  almost  inclined  to  complain  because  the  sentiment  to  which  I  am  requested  to 
respond  is  not  one  which  permits  me  to  speak  at  length  of  the  city  -which,  for  more  than 
twenty-nice  years,  has  been  my  home.  You  bid  me  speak  of  the  State,  while  everything: 
that  surrounds  me  and  all  that  has  been  done  U  -day,  reminds  me  of  other  thingd.  I  cannot 
fail  to  rememJber  most  vividly,  to-night,  that  exactly  two  years  ago  f  felt  that  much  of  the 
responsibility  of  a  certain  celebration  rested  on  my  shoulders.  I  suppose  there  were  others 
who  did  more  than  I  to  make  the  occasion  a  success,  but  I  know  that  I  considered  myself  an 
important  factor,  and  that  when,  after  weeks  of  planning  and  preparation,  the  day  came 
and  finally  passed,  I  felt  as  much  relieved  as  if  the  greatest  eflfort  of  my  life  had  been  a 
complete  success. 

On  that  day  we  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  monument  which  has  to-day  been  unveiled 
in  token  of  its  completion.  We  celebrated  too,  the  semi-centennial  of  our  city's  life.  1 
was  proud  then  to  be  its  chief  executive,  and  everthing  connected  with  its  interests  and 
prosperity  was  dear  to  me.  To  night  I  am  still  proud  to  be  a  citizen  of  Buffalo,  and  my 
fellow-townsmen  cannot,  if  they  will,  prevent  the  affection  I  feel  for  my  city  and  its  people 
But  my  tneme  is  a  broader  one,  and  one  that  stirs  the  heart  of  every  citizen  of  the  State 
The  State  of  New  York,  in  all  that  is  great,  is  easily  the  leader  of  all  the  States.  Its 
history  is  filled  with  glorious  deeds  and  its  life  is  bound  up  with  all  that  makes  the  nation 
?reat.  From  the  first  of  the  nation's  existence  our  State  has  been  the  ccnsiant  and  gener- 
)us  contributor  to  its  life  and  growth  and  vigor. 

But  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  thought  to-night,  there  is  one  passage  in  the  his- 
ory  of  the  State  that  crowds  upon  my  mind. 

There  came  a  time  when  discord  reached  the  family  circle  of  States,  threatening  the 
lation's  life.  Can  we  forget  how  wildly  New  York  sprang  forward  to  protect  and  preserve 
?hat  she  had  done  so  much  to  create  and  build  up !  Four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men 
3ft  her  borders  to  stay  the  tide  of  destruction. 

During  the  bloody  affray  which  followed,  nearly  fourteen  thousand  and  five  hundred 
f  her  sons  were  killed  in  battle  or  died  of  wounds.  Their  bones  lie  in  every  State  where 
he  war  for  the  Union  was  waged.  Add  to  these  nearly  seventeen  thousand  and  five  him- 
red  of  her  soldiers^  who,  within  that  sad  time,  died  of  disease,  and  then  contemplate  the 
ledges  of  New  York's  devotion  to  a  united  country,  and  the  proofs  of  her  faith  in  the 
ipreme  destiny  of  the  sisterhood  of  States. 

And  there  returned  to  her  thousands  of  her  sons  who  fought  and  came  home  laden 
Ith  the  honors  of  patriotism,  many  of  whom  still  survive,  and,  like  the  minstrels  of  old, 
ill  us  of  heroic  deeds  and  battles  won,  which  saved  the  nation's  life. 

When  our  monument,  which  should  commemorate  the  sufferings  and  death  of  their 
)mrales,  was  begun,  the  veterans  of  New  York  were  here.    To-day  they  come  again  and 
ew  complete  its  fair  proportions,  which  in  the  years  to  come  shall  be  a  token  that  the 
itriotic  dead  are  not  forgotten. 
18 


276  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

The  State  of  New  York  is  rich  in  her  soldier  dead,  and  she  is  rich  in  her  veterans  of  the 
war.  Those  who  still  survive,  and  the  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  hold 
intrust  for  the  State  blessed  memories  which  connect  her  with  her  dead ;  and  these  mem- 
ories wo  know  will  be  kept  alive  and  green. 

Long  may  the  State  have  her  veterans  of  the  war;  and  long  may  she  hold  them  In 
grateful  and  chastenod  remembrance.  And  as  often  as  her  greatness  and  her  grandeur  are 
told,  let  these  be  called  the  chief  jewels  in  her  crown. 

As  Governor  of  New  York  lie  disapproved  the  act  to  prevent  persons  from 
■unlawfully  using  or  wearing  the  G.  A.  R.  badge,  because  it  was  so  loosely  drawn 
tbat  it  made  the  use  of  the  badge,  even  without  ill  intent  and  in  the  most  innocent 
manner,  a  crime,  and  that  a  child  of  a  soldier,  having  a  pride  in  the  record  of  the 
services  of  a  deceased  father  in  defense  of  the  Union,  and  of  which  this  badge 
is  a  token  and  the  testimony,  would  have  been  prevented  from  manifesting  that 
honorable  pride  by  displaying  it  upon  his  person.  G  jvernor  Cleveland  said :  '  The 
object  sought  to  be  gained  by  the  measure  is  praiseworthy ;  the  means  by  which  it 
was  attempted  to  gain  the  end  defeated  the  object  and  made  it  of  doubtful  utility." 
Another  bill  vetoed  was  entitled  "  An  act  to  require  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
procure  a  suitable  plate,  to  print  certificates,  to  be  presented  to  honorably  discharged 
soldiers,  sailors  and  marines  who  served  in  the  Union  army  and  navy  from  the  State 
of  New  York.  For  this  purpose  an  utterly  inadequate  amount  was  appropriated ; 
and  the  Governor  declined  to  sign  it  unless  its  provisions  were  made  practical. 


17. 

THE  PRESIDENT  AND  THE  SOLDIERS. 
MR.  Cleveland's  uniform  support  during  his  presidential  term  op 

LIBERAL  pensions  FAIRLY  AWARDED. 

As  President  of  the  United  States  he  has  been  as  urgent  and  zealous  to  promote 
every  effort  for  the  aid  and  relief  of  deserving  ex-soldiers,  as  he  has  been  prompt  to 
detect  and  rebuke  schemes  to  deplete  and  despoil  the  public  treasury,  for  undei 
ing  applicants  and  unworthy  purposes. 

A  careful  perusal  of  the  President's  messages,  letters  and  vetoes,  publi^ed 
where  in  this  volume,  will  disclose  in  a  most  striking  manner  the  liberal  and  patri- 
otic spirit  with  which  he  has  approached  and  considered  all  the  so-called  soldier  and 
pension  legislation,  and  with  what  untiring  patience  and  generosity  he  has  weighed 
the  merits  of  the  general  and  private  bills  presented  for  his  consideration. 

In  his  first  annual  message  he  said ; 

While  there  is  no  expenditure  of  the  public  funds  which  the  people  more  cheerfully 
approve  than  that  made  in  recognition  of  the  services  of  our  soldiers,  living  and  dead,  the 
sentiment  underlying  the  subject  should  not  be  vitiated  by  the  introduction  of  any  fraudu- 
lent practices.  Therefore  it  Is  fully  as  Important  that  the  rolls  should  be  cleansed  of 
all  those  who  by  fraud  have  secured  a  place  thereon,  as  that  meritorious  claims  should  be 
speedily  examined  and  adjusted.  The  reforms  In  the  methods  of  doing  the  business  of  this 
bureau  which  have  lately  been  inaugurated  promise  better  results  in  both  these  dlrectioi 


3se^^ 
ielff 


f 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  977 

In  his  second  annual  message  he  said : 

The  American  people,  with  a  patriotic  and  grateful  regard  for  our  ex-soldlers— too 
broad  and  too  sacred  to  be  monopolized  by  any  special  advocates— are  not  only  willing'  but 
anxious  that  equal  and  exact  justice  should  be  done  to  all  honest  claimants  for  pensions. 
In  their  sight  the  friendless  and  destitute  soldier,  dependent  on  public  charity,  if  other- 
wise entitled,  has  precisely  the  same  right  to  share  in  the  provision  made  for  those  who 
fougbttheircountry'sbattlesasthosebetterable,  through  friends  and  influence,  to  push 
their  claims.  Every  pension  that  is  granted  under  our  present  plan  upon  any  other  grounds 
than  actual  service  and  injury  or  disease  incurred  in  such  service,  and  every  instance  of 
the  many  in  which  pensions  are  increased  on  other  grounds  than  the  merits  of  the 
claim,  work  an  injustice  to  the  brave  and  crippled,  but  p  )or  and  friendless  soldier,  who 
is  entirely  neglected  or  who  must  be  conteit  with  the  smallest  sum  allowed  under 
general  laws. 

There  are  far  too  many  neighborhoods  in  which  are  found  glaring  cases  of  inequality 
of  treatment  in  the  matter  of  pensions ;  and  they  are  largely  due  to  a  yielding  in  the 
Pension  Bureau  to  importunity  on  the  part  of  those,  other  than  the  pensioner,  who  are 
especially  interested,  or  they  arise  from  special  acts  passed  for  the  benefit  of  iniividuals. 

The  men  who  fought  side  by  -side  should  stand  side  by  side  when  they  participate 
in  a  grateful  nation's  kind  remembrance. 

Every  consideration  of  fairness  and  jusMce  to  our  ex-soldiers,  and  the  protection 
of  the  patriotic  instinct  of  our  citizens  from  perversion  and  violation,  point  to  the  adop- 
tion of  a  pension  system  broad  and  comprehensive  enough  to  cover  every  contingency 
and  which  shall  make  unnecessary  an  objectionable  volume  of  special  legislation. 

PENSION  ACTS  APPROVED  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 

He  approved  the  act  of  March  19, 1886,  which  has  increased  to  $13  per  month 
the  pensions  of  102,568  widows,  minors  and  dependent  relatives  of  Union  soldiers. 
The  total  annual  increase  in  money  granted  to  these  103.563  pensioners,  by  reason 
ofthis  approval,  is  $4,933,964 

He  approved  the  act  of  August  4,  1886,  which  has  increased  the  pensions  of 
10  093  crippled  and  maimed  Union  soldiers  of  the  late  war  from  $34  to  $S0,  from  $30 
to  $36,  and  $30  and  $37  50  to  $45  per  moith.  The  average  increase  in  these  cases 
is  estimated  to  be  $9  per  month,  or  $108  per  year,  and  the  total  annual  increase  in 
moaey  granted  to  these  10  093  pensioners,  by  reason  of  his  approval  of  said  act  of 
A.ugust  4, 1886,  IS  therefore  $1,080,936.  He  approved  the  act  of  January  39, 1887, 
which  has  placed  on  the  pension  rolls  31  704  survivors  and  widows  of  tbe  war  with 
Mexico,  at  $8  per  month,  or  $96  per  year.  The  annual  amount  in  money  which 
these  21,704  Mexican  pensioners  will  receive  is  $3,083,584. 

He  approved  the  act  of  June  7,  1888,  granting  arrears  of  pensions  to  widows 
from  the  date  of  their  husband's  death,  in  all  cases  filed,  subsequent  to  June  80, 
1880.  All  those  filed  prior  t  >  July  1, 1880,  were  entitled  from  date  of  death  of  hus- 
Dand  under  the  arrears  laws  of  1879,  provided,  of  course,  they  e-5tablish  their  right 
X)  such  pension.  The  approval  of  this  act  of  June  7,  1888,  will  immediately  affect 
K)me  10,000  widows  of  the  late  war,  whose  claims  have  already  been  allowed  from 
ihe  date  of  the  filing  of  the  same.  The  average  amount  of  money  which  these  10,000 
vill  receive,  by  reason  of  his  approval  ofthis  act,  will  amount,  it  is  estimated,  to  an 
iverage  of  $108  in  each  case,  making  a  total  of  $1  080,000,  and  the  allowances  of 
vidow's  cases,  which  have  been  filed  since  June  80, 1880,  daring  the  present  fiscal 
rear,  will  probably  increase  the  amount  paid  to  such  pensioners  during  the  present 
iscal  year  to  over  $1,500,000. 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  since  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland  he  has 
ipproved  general  pension  acts  which  directly  and  pecuniarily  benefit  some  1,64344 


I 


278  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   SOLDIER. 

ex-Union  and  Mexican  war  soldiers,  their  -widows,  orphans  and  dependent  rela- 
tives, and  that  the  money  value  of  this  benefit  will  be  over  $9,000,000  per  annum. 
Since  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland,  he  has  approved  or  allowed  to 
become  laws  by  limitation,  over  1,351  private  acts  granting  pensions,  while  but  1,524 
private  pension  acts  were  approved,  or  allowed  to  become  laws  by  limitation,  dur- 
ing the  entire  twenty-four  years  that  the  republican  party  was  in  power.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  before  the  present  Congress  adjourns  he  will  have  approved  or 
allowed  to  become  a  law  by  limitation,  nearly  or  quite  as  many  private  pension  acts 
as  aU  of  the  Republican  presidents  from  Lincoln  to  Arthur. 

THE  FIGURES. 

Number  of  private  pension  bills  approved  and  allowed  to  become  laws  by  limitation 

by  President  Grant  in  8  years 485 

Number  of  private  pension  bills  approved  and  allowed  to  become  laws  by  limitation 

by  President  Hayes  in  4  years 303- 

Number  of  private  pension  bills  approved  and  allowed  to  become  laws  by  limitation 

by  President  Arthur 736. 

Number  of  private  pension  bills  approved  and  allowed  to  become  laws  by  limitation 

by  President  Cleveland  to  August  14, 1888 1351. 

Average  per  year  under  Grant 60 

Average  per  year  under  Hayes 75 

Average  per  year  under  Arthur 184 

Average  per  year  under  Cleveland , 360 

The  above  figures,  taken  from  the  oflQcial  records,  show  beyond  cavil  or  ques- 
tion that  no  such  liberality  to  ex-soldiers,  their  widows,  orphans  and  dependent 
relatives  in  the  matter  of  pensions,  was  ever  shown  by  any  administration  in  the 
history  of  the  republic,  and  that  no  former  administration  has  ever  extended  the 
munificence  of  the  government  to  so  many  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  pension  laws 
as  has  the  administration  of  President  Cleveland. 

FAVORING    FOREIGN    PENSIONERS. 

President  Cleveland  discovered  that  under  all  previous  administrations  the 
consular  oflficers  of  the  government  abroad  had  charged  our  pensioners  now  residing 
abroad  for  verifying  their  papers.  He  thereupon  issued  this  order  directing  that 
such  service  should  be  rendered  them  free  of  charge : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  5, 1888. 
The  consular  fee  "  for  authenticating  all  the  vouchers  and  other  papers  necessary  for 
drawing  a  pension,"  prescribed  by  the  Consular  Regulations  of  1888  (Fee  No.  18),  is  hereby 
abolished  as  an  official  fee. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
HONORING  THE   VETERANS. 

To  the  committee  having  in  charge  the  dedication  of  the  soldiers'  monument, 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  June  17, 1887,  he  wrote  as  follows  : 

I  sincerely  regret  that  I  am  now  obliged  to  relinquish  the  anticipations  of  joining  in 
these  interesting  exercises  which  will  serve  as  a  tribute  of  love  and  veneration  to  the  patri- 
otism of  the  sons  of  Connecticut  illustrated  in  all  the  wars  of  our  country. 

The  citizens  of  a  State  so  rich  as  yours  in  honorable  traditions,  so  related  to  heroic  sac- 
rifice, and  so  full  of  the  sturdiness  which  a  hardy  love  of  liberty  teaches,  do  well  to  erect, 
to  the  memory  of  her  fallen  heroes  monuments  which  shall  constantly  remind  future  gen- 
erations that  all  they  have  and  all  they  enjoy  was  dearly  bought,  and  that  their  inheritance 
of  peaceful  prosperity  is  charged  with  an  obligation  of  honor  and  affection  for  those  from 
whom  it  descended,  and  with  a  duty  of  its  preservation  by  the  exercise  of  patriotic  citi2 
ship. 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  SOLDIER.  270 

V. 

MR.  CLEVELA^ND'S  VETOES. 

REPUBLICAN  APPROVAL  OF  THE  DEPENDENT  PENSION  BILL  VETO  GIVEN  FREELY 
AND  FRANKLY  AT  THE  TIME  IT  WAS  MADE. 

Second  only  to  this  generous  support  and  libaral  approval  of  all  worthy  meag» 
ures  for  the  relief  and  honor  of  the  veteran  soldiers'  has  been  the  service  rendered  to 
them  by  Mr.  Cleveland's  denunciation  and  disapproval  of  the  measures  by  which 
the  undeserving  sought  to  share  their  honors  and  gratuities. 

In  his  annual  message  of  1886  the  President  said  : 

Every  patriotic  heart  responds  to  a  tender  consideration  for  those  who,  having  served 
their  country  long  and  well,  are  reduced  to  destitution  and  dependence,  not  as  an  incident 
of  their  serviCQ,  but  with  advancing  ago  or  through  sickness  or  misfortune.  We  are  all 
tempted  by  the  contemplation  of  such  a  condition  to  supply  relief,  and  are  often  impatient 
9t  the  limitations  of  public  duty.  Yielding  to  no  one  in  the  desire  to  indulge  this  feeling  of 
ooneideration,  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  conviction  that  if  these  ex-soldiers  are  to  be 
relieved,  they  and  their  cause  are  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  an  enactment,  under  which  relief 
may  be  claimed  as  a  right,  and  that  such  relief  should  be  granted  under  the  sanction  of  law, 
aot  in  evasion  of  it;  nor  should  such  worthy  objects  of  care,  all  equally  entitled,  be 
remitted  to  the  unequal  operation  of  sympathy,  or  the  tender  mercies  of  social  and  political 
nfluence  with  their  unjust  discriminations. 

For  reasons  recognized  by  nearly  all  the  discriminating  citizens  and  organs  of 
Dublic  opinion  throughout  the  country  as  suflBcient  and  unanswerable,  the  Presi- 
ient,  February  11,  1887,  vetoed  what  was  known  as  the  Dependent  Pension  Bill,  the 
irst  general  bill  sanctioned  by  the  Congress  since  the  close  of  the  late  civil  war, 
permitting  a  pension  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  who  served  in  that  war  upon  the 
jround  of  service  and  present  disability  alone,  and  in  the  entire  absence  of  any  inju- 
ies  received  by  the  casualties  or  incidents  of  such  service. 
Among  the  reasons  he  gave  for  his  veto  were  these : 

Hitherto  such  relief  has  been  granted  to  surviving  soldiers  few  in  number,  venerable 
a  age,  after  a  long  lapse  of  time  since  their  military  service,  and  as  a  parting  benefaction 
endered  by  a  gt  atef  ul  people. 

1  cannot  believe  that  the  vast  peaceful  army  of  Union  soldiers,  who  having  content- 
dly  resumed  their  places  in  the  ordinary  avocations  of  life,  cherish  as  sacred  the  memory 
f  patriotic  service,  or  who,  havmg  been  disabled  by  the  casualties  of  war,  justly  regard  the 
resent  pension-roll,  on  which  appear  their  names,  as  a  roll  of  honor,  desire  at  this  time 
nd  In  the  present  exigen  cy,  to  be  confounded  with  those  who,  through  such  a  bill  as  this, 
re  willing  to  be  objects  of  simple  charity  and  to  gain  a  place  upon  the  pension- roll  through 
lleged  dependence. 

Recent  personal  observation  and  experience  constrain  me  to  refer  to  another  result 
'hich  will  inevitably  follow  the  passage  of  this  bill.  It  is  sad,  but  nevertheless  true,  that 
Iready  in  the  matter  of  procuring  pensions  there  exists  a  widespread  disregard  of  truth 
id  good  faith,  stimulated  by  those  who,  as  agents,  undertake  to  establish  claims  for  pen- 
ons,  heedlessly  entered  upon  by  the  expectant  beneficiary,  and  encouraged  or  at  least  not 
mdemned  by  those  unwilling  to  obstruct  a  neighbor's  plans. 

In  the  execution  of  this  proposed  law  under  any  interpretation,  a  wide  field  of  inquiry 
ould  be  opened  for  the  establishment  of  facts  largely  within  the  knowledge  of  the  claim- 
its  alone ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  race  after  the  pensions  offered  by  this  bill, 
ould  not  only  stimulate  weakness  and  pretended  incapacity  for  labor,  but  put  a  further 
•emium  on  dishonesty  and  mendacity. 


I 


280  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 


REPUBLICAN  TESTIMONY  IN  HIS  FAVOR. 

"While  a  few  unthinking  people  recklessly  assailed  this  veto  and  some  malignai 
partisans  seized  upon  as  a  pretext  to  attack  the  president's  motives,  the  great  bod 
of  sensible  citizens  heartily  approved  it,  and  some  of  the  leading  members  of  tl 
opposition  proclaimed  their  entire  sympathy  with  Mr.  Cleveland's  position. 

Hon.  M.  S.  Quay,  then  Senator  elect  from  Pennsylvania  and  now  chairman  < 
tTie  Republican  National  Committee,  conducting  the  Harrison  campaign,  said : 

"I  haven't  a  vote  in  the  Senate  this  session.  But  he  has  the  right  idea,  abo\ 
that  bill.  At  least  he  speaks  the  sentiments  of  every  real  soldier  I  have  heai 
express  an  opinion  on  the  subject.  The  men  who  did  the  actual  fightiD 
and  have  some  pride  in  their  record  as  soldiers  don't  wantto  h 
pauperized.  There  is  not  a  man  in  my  Grand  Army  Post  in  favor  of  it. 
don't  think  any  considerable  number  of  Grand  Army  posts  can  be  got  to  suppo 
the  movement  to  pass  the  bill  over  the  President's  veto.  That  veto  messag 
is  the  hest  thing  President  Cleveland  has  put  his  hand  to,  and  if 
were  in  the  Senate  I  would  vote  to  sustain  him." 

General  Sherman  wrote  to  the  G.  A.  R  ,  St.  Louis,  June  12, 1887 : 

"Honest  men  differ  widely  on  this  question  of  pensions  to  our  old  and  feeble  coi 
rades.  We  all  want  to  do  wnat  is  right,  but  differ  as  to  the  means.  All  we  know  is  that  aft 
twenty-odd  years  after  the  civil  war  the  Government  of  the  United  States  under  Repub] 
can  and  Democratic  rule  pays  out  to  our  old  soldiers  of  the  Union  Army  about  $60,000,0 
per  year,  and  a  few  thousand  to  the  Mexican  war  veterans,  regrardless  of  locality,  and  n 
one  cent  to  the  rebels  of  the  South  whom  we  fought  in  the  civil  war.  "We  old  soldiers  of  tl 
civil  war  have  not  yet  just  cause  to  make  an  issue  on  the  question  of  pensions  to  our  inflr 
and  wounded  comrades." 

"The  bill  was  very  imperfect,"  said  ex-Congressman  Negley,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  leai 
Ing  Republican  of  that  State,  "and  the  President,  1  ihink,  showed  mature  judgment 
writing  the  vero  be  did.    It  was  an  improper  bill." 

General  H.  V.  Boyuton,  the  veteran  Republican  correspondent  at  Washingto 
who  was  a  brave  soldier  during  the  war,  talks  in  a  similar  strain : 

"To  me  the  bill  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  good  and  bad,  with  the  bad  predomlnatin 
The  claims  of  dependent  parents  do  not  need  argument.  There  is  also  a  large  class  ( 
dependent  soldiers,  many— to  the  disgrace  of  the  country— ia  poor-houses;  many  mo 
dependent  on  relations,  who,  howevejr  willing,  are  sorely  burdened  with  their  charge. 
nation  which  has  been  saved  by  the  aid  of  such  men  ought  not  to  hesitate  to  contribu 
liberally  to  their  support.  But  the  trouble  is  that  while  the  bill  aids  these  classes,  it  al 
opens  a  wide  door  for  the  undeserving,  the  shirks,  and  similar  classes,  with  whom  go< 
soldiers  have  nothing  in  common.  The  pornicious  fpaturea  of  th)  bill  are  such  as  nc 
constantly  arise  from  that  view  of  a  pensiOT  hCA  whch  pro  upts  too  many  politicians 
ask  as  the  first  qu^'st  on  how  a  bill  caa  bo  f  lumoJ  to  catch  the  most  votes,  either  for  thei 
•elves  or  their  pdity.  With  such  attempts  at  legislation  tho  honorable  soldiers 
country  never  had  the  least  sympathy." 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  3bl 

VI. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  PRESS  ON  THE  VETO. 

WHAT  THE    P-iRTY    NEWSPAPEKS    OF   HIS    OPPONENTS    FOUND    TO  SAY  TN    PRAISE 

OF  HIS  ACTION. 

Extracts  from  leading  Republican  newspapers  of  the  country  about  the  same 

time  show  with  equal  force  how  favorably  this  veto  was  received: 

Undoubtedly  the  country  is  with  him— Buffalo  Express,  Rep. 

The  President  did  well  to  veto  it.—  Wheeling  Intelligencer,  Bep. 

President  Cleveland's  veto  of  the  pauper  pension  bill  will  be  generally  approved.— 
Philadelphia  Bulletin,  Bej). 

In  vetoing  the  pauper  pension  bill  the  President  has  performed  a  brave  and  worthy 
fudt.— Philadelphia  Enquirer,  Bcp. 

That  was  a  good  place  for  a  veo.  Public  sentiment  will  sustain  this  act  of  the  Execu- 
tive.—ilfi  a  nea/jo^i*  Journal,  Bep. 

In  common  fairness  and  justice  to  the  President  we  must  heartily  commend  his  action. 

^Pittsburgh  Chronicle- Telegraph,  Bep. 

President  Cleveland's  reasons  for  declining  to  approve  the  dependent-pension  bill  are 
sound  and  sufficient.—  Worcester  (Mass  J  Spy,  Bep. 

There  is  a  very  general  disposition  to  give  the  President  credit  for  his  veto  of  the  depen- 
dent pension  bill.  -Norrlstown  (Fa.)  HtralA,  Bepublican. 

Theobjection  to  the  bill  was  that  it  opened  the  door  for  vast  abuses.  The  way  these 
could  come  to  pass  is  strongly  stated  by  the  President.— Ci/icmnadi  Commercial,  Rep. 

President  Cleveland  is  entitled  to  credit  and  thanks  for  the  manly  and  sensible  stand 
he  has  taken,  and  we  are  sure  the  country  will  applaud  and  sustain  him  in  it.— Albany 
Express,  Bep. 

The  veto  will  be  generally  approved  by  public  sentiment  throughout  the  country.  For 
the  position  finally  taken  he  deserves  credit,  and  it  will  be  freely  extended  to  him  on  every 
hand.— jProy  Times,  Bep. 

This  is  an  entirely  new  departure  in  the  matter  of  pensions  (except  whore  many  years 
have  intervened),  and  one  which  does  not  receive  the  approval  of  the  majority  of  the 
veterans  of  the  war  or  of  the  public  generoX^y.— Hartford  Courant,  Bep. 

The  country  is  with  him  in  reprobating  the  present  tendency  of  Congress  to  pension 
extravagance.  The  President's  veto,  being  sanctioned  by  the  country,  will  probably  oper- 
ate as  a  check  to  this  form  of  extravagance,  and  prove  in  consequence  a  great  public  qgt- 
Yioe.— Philadelphia  Press,  Bep. 

President  Cleveland  has  vetoed  the  pauper  persion  bill  which  a  truckling  Congress 
passed.  The  premises  are  sound  and  the  con 'lusioos  irresistible.  Now,  what  is  Congress 
going  to  do  about  it?  There  will  undoubtedly  be  an  effort  to  pass  the  bill  over  the 
veto,  but  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  it  can  succeed.— i^z-om  the  Rochester  Herald., 
Republican. 

President  Cleveland  vetoes  the  so-called  dependent-pension  bill.  The  claim  agents 
would  fatten  anew  on  the  opportunities  so  flexible  a  measure  would  present.  Veterans  all 
over  the  country  have  spoken  out  against  this  measure.  There  was  perceptible  nowhere, 
except  among  demagogues  and  claim  agents,  a  demand  for  it.— From  the  Vtica  Herald^ 
Bepublican. 


283  DKMOCBACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  a  bill  so  broad  and  generous,  even  lavish  in  its  provisions  as 
this  is,  must  needs  open  a  wide  door  to  fraud  and  deception  of  various  degrees  of  magni- 
tude. Briefly,  the  bill  is  open  to  an  indefinite  variety  of  constructions.  It  was  certain  to 
encourage  fraud.  It  would  not  reach  so  many  of  the  deserving  as  of  the  undeserving.— 
From  the  Newark  Daily  Advertiser. 

The  nearly  unanimous  voice  of  the  press  of  the  country,  reflecting  the  prevalent  opin- 
ion, is  heeded  by  the  President  in  his  veto  of  the  dependent-pension  bill.  Congress  was  not 
courageous  enough  to  face  the  claim  agents*  lobby.  Now  that  it  has  heard  the  voice  of  the 
nation  ii  will  not  presume  to  exercise  again  the  power  it  seemed  to  have,  and  a  whole- 
some chock  will  be  put  upon  such  sweeping  pension  legislation.~/S'2/mciw«e  Journal^ 
Republican. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  owe  recognition  to  the  courage  of  President  Cleveland 
for  his  action  in  refusing  to  sign  the  dependent-pension  bill.  All  parties  desire  to  honor  and 
treat  fairly  and  liberally  those  who  fought  in  defense  of  their  country,  but  this  has  already 
been  done.  When  the  pension  appropriation  is  equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  cost  of  the  entire 
military  establishment  of  Germany,  it  is  certainly  time  to  stop.— ^rom  the  Poughkeepsie 
Eagle,  Bepublican. 

President  Cleveland  yesterday  did  what  all  good  citizens,  and  especially  all  patriotic 
ex-soldiers  and  sailors,  expected  he  would  do.  This  bill  is  the  worst  and  most  t  xtravagant 
of  a  number  of  excessively  extravagant  pension  bills  that  have  been  enacted  in  a  spirit  of 
demagogism,  and  it  is  little  better  than  an  insult  to  every  man  who  served  in  the  Federal 
Army  or  Navy  during  the  civil  war  for  better  reasons  than  those  strictly  relating  to  bounty, 
wages,  and  opportunities  for  plunder.— -^row*  the  Philadelpltia  Telegraph,  Bejmblican. 

The  veto  by  the  President  of  the  dependent-pension  bill  will  be  generally  approved  by 
public  sentiment  throughout  the  country.  It  was,  indeed,  the  wisest  act  with  which  he  ran 
be  credited  during  his  administration  thus  far.  For  the  position  finally  taken  he  deserves 
credit,  and  it  will  be  freely  extended  to  him  on  every  hand.  Dissatisfaction  will  find  expres- 
sion chiefly  among  the  claim  agents  and  attorneys  who  originated  this  intended  "strike" 
upon  the  Treasury,  and  expected  to  make  large  gains  by  it.— Troy  Times,  Bepublican. 

The  dependent-pension  bill  was  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Congress  without  very  care 
ful  scrutiny,  and  i  s  full  bearings  were  not  clearly  understood  by  the  country  until  it  was 
in  a  fair  way  of  becoming  a  law.  The  result  of  the  general  study  of  the  measure  that  has 
been  going  on  since  then  is  that  public  sentiment,  so  far  asitis  reflected  by  the  press  of  the 
country,  is  almost  wholly  against  it.  The  objections  to  the  measure  raised  by  Republican 
and  Democratic  papers  alike  are  substantially  those  set  forth  at  length  in  the  President's 
voto  message.  The  bill  was  loosely  drawn ,  and  in  its  present  form  ought  not  to  have  received 
the  approval  of  Congress.— ^M^'ato  Commercial  Advertiser,  Republican. 

Whatever  clamor  is  raised  against  President  Cleveland  for  manfully  discharging  his 
duty  by  vetoing  hasty  and  shambling  legislation  for  the  purpose  of  catching  a  few 
thousand  soldier  votes,  will  not  survive  a  careful  reading  of  the  reasons  which  Mr.  Cleve- 
land gives  as  justifying  his  negative  of  the  dependent- pension  bill. 

The  President  discusses  this  whole  question  of  pension  granting  in  a  dispassionate 
manner,  as  one  who  holds  the  scales  fairly  between  the  old  soldier  and  the  general  com- 
munity who  must  pay  the  taxes.— Boston  Transcript,  Independent  Bepublican. 

The  pauper-pension  bill  was  wrong  in  principle,  and  would  have  led  to  endless  abuses 
in  practice.  It  was  not  demanded  by  the  soldiers  who  did  the  fighting,  and  who  do  not  ask 
a  penny  in  charity  from  the  Government,  In  plain  English  it  was  "a  levy  on  the  rifle- 
pits  for  the  benefit  of  the  ambulance  brigade,"  and  any  veteran  knows  what  that  means. 
It  would  have  increased  taxation  by  about  $70,000,000  a  year,  but  this  was  a  secondary 
consideration  not  sufiBcient  to  condemn  the  bill  had  it  been  just.  Pension  laws  need 
amending,  but  this  would  have  been  a  dangerous  departure.— Ci/tcinnafi  Times-Star,  Be- 
publican, edited  by  a  soldier. 

President  Cleveland's  veto  of  the  dependent-pension  bill  will  be  heartily  approved  by 
the  sober  sense  of  the  Republic.  It  will  of  course  be  condemned  by  those  whom  it  disap- 
points, and  unscrupulous  demagogues  of  the  baser  sart  may  try  to  make  party  capital  out 


DEMOCRACY  AND   THE  SOLDIER.  283 

of  it.  But  thoughtful  and  intelligent  citizens  of  both  parties  will  rejoice  that  the  President 
has  had  the  moral  courage  to  put  this  check  upon  a  movf  ment  which  threatened  not  only 
to  bankrupt  the  Treasury,  but  to  demoralize  the  public  mind,  to  destroy  the  spirit  of  manly 
independence  in  thousands  of  now  self-supportirg  men,  ard  to  setthe  stigma  of  mendicancy 
and  pauperism  upon  the  honored  veterans  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.— i^rom  the  Thiladel- 
phia  J^orth  American,  Republican. 

The  President  has  done  himself  credit  by  vetoing  the  dependent-pension  bill,  and  will 
earn  more  of  the  esteem  of  self-respecting  veterans  than  the  politicians  who  advocated 
and  voted  for  it.  The  country  can  pardon  a  good  many  minor  errors  in  a  chief  magistrate 
who  has  the  courage  to  perform  such  an  act  of  duty  against  clamor,  misrepresentation, 
and  mistaken  sentiment.  There  will  be  no  use  in  tryirg  to  make  political  capital  out  of 
the  President's  veto  of  the  dependent-pensions  bill.  The  country  has  had  such  an  experi- 
ence with  the  arrears-of -pensions  bills  in  the  amount  of  the  expense  and  the  Injurious 
effects  upon  the  recipients  of  the  bounty  that  it  distrusts  these  measures  and  will  approve 
their  defeat.  The  President  has  done  the  country  a  good  service,  and  will  get  the  credit  for 
his  courage  and  patriotism  from  all  right-thinking  citizens  irrespective  of  v^T\j,—Fr evidence 
(B.  I.)  Journal,  Independent  Repiiblican. 

President  Cleveland's  message  returning  the  dependent- pension  bill  to  Congress  is  by 
all  odds  the  ablest  state  paper  the  President  has  written.  The  document  is  remarkable. 
Indeed,  for  close,  clear  analysis,  strong  reasoning,  and  unimpeachable  conclusions.  Since 
the  complete  exposure  the  President  has  made  of  this  looeely  drawn  and  dangerous  bill 
any  Democrat  who  votes  to  pass  it  over  the  veto  will  very  likely  incur  a  judgment  of 
political  death  at  the  hands  of  his  party,  and  Republicans  who  yield  it  demagogic  support 
will  need  much  better  reasons  than  they  have  yet  made  public  to  justify  themselves  before 
the  people. 

It  was  a  courageous  act  for  Mr.  Cleveland  to  face  the  demagogues  in  Congress 
with  the  veto  of  a  general  outdoor- relief  pension  bill,  but  he  has  done  it  without  hesitation, 
and  justified  himself  at  every  point.  The  bill  involves  a  "tremendous  addition"  to  the 
burdens  of  the  Government  end  the  imposition  on  the  laboring  and  tax- paying  classes,  and 
added  to  the  present  tax  for  pensions  would  make  a  load  heavier  than  the  support  of  any 
standing  army  in  Europe.  In  point  of  demagogy,  fraud,  waste,  injustice,  and  appalling 
expense  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  this  bill  transcends  anything  ever  passed  in 
Congress,  or  by  the  Parliament  of  any  other  country.  Let  every  man,  whether  he  has 
been  for  or  against  the  bill,  read  the  veto  message  carefully  before  he  expresses  any  opinion 
on  the  rightfulness  of  the  Executive  negative.— CAicag-o  Tribune,  Republican. 

THE  PRESIDENT  TO  THE  GRAND  ARMY. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  Posts  in  various  parts  of  the  country  passed 
•esolutions,  endorsing  the  veto  and  thanking  the  President  for  his  manly,  coura- 
geous, patriotic  and  intelligent  stand. 

May  18, 1887,  the  President  wrote  a  letter  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  hand- 
omely  engrossed  resolutions  of  General  U.  S.  Grant  Post  13,  of  Wilmington,  Del., 
pproving  his  executive  action  in  vetoing  the  dependent  pension  bill.    He  said: 

"It  sometimes  happens  that  official  conduct,  clearly  demanded  by  an  imperative 
bligation  of  public  duty,  is  made  difficult  by  counter  influences  and  inclinations 
7hich  grow  out  of  sympathy,  or  by  a  disposition  to  foilow  with  ease  and  comfort 
le  apparent  current  of  popular  opinion. 

*'Those  of  our  citizens  not  holding  office  and  those  entirely  free  from  the  solemn 
bligation  of  protecting  the  interests  of  the  people,  often  fail  to  realize  that  their 
ublic  servants  are  to  a  large  extent  detained  in  official  action  from  the  indulgence 
r  their  charitable  impulse,  which  in  private  life  is  not  only  harmless  but  com- 
lendable. 


I 


284  DEMOCRACY   AND  THE  &OLDIER. 

"While  this  disposition  should  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  stern  incidents  of  a 
faithful  performance  of  official  duty,  and  while  it  should  be  endowed  with  the  resig- 
nation arising  from  an  unfaltering  faith  in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  American 
people,  it  is,  nevertheless,  gratifying  to  review  such  expressions  as  are  contained  ia 
the  resolutions  now  btfore  me." 


VII. 

THE  PRIVATE  PENSION  VETOES. 

THE  president's  IMPREGNABLE  REASONS  FOR  DEFEATING  SOME   UNWORTHY 
MEASURES  REJECTED  BY  REPUBLICAN   COMMISSIONERS. 

It  has  been  shown  that  there  have  been  approved  or  allowed  to  become  laws  by 
President  Cleveland,  nearly  as  many  private  peasion  bills  in  the  past  three  years  of 
his  administration  as  under  the  entire  twenty-four  years  of  his  Republican  prede- 
cessors. It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in  this  flood-tide  of  legislation,  passed  with 
reckless  haste  by  Congress,  and  without  proper  examination  of  the  merits  in  either 
House,  a  vast  number  of  unworthy  and  undeserving  objects  of  the  Government's 
bounty  should  be  poured  in  upon  the  President.  Instead  of  recklessly  and  blindly 
signing  them  all,  with  infinite  labor  and  care,  and  with  anxious  zeal  to  discriminate 
the  good  from  the  bad,  he  has  examined  these  cases,  and  with  due  regard  for  the 
meritorious  that  he  approved,  he  has  vetoed  the  undeserving,  which  constitute  about 
14  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  submitted  to  him.  In  all  of  these  his  motives  have 
been  so  praiseworthy  and  his  reasons  so  forcible,  that  not  a  single  one  of  these  Ulh 
have  been  passed  over  his  veto. 

The  actual  number  thus  disposed  of  is  shown  by  the  following  statement : 

PENSION  BILLS  VETOED. 

1st  Session,  49th  Congress 115 

2nd      •'         "  *'        SO 

1st       "        50th        "       to  July  26th  54 

19», 

FAILED  FOR  WANT  OF  SIGNATURE. 

1st  Session,  49th  Congress 46 

2nd      "         "  "      9j 

Is] 

As  was  said  by  Mr.  McKinney  in  the  speech  previously  quoted : 

Had  he  desired  to  show  his  oppositioQ  to  pensioning  soldiers  how  much  better  he< 
have  done  it  by  vetoinj?  the  1,364  and  allowingr  the  19^  to  pass. 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  single  Representative  on  this  floor  that  believes  the  Pi^sl^ 
has  selected  these  199  soldiers  and  soldiers'  widows  in  order  that  he  might  show  his  opp 
tlon  or  contempt  for  the  Union  soldier ;  nor  is  there  a  Representative  who  would  dare  risl 
his  reputation  before  the  country  on  such  a  statement.  The  President's  only  thought  ha 
been  justice  to  the  worthy  soldiers  who  did  honest  service  for  the  country  and  who  ar 
Justly  entitled  to  recognition  from  the  Government.    He  has  freely  expressed  himself  in  bi 


DEMOCRACY   AND   THE  SOLDIER.  ^^ 

veto  messages  as  desiring  to  show  every  consideration  to  those  who  are  Dustly  entitled  to  a 
pension,  but  he  has  refused  to  approve  pensions  for  those  who  have  utterly  failed  to  show 
any  connection  between  their  present  disabilities  and  their  army  service.  In  this  ho  has 
been  just  to  those  who  are  deserving. 

There  is  nut  a  member  here  who  does  not  know  that  if  the  President  had  not  given 
moreattention  to  the  bills  passed  by  this  House  and  the  Senate  than  the  House  and  the 
Senate  gave  them,  great  injustice  would  have  been  done  in  many  cases.  Twice  during  this. 
present  Congress  has  he  received  bills  the  second  time  for  his  signature.  He  has  vetoed 
seven  bills  passed  by  Congress  where  the  pensioner  was  already  receiving  a  larger  pension 
granted  by  the  Pension  Bureau  than  the  bill  passed  by  Coui<  ress  called  for.  He  has  vetoed 
bills  that  were  passed  for  the  relief  of  soldiers,  because  on  examination  of  the  evidence  on 
file  in  the  Department  he  was  convinced  that  the  soldier  would  receive  justice  through  the 
Department  and  bo  entitled  to  arrearages  which  he  would  lote  by  the  special  act.  Tke  veto 
of  Senate  bill  7540  saved  to  the  beneficiary  $5,760.  The  veto  of  Senate  bill  1067  saved  to  tho 
beneficiary  $1,074.  These  amounts  were  paid  to  them  shortly  after  the  veto  through  the 
Pension  Oflfice. 

Another  of  the  same  kind  has  been  adjudicated  by  the  Department,  and  the  soldier  la 
now  receiving  $50  per  month.  Four  bills  were  vetoed  on  the  ground  of  desertion  and  dis- 
honorable discharge  ;  on  the  same  grounds  General  Grant  vetoed  nine  special  acts,  all  of 
this  nature  that  came  before  him.  Seventeen  special  acts  were  vetoed  because  the  appli- 
cants were  not  in  the  miLtary  service  at  the  time  of  the  ii  currence  of  the  disability  for 
which  relief  was  aeked.  On  the  same  grounds  President  Grant  vetoed  two  private  acts,  all 
that  came  before  him  of  this  character.  Ten  were  vetord  because  the  claimant  is  now- 
receiving  pension  commensurate  with  the  de>iree  of  disability  found  to  exist  on  examination 
by  a  competect  board  of  surgeons.  President  Grant  vetoed  throe  private  acts  for  the  same^ 
cause,  all  that  came  before  him  of  this  nature. 

A  few  days  ago  the  President  vetoed  a  private  act  because  the  applicant  had  deserted 
the  Un-on  forces  on  capture  by  the  Confederates,  and  served  nino  months  in  the  Confed- 
erate army  before  recapture.  This  bill  was  presented  by  a  Republican  friend  of  the  soldier, 
and  is  the  first  attempt  to  pension  those  who  served  in  the  Confederate  army.  Yet  the 
Republican  party  calls  President  Cleveland  an  enemy  of  the  Union  soldiers  for  his  vetoes; 
but  President  Grant,  though  guilty  of  the  sam  •  acts,  and  for  the  same  cause,  was  a  patriot 
and  a  friend  of  the  soldier.  Consistency,  thou  art  indeed  a  jewel ;  but  never  found  in  the 
Republican  party. 

These  statements  alone  are  sufficient  to  prove  to  every  honest  citizen  of  this  country 
that  President  Cleveland  has  shown  more  true  love  for  the  honest  soldier  by  his  careful 
consideration  of  their  rights  than  has  Congress  by  its  ill  considered  and  ill-a^  vised  legisla- 
tion for  those  who  could  not  prove  their  claim.  A  Senator  said  a  few  days  ago,  in  discussing 
the  President's  v(  toes,  tfcat  after  the  House  and  Senate  had  investigated  a  claim  and  passed 
upon  it,  it  was  preposterous  for  the  President  to  set  up  his  judgment  against  It.  Now,  that 
Senator  knows,  and  the  members  of  this  House  know,  that  in  the  average  pension  claim 
there  Is  never  any  investigation  either  by  the  House  or  by  the  Senate  ;  and  I  do  not  believe 
they  are  thoroughly  inve  tigated  by  the  Pension  Committee. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  the  committee  as  a  body  to  investigate  every  claim.  Each 
case  is  referred  to  a  sub-  committee  of  one,  and  I  think  the  committee  will  not  deny  that 
they  usually  accept  the  report  of  the  sub  committee.  In  a  single  sittipg  of  severdy  minutiS: 
the  Senate  haspasbed  one  huhdred  ar.dforty-sevm  private  reunion  bills.  What  consideration  did 
these  bills  receive  by  the  members  of  that  body  when  they  were  passing  them  at  the  rateof 
more  than  two  a  minute  ?  In  this  Hoxise  tv^  ry  Friday  night  we  pass  from  thirty  to  forty  private 
Ulls^  and  ULlees  the  bill  calls  for  a  larger  sum  than  is  allowed  in  such  cases  by  law,  there  ia 
seldom  any  discussion  upon  them.  Each  member  present  is  satisfied  to  let  the  Ovhers  pass 
if  he  can  get  his  own  bill  through. 

THE    president's  REASONS — SOME    CHARACTERISTIC. 

In  his  message  returQing  to  Congress  the  first  pension  bill  disapproved,  that  of 
Andrew  J.  Hill,  vetoed  for  the  reas  )n  that  the  peasioner's  name  was  Alfred  J.  Hill, 
and  that  the  proposed  bill  would  be  inoperative,  the  President  took  occasion  to  sayi 


y»b  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

The  policy  of  frequently  reversing,  by  special  enactment,  the  decisions  of  the  bureau 
Invested  by  law  with  the  examination  of  pension  claims,  fully  equipped  for  such  examina- 
tion, and  which  ou^ht  not  lo  be  suspected  of  any  lack  of  liberality  to  our  veteran  soldiers, 
Is  exceedingly  questionable.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  a  committee  of  Congress  has  a  bet- 
ter opportunity  than  such  an  agency  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  these  claims.  If,  however, 
there  is  any  lack  of  power  in  the  Pension  Bureau  for  a  full  investigation  it  should  be  sup- 
plied ;  if  the  system  adopted  is  inadequate  to  do  full  justice  to  claimants,  it  should  be  cor- 
rected; and  if  there  is  a  want  of  sympathy  and  consideration  for  the  defenders  of  our 
Government  the  bureau  should  be  reorganized. 

The  disposition  to  concede  the  most  generous  treatment  to  the  disabled,  aged,  and  needy 
among  our  veterans  ought  not  to  be  restrained ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  In  some  cases 
.justice  and  equity  cannot  be  done  nor  the  charitable  tendencies  of  the  Government  in 
favor  of  worthy  objects  of  its  care  Indulged  under  fixed  rules.  These  conditions  sometimes 
justify  a  resort  to  special  legislation ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  the  interposition  by  special 
•enactment  in  the  granting  of  pensions  should  be  rare  and  exceptional.  In  the  nature  of 
things  if  this  is  lightly  done  and  upon  slight  occasion,  an  invitation  is  offered  for  the  pre- 
sentation of  claims  to  Congress,  which  upon  their  merits  could  not  survive  the  test  of  an 
examination  by  the  Pension  Bureau,  and  whose  only  hope  of  suocess  depends  upon  sympathy, 
often  misdirected,  instead  of  rigiit  and  justice.  The  instrumentality  organized  by  law  for 
the  determination  of  pension  claims  is  thus  often  overruled  and  discredited,  and  there  is 
danger  that  in  the  end  popular  prejudice  will  be  created  against  those  who  are  worthily 
entitled  to  the  bounty  of  the  Government. 

In  another  case  he  says: 

We  have  here  presented  the  case  of  a  soldier  who  did  his  duty  during  his  Army  service, 
and  who  was  discharged  in  1865  without  any  record  of  having  suffered  with  rheumatism  and 
without  any  claim  of  disability  arising  from  the  same  ;  he  returned  to  his  place  as  a  citizen, 
and  in  peaceful  pursuits,  with  chances  certainly  not  impaired  by  the  circumstance  that  he 
had  served  his  country,  he  appears  to  have  held  his  place  in  the  race  of  life  for  fifteen  years 
or  more.  Then,  like  many  another,  he  was  subjected  to  loss  of  sight,  one  of  the  saddest 
■aflaictions  known  to  human  life. 

Thereupon,  and  after  nineteen  years  had  elapsed  since  his  discharge  from  the  Army,  a 
pension  is  claimed  for  him,  upon  a  very  shadowy  allegation  of  the  incurrence  of  rheuma- 
tism while  in  the  service,  coupled  with  the  startling  proposition  that  this  rheumatism 
resulted,  just  previous  to  his  application,  in  blindness.  Upon  medical  examination  it 
appeared  that  his  blindness  was  caused  by  amaurosis,  which  is  generally  accepted  as  an 
affection  of  the  optic  nerve. 

I  am  satisfied  that  a  fair  examination  of  the  facts  in  this  case  justifies  the  statement 
that  the  bill  under  consideration  can  rest  only  upon  the  grounds  that  aid  should  be  fur- 
nished to  this  ex-soldier  because  he  served  in  the  army,  and  because  he  a  long  time  there- 
after became  blind,  disabled  and  dependent. 

The  question  is  whether  we  are  prepared  to  adopt  this  principle  and  establish  this 
precedent. 

None  of  us  are  entitled  to  credit  for  extreme  tenderness  and  consideration  towards 
those  who  fought  their  country's  battles  ;  these  are  sentiments  common  to  all  good  citizens; 
they  lead  to  the  most  benevolent  care  on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  deeds  of  charity 
and  mercy  in  private  life.  The  blatant  and  noisy  self-assertion  of  those  who,  from  motives 
that  may  well  be  suspected,  declare  themselves  above  all  others  friends  of  the  soldier,  can 
not  discredit  nor  belittle  the  calm,  steady,  and  affectionate  regard  of  a  grateful  nation. 

An  appropriation  has  just  been  passed  setting  apart  S^76,000.000  of  the  public  money  for 
diSTribut ion  as  pensions,  under  laws  liberally  constructed,  with  a  view  of  meeting  every 
meritorious  case ;  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  was  added  to  maintain  the  Pension  Bureau, 
which  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  a  fair,  just  and  liberal  apportionment  of  this  fund. 

Legislation  his  been  a^  thepresent  session  of  Congress  peifected.  considerably  increas- 
ing the  rate  of  pension  in  certain  cases.  A  ppropriatioiis  have  also  been  made  of  large  sums 
for  the  support  of  national  homes  where  sick,  disabled  or  needy  soldiers  are  cared  for;  and 
within  a  few  days  a  liberal  sum  has  been  appropriated  for  the  enlargement  and  increased 
accommodation  and  convenience  of  these  institutions. 

All  this  is  no  more  than  should  be  done. 

But  with  all  this,  and  with  the  hundreds  of  special  acts  which  have  been  passed,  grant- 
ing pensions  in  cases  where,  for  my  part,  I  am  willing  to  confess  that  sympathy  rather  than 
judu-ment  has  often  led  to  ihe  discovery  of  a  relation  between  injury  or  death  and  military 
service,  I  am  constrained  by  a  sense  of  public  duty  to  interpose  against  establishing  a  prin- 
ciple and  setting  a  precedent  which  must  result  in  unregulated,  partial,  and  unjust  gifts  of 
public  money  under  the  pretext  of  indemnifying  those  who  suffered  in  their  means  of  sup- 
port as  an  incident  of  military  service. 

Again  he  says: 

In  speaking  of  the  promiscuous  and  ill- advised  grants  of  pensions  which  have  lately 
been  presented  to  me  for  approval,  I  have  spoken  of  their  "apparent  Congressional  sano- 
tion"  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  these  bills  have  never  been  sub- 
mitted to  a  majority  of  either  'branch  of  Congress,  but  are  the  results  of  nominal  sessions 
held  for  the  express  purpose  of  their  consideration  and  attended  by  a  small  minority  of  the 
members  of  the  respective  Houses  of  the  legislative  branch  of  Government. 

Thus,  in  considering  these  bills,  I  have  not  felt  that  I  was  aided  by  the  deliberate  judg- 
ment of  the  Congress ;  and  when  I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  disapprove  many  of  the  bills 
presented,  I  have  hardly  regarded  my  action  as  a  dissent  from  the  conclusions  of  the 
people's  representatives. 


DEMOCHACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER.  287 

I  have  not  been  insensible  to  the  su^estions  which  should  Influence  every  citizen,, 
either  in  private  station  or  official  place,  to  exhibit  not  only  a  just  but  a  generous  apprecia- 
tion of  the  services  of  our  country's  defenders.  In  reviewing  the  pension  legislation  pre- 
sented to  me,  many  bills  have  been  approved  upon  the  theory  that  every  doubt  should  be 
resolved  in  favor  of  the  proposed  beneficiary.  I  have  not.  however,  been  able  to  entirely 
divest  myself  of  the  idea  that  the  public  money  appropriated  for  pensions  is  tbe  soldiers' 
fund,  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  indemnification  of  those  who,  in  the  defense  of  the 
Union  and  in  the  nation's  service,  have  worthily  suffered,  and  who,  in  the  days  of  their 
dependence  resulting  from  such  suffering,  are  entitled  lo  the  benefaction  of  their  Gov- 
ernment. 

This  reflection  leads  to  the  bestowal  of  pensions  a  kind  of  sacredness  which  invites  the 
adoption  of  such  principles  and  regulations  as  will  exclude  perversion  as  well  as  insure  a 
liberal  and  generous  application  of  grateful  and  benevolent  designs.  Heedlessness  and  a 
disregard  of  the  principle  which  underlies  the  granting  of  pensions  is  unfair  to  the 
wounded,  crippled  soldier  who  is  honored  in  the  just  recognition  of  his  Government.  Such 
a  man  should  never  find  himself  side  by  side  on  the  pension-roll  with  those  who  huve  been 
tempted  to  attribute  the  natural  ills  to  which  human!: y  is  heir  to  service  in  the  army.. 
Every  relaxation  of  principle  in  the  granting  of  pensions  invites  applications  without  merit 
and  encourages  those  who  for  gain  urge  honest  men  to  become  dishonest.  Thus  is  the- 
demoralizing  lesson  taught  the  people,  that  as  against  the  public  Trenaury  the  most  ques- 
tionable expedients  are  allowable. 

In  another  case  he  says : 

I  cannot  spell  out  any  principle  upon  which  the  bounty  of  the  Government  Is  bestowed 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  flood  of  private  pension  bills  that  roach  me.  The  theory 
seems  to  have  been  adopted  that  no  man  who  served  in  the  army  can  be  the  subject  of  death 
or  impaired  health  except  they  are  chargeable  to  his  service.  Medical  theories  are  set  at 
naught  and  the  most  startling  relation  is  claimed  between  alleged  incidents  of  military  ser- 
vice and  disability  or  death.  Fatal  apuplexy  is  admitted  as  the  result  of  quite  insignificant, 
wounds,  heart  disease  is  attributed  to  chronic  diarrhea,  consumption  to  hernia,  and  suicide 
is  traced  to  army  service  in  a  wonderfully  devious  and  curious  way. 

Adjudications  of  the  Pension  Bureau  are  overruled  in  the  most  peremptory  fashion  by 
these  special  acts  of  Congress,  since  nearly  all  the  beneficiaries  named  in  these  bills  haye 
unsuccessfully  applied  to  that  bureau  for  relief. 

This  course  of  special  legislation  operates  very  unfairly. 

Those  with  certain  influence  or  friends  to  push  their  claims  procure  pensions,  and  those 
who  have  neither  friends  nor  influence  must  be  content  with  their  fate  under  general  laws. 
It  operates  unfairly  by  increasing  in  numerous  instances  the  pensions  of  those  already  on 
the  rolls,  while  many  other  more  deserving  cases  from  the  lack  of  fortunate  advocacy  are 
Obliged  to  be  content  with  the  sum  provided  by  general  laws. 

The  apprehension  may  well  be  entertained  that  the  freedom  with  which  these  private 
pension  bills  are  passed  furnishes  an  inducement  to  fraud  and  imposition,  while  it  certainly 
teaches  the  vicious  lesson  to  our  people  that  the  Treasury  of  the  national  Government 
invites  the  approach  of  private  need. 

None  of  us  should  be  in  the  least  wanting  in  regard  for  the  veteran  soldier,  and  I  will 
yield  to  no  man  in  a  desire  to  see  those  who  defended  the  Government  when  it  needed 
defenders  liberally  treated.  Unfriendliness  to  our  veterans  is  a  charge  easily  and  some- 
times dishonestly  made 

I  insist  that  the  true  soldier  is  a  good  citizen,  and  that  he  will  be  satisfied  with  generous, 
fair,  and  equal  consideration  for  those  who  are  worthily  entitled  to  help. 

I  have  considered  the  pension  list  of  the  Republic  a  roll  of  honor  bearing  names 
inscribed  by  national  gratitude  and  not  by  improvident  and  indiscriminating  alms-giving. 

I  have  conceived  the  prevention  of  the  complete  discredit  which  must  ensue  from  the 
unreasonable,  unfair,  and  reckless  granting  of  pensions  by  special  acts  to  be  the  best  service 
I  can  render  our  veterans. 

In  the  discharge  of  what  has  seemed  to  me  my  duty  as  related  to  legislation  and  in  the 
Interest  of  all  the  veterans  of  the  Union  Army,  I  have  attempted  to  stem  the  tide  of  improvi- 
dent pension  enactments,  though  I  confess  to  a  full  share  of  responsibility  for  some  of  these 
laws  that  should  not  have  been  passed. 

I  am  far  from  denying  that  there  are  cases  of  merit  which  cannot  be  reached  except 
by  special  enactment ;  but  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  member  of  either  House  of  Congress 
Who  will  not  admit  that  this  kind  of  legislation  has  been  carried  too  far. 

My  aim  has  been  at  all  times,  in  dealing  with  bills  of  this  character,  to  give  the  appli- 
cant for  a  pension  the  benefit  of  any  doubt  that  might  arise  and  which  balanced  the  pro- 
priety of  granting  a  pension,  if  there  seemed  any  just  foundation  for  the  application;  but 
when  it  seemed  entirely  outside  of  every  rule,  in  its  nature  or  the  proof  supporting  it,  1 
have  supposed  I  only  did  my  duty  in  interposing  an  objection. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  well  if  our  general  pension  laws  should  be  revised  with 
a  view  of  meeting  every  meritorious  case  that  can  arise.  Our  experience  and  knowledge 
of  any  existing  deficiencies  ought  to  make  the  enactment  of  a  complete  pension  code 
possible.  ^  ..  , , 

In  the  absence  of  such  a  revision  and  if  pensions  are  to  be  granted  upon  equitable 
wounds  and  without  regard  to  general  laws,  the  present  methods  would  be  greatly  improved 
by  tne  establishment  of  some  tribunal  to  examine  the  facta  in  every  case  and  determine 
apon  the  merits  of  the  applioation 


I 


•288  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER. 

Other  extracts  are  as  follows : 

If  such  speculations  and  presumptions  as  this  are  to  be  indulged,  we  shall  find  our- 
selves surrounded  and  hedged  in  by  the  rule  that  all  men  entering  an  a  my  were  nree  from 
disease  ©r  the  iiabiliry  to  disease  before  their  tnlistment,  and  every  infirmity  which  is 
visited  upon  them  thereafter  is  the  cousc  quence  of  army  service. 

Before  the  passage  of  the  bill  herewith  returned,  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  in 
ignorance  of  the  action  of  Congress,  allowed  his  claim  under  the  general  law.  As  this 
decision  of  the  Pension  Bureau  entitles  the  beneficiary  named  to  draw  a  pension  from  the 
date  of  filing  his  application,  which,  under  the  provisions  of  the  f>pecial  bill  in  his  favor, 
would  only  accrue  from  the  time  of  its  passage,  I  am  unwilling  that  one  found  worthy  to 
be  placed  upon  the  pension-rolls  by  the  Bureau  to  which  he  properly  applied  should  be  an 
Actual  loser  by  reason  of  a  special  interposition  of  Congress  in  his  b.half. 

I  am  by  no  means  Insensible  to  that  influence  which  leads  the  judgment  toward  the 
^allowance  of  every  claim  alleged  to  be  founded  upon  patriotic  service  in  the  nation's  cause. 
And  yet  I  neither  believe  it  to  be  a  duty  nor  a  kindness  to  the  woithy  citizens  for  whose 
benefit  our  scheme  of  pensions  was  provided,  to  permit  the  diversion  of  the  nation's 
bounty  to  objects  not  within  its  scope  and  purpose. 

It  is.n(»t  a  pleasant  thing  to  interlere  in  such  a  case.  But  we  are  dealing  with  pensions 
and  not  with  gratuities. 

I  believe  her  case  to  be  a  pitiable  one  and  wish  that  I  could  join  in  her  relief.  But 
unfortunately  official  duty  can  not  always  be  well  done  when  directtd  solely  by  sympathy 
and  charity. 

A  disabled  man  and  wife  and  family  in  need  are  objects  which  appeal  to  the  sympathy 
and  charitable  feelings  of  any  decent  man,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  those  intrusted  with  the  people's  business  and  the  expenditure  of  the  people's  money 
are  justified  in  so  executing  the  pension  laws  as  that  they  shall  furnish  a  means  of  relief  in 
every  case  of  distress  or  hardship. 

grant's  vetobs. 

lFr0m  Senator  Voorhees's  Speech,  April  38, 1888] 

But  in  tT»e  very  face  of  these  solid  and  unassailable  facts,  demonstrating  beyond  all 
possible  contradiction  the  magnificent  work  accomplished  for  the  soldiers  by  the  executive 
department  of  the  Government  under  a  Democratic  administration,  torrents  of  abuse  and 
calumny  have  been  poured  upon  the  head  of  the  Executive  himself,  charging  a  personal 
hostility  on  his  part  to  those  who  defended  their  country  in  the  Union  armies.  General 
Grant  vetoed  that  great  measure  of  absolute  justice  which  passed  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress, equalizing  the  bounties  of  soldiers,  a  measure  in  which  over  two  hundred  thousand 
veterans  were  interested,  and  which  equalized  the  meager  bounties  they  received  In  the 
early  days  of  the  war  with  the  larger  bounties  paid  near  its  close.  Those  who  would  have 
been  benefited  by  this  bill  were  the  most  meritorious  followers  of  the  flag.  They  rallied  to 
it  at  the  opening  roar  of  the  guns ;  they  bore  the  heat  and  the  burden  of  the  day,  and  they 
only  asked  to  be  made  equal  in  bounty  with  those  who  went  In  at  the  eleventh  hour  and  In 
many  instances  never  saw  a  line  of  battle. 

But  the  veto  which  deprived  the  best  veterans  of  the  war  of  many  millions  of  Justly- 
earned  money  was  delivered  by  a  Republican  President,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Republican 
party  became  Instantly  blind  to  the  rank  injustice  inflicted  on  Its  victims  and  quietly  sub- 
mitted without  a  word.  If,  however,  In  passing  upon  more  than  a  thousand  private  acts  of 
Congress  granting  pensions  to  individuals  who  had  failed  to  make  sufBcient  proof  in  the 
Pension  Oflace,  a  Democratic  President  has  here  and  there  found  one  he  could  not  approve 
it  has  been  sufficient  to  Invoke  storms,  blizzards  and  cyclones  of  wrath  against  him  froi 
such  as  prove  their  friendship  for  the  soldier  by  clamorous  and  scaadalous  abuse  of  tb 
political  opponents. 

"the  president  was  right." 

This  is  what  George  W.  Childs  eays  of  the  pension  vetoes  in  the  Philadelpl 

Ledger,  July  13 : 

There  have  been  but  few  Presidents  of  the  United  States  who  have  so  consplcuousl, 
displayed  so  high  a  degree  of  moral  couragre  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  oflBce  as 
Mr.  Cleveland  has  done,  and  in  nothing  else  has  he  exhibited  his  elevated  sense  of  responsl- 


I 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  289 

tility  so  much  as  in  his  vetoes  of  sundry  private  pension  bills.  This,  which  should  have 
been  universally  recognized  as  meritorious,  has  been  by  many  of  his  partisan  opponents  set 
down  against  him  as  an  offense.  His  motives  are  impugned,  his  conduct  misrepresented: 
and  he  is  held  up  to  the  contumely  of  all  those  who  have  fought  their  country's  battles  as 
one  who  is  indifferent  to  their  valor,  unappreciativeof  their  services,  opposed  to  concedingr 
them  the  reward  which  is  justly  theirs. 

There  is  notning  in  the  vetoes  of  the  President  to  prove  these  grave  charges :  there  is 
nothing  in  them  to  give  even  the  color  of  credibility  to  them.  So  far  have  the  President's 
political  opponents  pursued  their  opposition  to  hiip  iu  this  respect  as  to  contend  that  his 
numerous  vetoes  of  these  private  pension  bills  is  a  flagrant  abuse  of  the  constitutional  exer- 
cise of  the  veto  power,  and  an  insult  to  the  legislative  dep'irtment  of  the  Government. 
That  is  as  false  a  contention  as  could  be  made;  the  Constitution  is  mandatory  to  the  effect 
that  ''every  bill"  passed  by  the  House  and  Senate  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  pre- 
sented to  the  President  of  the  United  States  if  he  shall  approve  it,  he  shall  sign  it;  but 
if  he  shall  not  approve  it,  he  shall  return  it  to  the  House  in  which  it  originated,  witn  his 
objections,  and  then  the  bill  shall  become  law  only  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  each  House. 

The  known  facts  regarding  these  private  pension  bills  similarly  determine  the  propriety 
of  the  President's  vetoes.  He  does  what  neitner  the  Senate  nor  the  House  does ;  he  devotes 
time,  labor,  and  thought  to  the  coneideration  of  every  separate  pension  bill  presented  to 
him,  and  according  to  their  merits  or  defects  he  approves  or  disapproves  them.  In  marked 
contrast  with  what  the  President  has  done  in  diligently,  carefully  inquiring  into  the  merits 
of  the  bills  presented  to  hirh  for  his  approval,  is  the  unconsidered,  reckless  conduct  of  the 
Senate  in  passing  them,  illustrated  by  the  uncontested  statement  of  Stnator  Butler,  in 
yesterday's  debate,  that  in  a  single  session  ot  seventy  minutes  that  body  had  passed  147 
private  pension  bills. 

In  one  of  his  veto  messages  last  week  the  President  said  that  the  idea  of  Congress 
seems  to  be  "that  no  man  who  served  in  the  Army  can  be  the  subject  of  death  or  impaired 
health,  except  that  tbey  are  chargeable  to  his  service.  Medical  theories  are  set  at  naught, 
and  the  m03t  startling  relation  is  claimed  between  alleged  incidf^nts  of  miiitai-y  service 
and  disability  or  death.  Fatal  apoplexy  is  admitted  as  the  result  of  quite  insignificant 
wounds,  heart  disease  is  attributed  to  chronic  diarrhea,  and  suicide  is  traced  to  Army  ser- 
vice in  a  wonderfully  devious  and  circuitous  way.  *  *  *  'X'his  course  ot  special 
legislation  acts  very  unfairly.  Those  with  certain  influence  or  friends  to  push  their  claims 
procure  pensions,  and  those  who  have  neither  friends  nor  influence  must  be  content  with 
♦their  fate  under  general  laws." 

All  this  is  the  truth,  as  case  after  case  has  established  it,  and  vet  the  hue  and  cry  of 
unscrupulous  partisanship  has  so  perverted  the  good  conscience  and  devotion  to  duty  of 
the  President  as  to  make  him  seem  an  enemy  of  the  soldiers  and  his  conduct  an  offense  to 
them.  No  one  who  has  read  the  President's  veto  messages  in  which  ho  has  stated  his  objectio;as 
to  those  bills  which  he  has  disapproved  can  fail  to  perceive  that  he  has,  in  every  case,  acted 
In  entire  good  faith  with  respect  to  the  claims  of  our  soldiers.  The  pension  list,  he  said, 
should  be  made  a  roll  of  honor,  a  record  of  the  great,  heroic  deeds  of  brave  men,  and 
be  not  marred  by  the  appearance  of  the  names  upon  it  of  those  who  are  unworthy  of  the 
distinction  and  benefits  it  should  confer. 

That  the  President  was  right,  thaf  Congress  was  wrong  in  the  matter  of  the  over- 
whelming proportion  of  the  vetoed  bills,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  Congress  has  recognized 
except  in  the  very  rarest  instances,  the  validity  of  his  objections.  It  was  in  its  power  to 
set  aside  his  vetoes  in  any  case  if  it  were  right  and  he  wrong,  but  in  how  many  cases  has  it 
done  so?  In  so  exceedingly  small  a  number  as  to  testify  to  his  general  wisdom,  courage 
and  integrity  in  connection  with  these  bills. 

In  this  regard  it  is  worth  the  while  of  the  people  to  consider  that  there  is  somethlngr 
better  than  partisan  supremacy;  that  fidelity  shown  in  the  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  much  better,  and  that  there  can  be  no  partisan  necessity  so  strong  as  to  warrant 
the  condemnation,  through  misrepresentation,  of  the  Executive  for  doing  that  which  it  is 
his  duty  to  do.  In  this  private  pension  business  the  President  has  been  engaged  in  correct- 
ing the  errors  of  Congress.  He  has  done  it  at  the  risk  of  having  his  motives  misrepre- 
sented, his  conduct  denounced,  his  patriotism  questioned,  his  popularity  impaired ;  but, 
conscious  of  being  right,  determined  to  do  right,  he  has  gone  resolutely  on  in  the  faithful 
discharge  of  his  duty.  That  is  what  he  should  be  encouraged  to  continue  to  do,  and  by  no 
others  more  than  by  the  brave  men  who  fought  the  battles  of  their  country,  and  who 
should  now  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  in  his 
efforts  to  make  the  pension  list  a  roll  of  honor  and  every  pension  certificate  a  token  of 
valor  and  patriotism. 


290  DEMOCBACY  AND  THE  SOLDIBB. 


VIII. 

THE  VETOED  BILLS. 

A  DIGEST    SHOWING     PRESIDENT    CLEVELAND'S  REASONS    FOR    THE  VETO  OP  THK 
PRIVATE  PENSION  BILLS — PRESERVING  THE  RIGHTS  OP  ALL  PENSIONERS 
AND  MAINTAINING  THE    HONOR  OF  THE  PENSION-ROLL— NEARLY 
EVERY  VETO  SUSTAINED   BY  THE    ACTION    OP    REPUBLI- 
CAN COMMISSIONERS  OP  PENSIONS. 


ANDREW  J.   HILL. 

Vetoed  because  proposed  beneficiary's  name  is  Alfred  J.  Hill.  The  bill  would  be  inop~ 
erative. 

ABIGAIL  SMITH. 

Vetoed  for  the  reason  that  the  bill  would  reduce  the  pension  she  is  receiving  under  the 
general  law. 

LOUIS  MELCHER. 

After  less  than  three  months'  service  was  discharged  August  16, 1861,  for  "lameness 
caused  by  previous  repeated  ulcerations  of  the  legs,  extending  deeply  among  the  muscles 
and  impairing  their  powers  and  action  by  cicatrices,  all  existing  before  enlistment."  Claim, 
consequently  rejected  by  Pension  Bureau.  The  cicatrices  showed  beyond  doubt  the 
previous  existence  of  this  difficulty,  and  the  term  of  service  was  too  short  to  have  devel- 
oped and  healed  repeated  ulcerations  in  a  location  previously  healthy.  (Veto  upholds  sur* 
geon's  certificate  made  at  time  of  discharge,  and  upon  which  the  Pension  Office  based 
its  action.)    Commissioner  Dudley  rejected  this  claim  in  1884. 

ELIZABETH  S.  DE  KRAFFT.  ^ 

Vetoed  to  save  her  arrearages  to  which  she  is  entitled  under  tke  general  law.  The  only 
effect  of  this  bill  would  be  to  reduce  her  pension. 

ELIZABETH  LUCK. 

Husband  applied  for  pension  shortly  after  his  discharge,  January,  1864,  alleging  disa- 
bility from  being  thrown  forward  on  pommel  of  his  saddle  when  in  service.  No  record  to 
that  effect  and  no  such  evidence  could  be  produced.  Surgeon's  certificate  at  discharge 
states  disability  arose  from  "organic  stricture"  existing  at  time  of  enlistment.  Claim 
reject(>d.  TM'enty  years  after  he  died  of  chronic  gastritis.  Soldier's  death  did  not  result 
from  disability  or  injury  contracted  in  military  service.  Claim  for  pension  rejected  in  1868 
by  Commissioner  Barrett;  August,  1883,  by  Commissioner  Dudley,  and  January,  1885,  by 
Commissioner  Clarke. 

CARTER  W.  TILLER. 

Claim  filed  In  Pension  Office,  1877,  as  dependent  father,  which  was  rejected.  Claimant 
enjoyed  a  fair  salary  as  a  policeman  ever  since  his  son's  death.  The  latter  deserted,  and  ten 
months  thereafter  died.    This  claim  was  rejected  in  July,  1879,  by  Commissioner  Bentley. 

ELEANOR  C.  B.VNGHAM. 

In  July,  1885,  upon  special  examination,  pensioner  admitted  her  husband  suffered  from 
epilepsy  from  early  chilhood,  and  that  he  committed  suicide  during  a  despondent  mood  fol- 
lowing an  epileptic  fit.  Pension  withdrawn,  it  being  apparent  that  his  epilepsy  was  not 
contracted  in  service. 

DAVID  W.  HAMILTON. 

In  his  applica*;ion  for  pension  November,  1879,  fourteen  years  after  his  final  discharge 
from  the  Array,  and  just  prior  to  the  expiration  of  time  for  filing  claims  for  pensioi 
arrearages,  and  after  the  death  of  his  family  physician,  he  admitted  that  he  suffered  froi , 
hydrocele  as  early  as  1856.  His  claim  was  rejected  by  the  Pension  Office  on  the  ground  thai 
his  alleged  disability  existed  prior  to  his  enlistment.  This  claim  was  rejected  by  Cor  '" 
flioner  Dudley  in  1883. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  80LDIEK.  391 

JAMES  C.  CHAWDLEB. 

Applied  twice  for  pension.  In  his  first  application,  1869,  he  alleged  that  in.  April,  1862; 
he  was  run  over  by  a  wagon  and  injured  In  his  ankle.  The  records  show  that  he  was  dis- 
charged less  rhan  two  mouths  afterwards  for  chronic  bronchitis.  In  his  second  application 
he  alleged  he  contracted  typhoid  fever  in  May,  1862.  resulting  in  "  rheumatism  and  disease 
of  the  back  in  region  of  kindneys."  Yet  in  January,  1864,  he  again  enlisted,  was  pronounced 
sound,  and  served  until  mustered  out,  September,  1865. 

JOHN    D.    HAM. 

Claimed  that  while  riding  from  his  home  to  join  a  regiment  his  horse  fell  on  his  ankle- 
and  injured  him  :  never  joined  any  regiment,  but  returned  home ;  the  next  year  was  drafted, 
accepted  as  physically  sound,  and  served  out  his  term.  Seventeen  years  afterwards  applied 
for  a  pension  for  injury  to  his  ankle,  which  was  denied  after  investigation  by  the  Pension-. 
Bureau,  by  Commissioner  Dudley,  December,  1883. 

EDWARD   AYEBg. 

The  application  to  the  Pension  Bureau  rejected  on  the  ground  that  investigation  proved^ 
that  the  injury  complained  of  was  sus'ained  when  a  boy ;  that  there  is  no  record  to  show- 
that  he  was  injured  in  the  Army.  He  deserted  in  May,  1863,  and  was  subsequently  arrested 
and  returned  to  his  regiment.  This  claim  was  rejected  by  Commissioner  Baker  in  1873,  an<i 
twice  by  Commissioner  Dudley— 1882  and  1884. 

DUDLEY  B.  BRANCH. 

Alleged  hernia  from  a  fall  while  getting  over  a  fence  June  9, 1862.  but  served  more  than 
a  year  afterward,  and  in  1863  was  transferred  to  the  invalid  corps  ior  an  entirely  different 
disability.  Did  not  apply  for  pension  until  thirteen  and  a  half  years  after  his  fall  (December, 
1875),  and  his  claim  was  rejected  by  Pension  Bureau  for  want  of  satisfactory  evidence.  No 
reason  why  exception  should  be  made  and  bureau  overruled.  Claim  rejected  June,  1883,  by 
Commissioner  Dudley. 

REBECCA  ELDBIDOE. 

Husband  was  pensioned  at  f 3  per  month  for  slight  wound  which  did  not  incapacitate 
him  for  manual  labor.  Over  fifteen  years  after  his  discharge,  while  working  about  a 
building,  he  fell  backward  from  a  ladder,  fractured  his  skull,  and  died  same  day.  For  this 
the  bill  proposed  to  pension  widow.  Vetoed  because  not  pensionable.  This  claim  wa& 
rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  August,  1883. 

MRS.  ANNIE  C.  OWEN. 

Husband  mustered  as  second  lieutenant  December  14. 1861 ;  discharged  October  16, 1863, , 
lived  neany  fourteen  years  afterward  and  never  applied  for  pension.    Twenty-one  years 
after  his  discharge  his  widow  applied ;  alleged  that  he  received  two  shell  wornds  on  July  1, 
1862,  and  died  in  1876,  from  neuralgia  of  the  heart  some  way  caused  by  such  wounde.    There 
is  no  record  of  the  wounds.    Widow's  claim  was  rejected  by  Pension  Office  ;  death  not  results 
of  army  service.    Claim  was  filed  in  1883  and  rejected  by  Commissioner  Black  in  itssh. 

J.  D.  HA  WORTH. 

This  bill  proposes  to  pension  claimant  for  disability  which  had  its  origin  in  causes  exist" 
ing  prior  to  enlistment,  and  not  the  result  of  Army  service.  This  claim  was  rejected  by 
Commissioner  Bent  ley  in  1880. 

M.  BOMAHN. 

In  1883  claimed  pension  alleging  that  in  winter  of  1863  he  incurred  varicose  vein  from 
standing  guard  excessively.  No  record  of  his  disability  appears,  and  evidence  of  same 
being  insufficient  his  claim  was  rejected  by  the  Pension  Bureau.  He  then  made  application 
to  Congress  and  added  another  allegation,  that  in  May,  1865,  he  was  injured  in  breast  and 
shoulder  by  a  railroad  accident  while  on  detail  duty,  itejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in 
1884. 

SIMMONS  W.  HARDIN. 

In  application  filed  1866  alleged  he  was  injured  by  fall  from  a  wagon  while  In  service. 
Fourteen  years  later  he  claimed  that  he  was  aflicted  with  enlargement  of  lungs  and  heart 
from  over-exertion  at  a  review.  His  Army  record  makes  no  mention  of  either  of  these 
troubles,  but  shows  that  he  had  at  some  time  dyspepsia  and  inteimaittent  fever.  (Veto 
upholds  rejection  by  Pension  Office )  This  claim  was  rejected  in  1868  by  Commissioner 
Barrett,  and  again  in  1884  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

THOMAS  S.  HOPKINS. 

Enlisted  June,  1862.  discharged  June,  1865.  Filed  claim  November,  1880,  and  in  June, 
1881,  was  granted  $50  per  month  for  debility  resulting  from  malarial  fever  and  chronic 
diarrhea.  This  bill  proposes  to  waive  the  limitation  law  of  1879  so  that  the  beneficiary  may 
claim  $9,000  arrearages.  It  was  subsequently  altered  to  meet  President's  suggestions,  and  , 
approved. 
19 


293  DEMOCRACY  AND   THE   SOLDIER 


JOHN  HUNTER. 


Dischargred  July  13, 1865,  expiration  of  term.  Served  twelve  months.  Fourteen  years 
after  discharge  he  filed  claim  for  pension  because  of  gunshot  wound  in  leg  while  in  skirmish. 
Though  aidied  by  the  Bureau,  It  could  not  be  shown  that  the  injury  was  due  to  the  service, 
and  there  being  no  record  of  his  alleged  wound  his  claim  was  rejected.  Evidence  recited 
in  House  Committee  report  fails  to  show  continuous  disability  from  wound,  even  if 
received.    This  claim  was  rejected  in  December,  1884,  by  Commissioner  Clarke. 


JOEL  D.  MONROE. 

Enlisted  August,  1864,  and  mustered  out  with  regiment  June,  18^.  Fifteen  years  after 
filed  claim  alleging  tree  fell  on  him,  injuring  his  eyes;  and  also  that  he  contracted  rheuma- 
tism In  service.  Rejected  by  Pension  Office.  No  record  of  either  disability,  nor  proof 
furnished  that  either  originated  in  service.    Claim  rejected  by  Commissioner  Black. 

FRED.   J.  LEESE. 

Discharged  June  4, 1865,  after  serving  nine  months.  No  record  of  disability.  Eighteen 
years  after  discharge  he  filed  claim  which  is  still  under  investigation  in  Pension  Office. 

CORNELIA  R.  8CHBNCK. 

Husband  enlisted  August,  1861,  mustered  out  October,  1864.  No  record  of  any  disability 
in  service;  lived  eleven  years  after  discharge;  never  claimed  disability,  and  died  of  inflam- 
mation of  the  stomach,  etc.,  December,  1875.  Ten  years  later  his  widow  applies  for  pension 
and  her  claim  is  now  under  examination  in  Pension  Bureau. 

WILLLA.M  H.  BECK. 

Enlisted  in  1861;  re-enlisted  as  a  veteran  volunteer  in  1864;  mustered  out  April,  1886. 
Thirteen  years  after  discharge  (1879)  tiled  claim  in  Pension  Office,  alleging  epilepsy  incurred 
in  1863,  caused  by  jar  from  heavy  firing.  Six  months  after  the  date  of  alleged  injury  he 
re-enlisted  upon  a  medical  certificate  of  perfect  soundness,  and  served  more  than  two 
years  thereafter.  No  evidence  to  support  bill.  This  claim  was  rejected,  1881,  by  Commis- 
sioner Bentley. 

MARY  J.  NOTTAGE. 

Husband  enlisted  1861;  discharged  1883  for  "disease  of  urinary  organs,"  which  had 
troubled  him  for  years.  He  died  of  consumption  seventeen  years  after,  without  having 
made  any  claim  for  pension.  In  1880  widow  claimed  pension,  which  was  rejected.  Disease 
was  not  contracted  in  the  service 

JAMES  B.  O'SHEA. 

Enlisted  1861;  discharged  1884.  Claimed  pension  for  saber  wound  in  head  received 
March,  1863,  and  gunshot  wound  in  leg  in  autumn  of  same  year.  Records  are  silent  as  to 
wounds,  but  show  that  in  1864  he  was  found  guilty  of  desertion  and  sentenced  to  forfeit  all 
pay,  etc.,  for  time  absent. 

JOHN  S.  WILLIAMS. 

Alleged  his  shoulder  was  dislocated  in  1863  while  ferrying  troops  across  a  river; 
served  afterwards  until  1865.  No  record  of  such  injury.  Claim  rejected  in  1883  by  Commis- 
sioner Dudley. 

HENRY  HIPPLB,  JR. 

Sixteen  years  after  discharge  discovered  that  during  his  service  in  Army,  August,  1862 
to  May,  1863,  he  contracted  rheumatism  but  received  no  treatment  for  it  while  in  the  Army 
nor  attendance  by  physician  since  di  scharge.  Claim  filed  1879.  No  facts  shown  to  entitle  him 
to  pension.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

JOHN  W.  FARRIS. 

After  having  been  allowed  pension  in  1885  for  chronic  diarrhea,  claimed  increase  for 
sore  eyes  contracted  1884,  in  consequence  of  his  previous  ailment,  etc.  The  bill  contem- 
plated pensioning  him  for  disease  of  the  eyes,  which  the  medical  referee  of  Pension  Bureau 
reports  "can  not  be  admitted  to  be  a  result  of  chronic  diarrhea." 

ELIJAH  P.  HBNSLEY. 

In  1868  was  granted  pension  dating  from  1865,  and  drew  until  1877,  when,  upon  evidence 
that  the  injury  for  which  he  was  pensioned  was  not  received  in  line  of  duty,  his  name  was 
dropped  from  rolls.  Appealed  to  Secretary  of  Interior,  who  sustained  action  of  Pension 
Bureau. 

ROBERT  HALSEY. 

Seventeen  years  after  close  of  the  war  he  filed  claim  in  Pension  Office,  alleging  that 
in  1863  he  contracted  fever  aflfecting  lungs,  kidneys  and  stomach.  A  board  of  surgeons  in 
1883  ft>und  disease  of  kidneys,  but  no  indication  of  lung  or  stomach  trouble.  Three  years 
later  medical  referee  reported  no  disease  of  lungs  or  trouble  since  filing  claim,  and  that 
the  kidney  difficulty  had  no  relation  to  Army  service.  Veto  sustains  rejection  by  Pension 
Commissioner  Black. 


I 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  293 

ALFRED  DENNY. 

Entered  service  June,  1863,  as  captain  and  assistant  quartermaster.  After  remaining 
in  that  position  less  than  a  year  he  resigned  to  accept  a  civil  position.  Twenty  years  after- 
wards he  filed  a  claim  in  Pension  Office,  alleging  that  in  August,  1863,  he  was  thrown  for- 
ward on  the  horn  of  his  saddle,  rupturing  right  side  and  subsequently  of  left  side.  The 
records  disclose  no  evidence  of  any  accident  or  disability.  Claim  rejected  in  1884  by  Com- 
missioner Dudley. 

MARIIiLA  PARSONS. 

No  claim  filed  in  Pension  Office.  Her  stepson  enlisted  in  1861,  and  subsequently  died 
of  consumption.  No  facts  even  are  shown  that  the  disease  resulted  from  military  service. 
Step-parents  are  not  under  the  law  entitled  to  pensions. 

JACKSON  STEWARD. 

This  case  is  pending  in  Pension  Bureau,  and  no  reason  why  it  should  not  take  Its 
course. 

ANNA  A.  PROBERT. 

Husband,  who  was  a  druggist,  died  in  Memphis  of  yellow  fever  in  1878. 

SAMUEL  MILLER. 

la  1880  filed  claim  in  Pension  Office,  which  was  rejected.  Board  of  surgeons  failed  to 
discover  any  evidence  of  disease.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 

CLARK  BOON. 

Filed  claim  in  1874,  alleging  lost  his  health  while  prisoner  at  Tyler,  Texas.  In  October, 
1874,  filed  affidavit  that  he  contracted  disease  of  heart  and  head  in  the  service.  In  January, 
1878,  he  abandoned  allegations  as  to  disease,  and  asked  for  pension  on  account  of  gunshot 
wound  in  ankle.  Pension  was  granted  in  1880  on  theory  of  medical  board  that  it  was  "pos- 
sible that  applicant  was  entitled  to  a  small  rating  for  weakness  of  ankle."  Not  entitled  to 
iXL  increase.    This  claim  was  rejected  in  1878  by  Commissioner  Bentiey. 

HEZEKLAH  TILLMAN. 

Claim  for  increase  still  pending  In  Pension  Bureau. 

CHARLES    SHTJLER. 

Claim  is  pending  in  Pension  Bureau  and  undetermined. 

MARIA    HUNTER. 

Claimant's  petition  in  Pension  Bureau  is  pending  undetermined. 

JOSEPH  TUTTLE. 

Claims  as  dependent  father.  "When  soldier  was  nine  years  of  age,  claimant  abandoned 
he  boy,  who  lived  among  strangers  until  1861,  when  he  enlisted  and  was  killed  in  action  in 
lay,  1863.  Claimant  exhibited  such  indifference  that  he  was  not  aware  of  hib  son's  decease 
or  two  years  thereafter.  He  is  not  entitled  to  profit  by  the  death  of  this  patriotic  boy. 
lejecced  by  Commissioner  Black  in  1886. 

ANDREW  J.  WILSON. 

Drafted  February,  1865 :  discharged  following  September  on  account  of  "chronic 
ephritis  and  deafness."  In  1882  filed  claim  in  Pension  Office,  alleging  that  Im  June,  1865,  he 
ontracted  rheumatism.  As  claims  were  rejected  he  repeatedly  set  up  other  complaints, 
one  of  which  were  sustained  by  the  evidence.  Now  under  examination  by  Pension 
ureau. 

MARY  8.  WOODSON. 

Husband  was  discharged  October,  1863,  on  account  of  disease  of  heart.  He  left  home 
1 1874  aud  has  not  since  been  heard  of.  Rejected  in  1884  by  Commissioner  Dudley.  There 
no  other  evidence.  y. 

SARAH  HARBAUGH, 

Soldier  discharged  September,  1864.  Received  wound  in  ankle  May,  1863.  Died  of 
jart  disease  October,  1881.  No  connection  between  cause  of  death  and  Army  service, 
ejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 

BRUNO  SCHULTZ. 

Applied  for  pension  several  years  ago  and  rejected.  Since  then  the  case  has  been 
)ened  and  is  now  awaiting  additional  evidence.    Rejected  in  1877  by  Comoussioner 


jntley. 


I 


294  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 


WILLIAM  BISHOP. 


Was  enrolled  as  a  substitute  March  25,  1B65.  when  high  bounties  were  paid.  Was 
admitted  to  hospital  April  3,  with  measles.  Returned  to  duty  May  8,  and  mustered  out 
with  a  detachment  of  unassigned  men  May,  1865.  Fifteen  years  afterwards  (J880)  filed 
claim,  alleging  measles  had  affected  his  ei  es  and  spinal  column.  Rejected  by  (Commis- 
sioner Dudley  in  1884. 

JULIA  CONNELLY. 

Husband  was  mustered  into  pervice  Oc  tober  2fi,  1861.  He  deser'ed  November  14,  1861. 
Visited  his  tamiiy  December  1,  and  waa  found  drowned  near  his  home  December  80, 1861. 

LOUISA  C.  BEEZELKT. 

Husband  w»s  enrolled  as  a  farrier  in  September,  1861.  Discharged  July,  1862,  on 
account  of  "old  atce."  Thirte^-n  years  afterwards  he  died.  He  never  claimed  pension.  In 
1877  his  widow  iiied  claim  that  he  died  irom  dit-ease  contracted  in  service;  which  was  found 
to  be  erroneous.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

CHARLES  A.  CHASE. 

Enlisted  September,  1864.  Mustered  out  June,  1865.  Fifteen  years  thereafter  filed 
claim,  alleging  disease  of  kidneys  and  liver  from  exposure,  October,  1864,  There  is  no- 
record  of  alleged  disease  and  no  proof  of  its  contraction  in  Army.  Rejected  in  1884  by 
Commissioner  Dudley. 

GILES  C.  HAWLEY. 

Enlisted  in  August  and  discharged  in  November,  1861,  "on  account  of  deafness." 
Seventeen  years  thereafter  (1878)  he  filed  a  claim  in  P*  nsion  OflSce,  alleging  that  from 
exposure  and  excessive  duty  his  hearing  was  seriously  affected,  which  was  rejected.  Since 
pensioned  under  the  general  law. 

MARY    ANDERSON. 

Husband  was  pensioned  on  account  of  chronic  diarrhea.  In  1882  he  was  found  dead 
on  the  railroad  track.  Pension  Office  rejected  claim  because  death  was  not  connected  with 
military  service. 

HARRIET  WELCH. 

Husband  fell  from  the  cars  in  1877  and  was  killed.  The  widow's  claim  was,  by  the 
Pension  Office,  rejected  on  the  ground  that  death  did  not  result  from  military  service. 
Rejected  in  1884  by  Gommissioner  Dudley. 

JAMES    BUTLER. 

On  the  11th  of  September,  1864,  while  at  his  home  after  enlistment,  but  before  his 
company  was  organized,  he  fell  into  a  cellar,  fractured  his  leg,  and  was  discharged  In 
December,  1864,  his  claim  for  pension  was  rejected  by  the  Pension  Office,  and  again  in  1871. 
The  claimant  was  never  mustered-into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  his  injur-  was 
not  received  in  the  performance  of  duty. 

JAMES  H.  DAHpiilNG. 

Discharged  in  1862.  Filed  claim  In  Pension  Office  alleging  rheumatism.  Rejected  on 
account  of  not  being  result  of  Army  service.  Medical  examination  In  1877  and  again  in 
1883  showed  that  he  was  not  entitled  to  pension. 

SALLIE  WEST- 

Disease  which  produced  husband's  death  had  not  its  origin  in  his  mlMtary  service. 

MARTHA  M'lLWAIN. 

Husband  lost  a  leg  in  1862  and  was  pensioned  for  disability.    In  1883,  while  under  tl 
influence  of  liquor,  he  took  morphine,  from  which  be  died.    The  death  was  not  due 
military  service. 

ALICE  E.  TRAVERS. 

Husband  was  discharged  June,  1866.  His  was  a  druggist,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  takii 
opiates.  He  died,  1881,  from  an  overdose  of  morphine.  He  never  applied  for  a  pensic 
The  claim  was  properly  rejected  by  the  Pension  Office  in  1886. 

WILLIAM   H.  STARR. 

Case  is  pending  in  Pension  Bureau,  awaiting  additional  evidence.  It  should  be  oc 
eluded  there  before  special  legislation  is  resorted  to. 

PHILIP  ARNER. 

Discharged  from  service  in  July,  1864.    In  fall  of  1865  he  was  taken  ill,  since  whic 
time  he  has  been  troubled  with  lung  difficulty.    Pension  Office  rejected  claim  1883.    Al 
lutely  no  allegation  of  any  incident  of  hisserrice  related  lo  his  sickness. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  395 

MARY  NORMAN. 

Soldier  was  mustered  ou' June,  1868.  Was  drowned  while  tryingr  to  cross  Roanoke 
River  m  1868.  In  1881  the  claim  was  rejected  because  death  was  not  due  to  miUtary  service. 
Eejected  in  1881  by  IJommissioner  Bentley. 

MARY  A.  VAN  ETTEN. 

Soldier  was  drowned  near  his  residence  in  New  York  in  1875.  The  widow  presented  her 
<5lami  ten  years  after  husband's  death.    Rejected  in  1885  by  Commissioner  Black. 

JAMES  D.    COTTON. 

This  claim  is  pending  in  the  Pension  Office  and  undetermined  as  to  the  dependence  of 
claimant  at  date  of  soldier  b  death. 

DAVID  T.  ELDERKIN. 

Enlisted  August,  1882 ;  he  was  dishonorably  dischar<?ed  June  11,  1863,  with  forfeiture 
of  all  bounty,  pay,  and  allowances.  In  1882  he  filed  claim  in  Pension  Office,  which  was 
xejected.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Black. 

GEORGE  W.  OTTY8E. 

Filed  claim  in  Pension  Office  1878,  alleging  gunshot  wound  received  in  skirmish,  1R63, 
Examining  surgeon,  1884,  reports  that  he  finds  no  indication  of  gunshot  wound.  Three  of  his 
comrades  who  originally  testified  in  his  behalf  afterwards  denied  that  the  wound  was 
received  in  service.  The  evidence  tends  to  show  that  he  cut  his  knee  after  his  discharge. 
The  Pension  Office  properly  rejected  claim. 

MARY  ANN  MILIiBR. 

Her  husband  enlisted  in  1861  and  went  into  camp  near  Cincinnati.  JiAe  3, 1861,  he  went 
into  the  city  on  a  private  affair  and  was  killed  in  an  altercation  with  some  unknown 
person.  His  death  was  not  connected  with  military  service.  Claim  rejected  in  1879  by 
Commissioner  van  Aernam. 

KEWCOMB  PARKER. 

Vetoed  for  claimant's  benefit,  to  save  him  the  pension  allowed  him  prior  to.  passage  of 
bill,  of  which  this  act  would  have  deprived  him  if  signed. 

JOHN    S.  KIRKPATRICK. 

Sixteen  years  after  discharge  alleges  varicose  veins  contracted  in  1862,  yet  served  until 
discharged,  1864.    No  record  of  any  disability. 

WILLIAM  BOONE. 

"While  celebrating  the  Fourth  of  July  at  his  home  was  injured  by  discharge  of  a  cannon. 
Injury  not  in  line  of  duty. 

WILLIAM    DEMMODY. 

Mustered  out  July  17, 1865.  On  July  23  was  wounded  In  personal  fight,  not  in  line  of 
duty.   Rejected  in  1881  by  Commissioner  Bentley. 

ABNER  MOREHEAD. 

Applies,  1879,  to  be  restored  to  pension-roll,  having  been  dropped  therefrom  in  1876 
because  disability  for  which  he  was  pensioned  was  shown  to  have  existed  prior  to  enlist- 
ment, and  testimony  taken  afterwards  by  special  examiner  conclusively  established  such 
fact. 

JOSEPH  ROMI8ER. 

Was  not  In  a  State  or  United  States  organization  at  time  of  injury  for  which  pension 
was  claimed,  and  not  pensionable. 

ARETUS  F.  LOOMIS. 

Vetoed  to  save  pensioner  four  years  pension  of  which  the  act  as  passed  would  have 
deprived  him. 

BOXANA  V.  ROWLEY. 

Husband,  after  little  over  three  months'  service  tendered  his  resignation  as  first  lieu- 
tenant on  account  of  incompetency.  In  1880,  fifteen  years  after  discharge,  he  applied  for 
pension,  alleging  disease  of  liver  while  in  service.  The  physician  attending  him  before  enlist- 
ment stated  that  claimant  was  so  afflicted  as  early  as  1854,  and  regarded  as  incurable. 
Soldier  died  1881;  his  widow  applied  1883;  her  claim  rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley 
because  the  disease  existed  prior  to  enlistment. 


296  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE   SOLDIER. 

MRS.  MARGARET  A.  JACOBY. 

Husband  disappeared  in  1875,  and  never  heard  of  by  her  since.  In  1885  she  applied  for 
pension  on  ground  that  he  partially  lost  his  mind  from  deafness  and  chronic  diarrhea  in 
service.    His  death  from  such  cause  has  not  a  particle  of  proof  to  rest  upon. 

ELIZABETH  M'KAY. 

Never  applied  to  Pension  Bureau;  but  bill  is  based  on  her  allegation  that  husband  con- 
tracted chronic  diarrhea  in  1862,  and  died  from  effects  thereof  in  1874  He  was  discharged 
June,  1864,  with  loss  of  all  pay  and  emoluments;  had  applied  in  1870,  alleging  various  disa- 
bilities, none  of  them  of  the  nature  of  diarrhea.  There  is  no  medical  testimony  to  support 
widow's  claim. 

JAMES  T.  IRWIN. 

Applied  1876,  rejected  1879,  his  various  allegations  not  well  founded.  Again  applied 
September,  1884,  alleging  disease  of  heart  contracted  twenty  years  prior.  Allegations  not 
supported  by  examining  surgeons  in  three  different  examinations.  Rejected  in  1879  by 
Commissioner  Bentley. 

WILLIAM  H.  NEVIL. 

Pensioner  been  drawing  since  1865  the  same  amount  provided  by  this  bill.  Its  passage 
would  be  valueless  to  him. 

H.  L.  KYLBR. 

Drew  pension  since  1864  for  neuralgia  and  eye  disease.  Pension  stopped  1880  on  proof 
he  had  been  under  treatment  for  those  very  ailments  five  years  before  entering  army. 
Enlisted  for  one  hundred  days  only.   Dropped  from  rolls  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

FANNIE  E.  EVANS. 

Claimed  her  husband  contracted  hernia,  1863.  He  never  claimed  pension,  and  died,  1883, 
of  apoplexy.    Rejected,  1884,  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

*  JAMES  CARROLL. 

Alleged  wound  while  securing  recruits  for  Company  B,  Third  North  Carolina 
Mounted  Volunteers.  Name  not  borne  on  any  of  those  company  rolls,  and  for  that  reason 
his  claim  was  rejected  by  Pension  Bureau.  A  claim  to  same  effect  by  one  Perkins,  claiming 
same  service  and  injury,  was  allowed  in  1873,  but  pension  stopped,  1877,  on  same  ground  as 
Carroll's.  Investigation  showed  that  while  plundering  their  neighborhood  with  a  number 
of  men  they  had  collected  they  were  hunted  down  by  home  guards  and  shot  at  the  time 
they  stated.    Claim  rejected  in  1884  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

EDWARD  M.  HARRINGTON. 

Filed  claim  in  Pension  Bureau,  1879.    Injuries  not  related  to  army  servioe. 

LEWIS  W.  SCANLAND. 

Applied  for  pension  1884,  alleging  he  contracted  chronic  diarrhea  in  Black  Hawk  war  or 
1833.  On  examination  by  board  of  surgeons,  1884,  he  did  not  claim  to  have  diarrhea  for  a 
good  many  years,  but  claimed  to  be  affected  with  constipation,  except  at  times  when  taking 
medicine  tor  it.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  December,  1884. 

ROBERT  H.  8TAPLET0N. 

Applied  in  1883,  alleging  injury  while  acting  as  lieutenant-colonel  in  1862.  Examii 

in  1882  showed  three  left  ribs  fractured,  which,  if  result  of  injury  received  in  1863,  must 
have  been  then  apparent.  By  law  claims  of  this  description  must,  to  be  valid,  be  success- 
fully prosecuted  prior  to  July  4, 1874.  Claimant's  delay  to  apply  is  no  t  explained .  Hie  rank 
does  not  Indicate  nis  ignorance  of  the  law.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 

SALLY  ANN  BRADLEY. 

Husband,  after  long  service,  was  discharged  1865 ;  afterwards  pensioned  for  gunshot 
wound,  and  died  1883  from  a  cause  not  claimed  as  from  military  service. 

MARIA  CUNNINGHAM, 

Husband  applied  for  pension  in  1876,  alleging  shell  wound  in  head.  Claim  rejected,  a 
no  disability  appeared  from  that  cause.  Died  in  1877  from  other  causes.  Claim  rejected  b; 
Pension  Bureau  because  cause  of  soldier's  death  was  not  shown  to  have  had  its  origin 
military  service.    Rejected  in  1885  by  Commissioner  Black. 

MRS.  CATHARINE  M'CARTY. 

Filed  claim  1886  alleging  her  husband  died  in  service  from  overdose  of  colchicu 
Evidence  indisputably  shows  that  the  day  previous  to  soldier's  death  a  comrade  asked  hi 
to  smell  and  taste  some  medicine,  which  he  did,  became  very  sick,  and  died  next  morni 
Death  not  result  of  army  service.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  297 


MAROARET  D.  MARCHAND. 


Husband  entered  the  navy  in  1838,  was  retired  1870,  and  died  of  heart  disease  1875. 
Claim  filed  in  Pension  Office  1883  andrejecte<i  because  no  evidence  furnished  to  prove  death 
resulted  from  naval  service.    Rejected  in  18a^  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 


JOHN  TAYLOR. 


Has  received  pension  since  1865— has  been  twice  increased,  once  by  Pension  Office,  and 
a^ain  by  special  act,  3883.  The  increase  here  applied  for  was  denied  by  Pension  Office^ 
because  he  was  already  receiving  pension  "commensurate  with  his  disability." 


AUOrSTUS  FIELD  J^TEVENS. 


Discharged  October  3, 1861,  after  serving  less  than  two  months.    Rejected  by  Pen8lc» 
Bureau  in  1883,  after  full  examination.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1882. 


MARY  KARSTETTER. 

Husband  drew  pension  since  June,  1865,  for  gunshot  wound  in  left  hand,  and  died 
August,  1874,  of  gastritis  and  congestion  of  kidneys.  Widow  applied  1883,  alleging  soldier 
died  of  wound  received  in  battle,  and  that  he  was  injured  while  in  army  by  a  horse  running 
over  him.  which  is  not  supported  by  evidence  and  has  no  necessai-y  connection  with  cause 
of  husband's  death.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1884. 

DANIEL  H.  ROes. 

Filed  claim  in  Pension  Bureau  and  died  February,  1886,  Bill  vetoed  so  as  to  save  the 
widow's  rights. 

JENNBTTE  DOW. 

Husband  employed  in  railroading  fifteen  years  after  muster-out;  died,  1883,  of  apoplexy. 
Widow  applied  1883,  claiming  he  died  of  wound  received  in  army.  Pension  Office  rejected 
claim. 

MARY  J.  nAGEMAN. 

Husband,  pensioner  for  wound,  died  August,  1884,  twenty  years  after  discharge,  from 
typho-malarial  fever.  His  widow's  application  was  rejected  by  Per S'on  Bureau  because 
the  disease  was  not  due  to  military  service.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Black  in  1885. 

WILLIAM    H.  WEAVFR. 

Applied  twelve  years  after  discharge.  After  six  special  examinations  by  Pension 
Bureau  to  ascertain  the  truth  and  deal  fairly  by  this  claimant,  his  cla-m  was  rejected 
because  disease  for  which  he  claimed  pension  was  shown  to  have  existed  prior  to  hia 
enlistment. 

RACHEL    BARNES. 

Husband  committed  suicide  by  hanging.  It  was  proposed  in  this  bill  to  pension  bene- 
ficiary as  widow  by  reason  of  soldier's  death.  His  death,  however,  is  not  connected  with  his 
military  service.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 

DUNCAN  FORBES. 

Increase  of  pension.  Has  been  liberally  pensioned  from  January,  1865,  and  served  three 
years  in  Navy  since  that  time  without  further  disability. 

GEORGE  W.  CUTLER. 

After  several  allegations  made  at  different  times,  each  giving  different  causes,  n^ne 
substantiated  as  arisen  from  the  service,  his  pension  claim  remains  as  originahy  rejected 
in  1865.    Veto  upholds  rejection.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Barrett  in  1865. 

ANN  KINNEY. 

Husband  was  pensioned,  1865,  fo"  wound  ;  died  1875.  Widow  claimed  pension,  alleging 
his  flcHth  WHS  from  effects  of  the  wound.  He  was  addicted  to  periodical  sprees,  and  in  one 
of  these,  while  creating  a  disturbance,  was  taken  b>  city  marshal  and  placed  in  lock-up, 
where  he  died  suddenly  an  hour  afterward.      Rejected  by  Commissioner  Bentiey  in  1818. 

SUSAN   HAWES. 

In  1883  her  son  attempted  to  board  a  moving  freight  tra.n,  made  a  misstep,  and  ear-whe^i 
passed  over  his  foot.  Two  physicians  called  in,  deemed  amputation  necessary,  ani  admin- 
istered preparatory  anaesthetic,  but  patient  died  before  amputation,  two  hours  after  acci- 
dent. His  death  is  not  attiibutable  to  his  military  service.  Rejected  by  Commissioner 
Black  in  1885. 


1898  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

VBRAHAM  POINTS. 

Discharg-ea  June  28. 1865 ;  in  1878  applied  for  pension  on  ground  of  stiffened  elbow  joints 
and  sore  eyes,  contracted  in  service.  No  such  record  of  these  disabilities,  but  his  neighbors 
end  acquaintances  of  prood  repute  showed  conclusively  that  these  disabilities  existed  prior 
to  his  enlistment.    Kejected  in  February,  1885,  by  Commisaioner  Clarke. 

MBS.  AMELIA  0.  RICHARDSON. 

Hemarried  in  1858.  In  1863  her  son  by  former  husband  enlisted  and  died  in  sexrice  in. 
1865,  He  had  not  lived  with  his  mother  after  her  remarriage,  and  there  is  no  competent 
evidence  that  he  contribuff^d  toher  support  after  that  event.  At  the  time  of  his  death  his 
step-father  was  earning  $70  per  month  and  owning  considerable  property,  part  of  which 
«till  remains  to  him.    Not  dependent. 

WILLIAM  DICKENS. 

Vetoed  to  benefit  claimant,  as  the  bill,  if  passed,  would  have  deprived  him  of  back  pen- 
sion already  granted  him  from  1864  to  date. 

BENJAMIN  OBEKIAH. 

Beneficiary  has  already  been  six  months  on  pension-roll  for  same  amount  fixed  by  this 
bilL 

MRS.  MARGARET  DUNLAP. 

Beneficiary  is  mother  of  a  soldier  who  was,  in  1864,  killed  by  one  of  his  comrades  in  a 
personal  row.  Rejected  in  1873  by  Commissioner  Baker.  The  injury  was  not  received  in 
line  of  duty. 

WILLIAM  LYNCH. 

Discharged  18,59.  Twenty-four  years  afterwards,  April,  1884,  claimed  pension  for  rheu- 
aaaiism  contracted  in  18o7-'58  in  Utah.    Claim  still  pending  in  Pension  Bureau. 

ALEXJLNDUR  FALCONER. 

Case  is  provided  for  by  a  general  law  recently  approved. 

JAMES  BAYLOR. 

In  this  case  no  advantage  would  accrue  to  beneficiary  under  special  act,  and  justice  will 
be  done  him  under  general  law.    Rejected  in  1879  by  Commissioner  Bentley. 

MRS.   CATHARINE  BATTLER. 

Soldier  was  wounded  in  battle  August,  1864.  and  discharged  by  amputation  of  left  fore- 
arm March,  1865.  Subsequently  the  same  year  he  was  married  to  beneficiary  and  pensioned  ; 
pension  increased  1866.  October  31,  1867,  drew  his  monthly  pay  of  $.50  as  United  States 
watchman  at  New  York  city,  disappeared  that  day,  and  on  November  1.3, 1867,  his  body  was 
found  in  North  river.  New  York  city.  Was  strong  and  healthy  at  time  of  death.  Nearly 
seventeen  years  afterward,  in  1884,  his  widow  on  above  facts  applied  for  pension,  which  was 
denied  November,  1884,  as  soldier's  death  was  not  due  to  his  military  service.  Rejected  by 
CJommissioner  Dudley. 

FRANKLIN  SWEET. 


Already  on  pension  rolls  for  the  same  amount  named  in  the  bill. 

ROBERT  K.  BENNETT. 


Soon  after  enlistment,  September,  1862.  was  detailed  to  cook  shop,  and  five  montl 
thereafter  was  received  into  hospital,  from  which  he  was  discharged  from  the  service  thre. 
weeks  later  for"  varicocele  to  which  he  was  subject  four  years  before  enlistment."    Seveo- 
teen  years  afterward  claimed  pension  for  hernia  and  piles  contracted  in  service.    Claim 
rejected  1888.  Medical  examination,  madp  18^2.  states  no  evidence  or  symptoms  of  disabilit 
resulting  from  Army  service.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

JESSE  CAMPBELL. 

His  claim,  rejected  1881,  was  reopened  January  1887,  and  ho  has  been  pensioned  undl 
the  general  law. 

LOREN  BURBITT, 

Pensioned  since  1886,  and  now  draws  ?73  monthly  pension,  the  highest  under  genei 
laws.  There  are  over  one  thousand  other  pensioners  of  this  class  on  the  rolls  worthy  of  tl 
same  special  legislation,  and  all  should  be  treated  alike.  Unfair  to  make  two  rates  for  sai 
disability. 

ABRAHAM    P.   GKIGOS. 

Enlisted  August,  1861,  entered  hospital  January,  1863.  Discharged  the  service  therefroD 
November,  1863.  His  discharge  certificate  states  *•  worthlessness,  obesity,  and  imbecilitj 
and  laziness,"  "  totally  unfit  for  the  Invalid  Corps,  or  for  any  other  military  duty."  Near^ 
twenty  years  after  his  discharge  claimed  pension  for  rheumatism.  A  board  of  United  Stat 
€xamining  surgeons  report  no  pensionable  disability  existing,  and  that  he  Is  able  to  wor| 
Claim  rejected  in  1885  by  Commissioner  Black. 


J 


DEMOCBACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  299 

CUDBEBT  STONE. 

Over  sixteen  years  after  discharge  claimed  pension  for  piles  contracted  in  service. 
Claim  rejected  in  October,  1884,  by  Commissioner  Dudley,  on  ground  that  disability  origi- 
nated while  undergoing  court-martial  sentence,  therefore  not  in  line  of  duty.  The  commit 
tee  recommend  pension  be  granted  beneficiary  "  by  reason  of  faithful  service  to  his  coun- 
try," whereas  in  his  thirty-nine  months'  service  with  no  record  of  disability,  thirty-tlve 
months  were  passed  in  desertion  or  imprisonment  therefor. 

CHARLOTTE    O'NEAL. 

Husband  resigned  from  service  June,  1863.  Seven  months  thereafter  he  died  of  disease 
which,  it  is  admitted,  had  no  relation  to  Army  service. 

JOHN  REED,  8R. 

Filed  application  in  Pengion  Office,  1887,  alleging  he  was  dependent  upon  deceased  sol- 
dier for  support;  that  his  wife  died  in  1872,  and  filed  an  affidavit  of  a  man  who  alleged  h<^ 
was  present  at  her  death.  This  was  in  188:J  rejected.  This  claimant,  in  1839,  abandoned  his 
wife  and  family,  and  nev«r  thereafter  contribut- d  to  their  support.  The  soldier's  mother 
was  granted  a  pension  in  1863,  and  enjoyed  it  until  1884,  when  she  died.  His  claim  was  false, 
and  was  supported  by  false  testimony. 

JOHN  D.  FINCHER. 

Twenty  years  after  discharge  from  service  (1882)  he  filed  claim  for  pension,  which  was 
rejected,  because  In  1883  and  again  in  1885  he  was  examined  by  a  board  of  surgeons,  who 
report  no  disability. 

JACOB  SMITH. 

Vetoed  because  this  bill  proposes  to  reduce  the  pension  of  a  worthy  soldier. 

RACHEL  ANN  PIERPONT. 

Vetoed  because  its  approval  would  reduce  the  amount  she  is  now  receiving. 

MARGARET  B.  JONES. 

Is  now  receiving  the  highest  pension  allowed  by  law  fi  such  cases.  No  reason  for  an 
exception  in  her  caae. 

ANTHONY  M'ROBBBTSON. 

Applied  for  pension  1874.  In  November,  1886,  the  highest  rate  allowed  by  general  law 
was  granted  him,  to  date  from  1863. 

WILLIAM  H.  MORISHEB. 

The  bill  proposes  to  allow  him  pay  and  allowances  for  a  period  for  which  the  records 
show  he  has  already  been  paid. 

ANN  WRIGHT. 

Vetoed  because  she  receives  under  general  laws  the  same  amount  here  proposed. 
Rejected  in  1882  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

SARAH  HAMILTON. 

Husband  of  claimant  deserted  May,  1863.  June,  1864,  arrested  as  a  deserter ;  returned 
to  duty  September,  1864.  In  1872  he  applied  for  pension,  alleging  injury  to  left  leg,  causing 
varicose  veins,  sustained  in  February,  1863,  which  was  granted .  He  died  in  1883  of  apo- 
plexy, which  had  no  relation  to  his  injury.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

HANNAH  R.  LANG  DON. 

Husband  served  six  months  as  an  assistant  surgeon,  when  he  resigned.  In  1880  filed 
applica'ion  for  pension,  alleging  chronic  diarrhea  and  piles.  Granted  pension  January. 
1881,  and  died  following  September  of  consumption.  Widow's  claim  was  rejected  by  Pen- 
sion Bureau  because  death  was  uncotineced  with  disease  for  which  pension  had  issued  or 
with  his  military  service.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

BETSY  MANSFIELD. 

Filed  claim  in  1883,  alleging  dependent  parent.    Evidence  disclosed  not  dependent. 

LAURA  A.  WRIGHT. 

Nearly  twenty  years  after  the  war  her  husband  committed  suicide.  No  result  from 
wound. 


300  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

H.  BR0KEN8HAW. 

Received  at  draft  rendezvous  25th  March,  3865,  mustered  out  30th  June,  1865.  Eighteen 
years  after  (1883)  he  filed  application,  alleging  that  March  25, 1865,  he  hurt  his  ribs  in  ascutfie 
with  recruits,  which  was  rejected— not  incurred  in  line  of  duty.  Rejected  in  1886  by  Com- 
missioner Black. 

HANNA  C.  DEWITT. 

Vetoed  because  a  precise  duplicate  of  this  act  was  passed  by  present  Congress  and 
signed  by  the  President. 

MORRIS  T.  MANTOR. 

Filed  claim  in  Pension  Office  in  1882,  and  denied  because  no  pensionable  disability 
existed. 

WILLIAM  P.  WITT. 

Enlisted  in  one  hundred  days'  service.  No  record  of  disability.  Twenty  years  later 
filed  claim,  alleging  chronic  diarrhea,  rheumatism,  liver  disease  and  impaired  hearing.  No 
evidence  to  sustain  either  complaint,  excepting  deafness,  which  did  not  result  from  Army 
service.    Rejected  in  1886  by  Commissioner  Black. 

CHLOE  QUIGGLB. 

Husband  enlisted  in  February,  1865,  mustered  out  in  September,  -1865.  In  1882  he  died 
of  disease  not  incident  to  Army  service.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1884. 

WILLIAM  H.  BRIMMKR. 

Was  a  wagon-master ;  discharged  May,  1865 ;  no  record  of  any  disability ;  twenty-three 
years  after  filed  claim  for  pension,  alleging  rupture  in  1864.  Unsupported  by  sulficient 
evidence. 

WILLIAM   SACKMAN,  8R. 

His  discharge  states  his  disability  "caused  by  falling  oflF  his  horse  near  Fredericktown, 
Mo.,  while  intoxicated."  "A  discharge  would  benefit  the  Government  as  well  as  himself," 
The  surgeon  who  made  the  certificate  in  reply  to  Pension  OflBce,  says :  'I  remember  the 
case  distinctly  ;  T  made  the  examination  in  person,  and  read  the  statement  to  the  man,  and 
he  consented  to  have  the  papers  forwarded  as  they  read.  The  application  for  pension  is 
fraudulent."    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Dudley  in  1883. 

MARY  SULLIVAN. 

Vetoed  because  a  precise  duplicate  of  this  was  signed  by  the  President  July  1, 1886, 
Rejected  in  1884  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

EMILT  G.   MILLS. 

Husband  a  retired  naval  officer,  was  accidentally  shot  and  killed,  1873,  by  a  neighbor 
who  was  attempting  to  shoot  an  owl.    Not  a  pensionable  case. 

GEORGIA  A.  8TRICKLETT. 

Widow's  claim  is  based  upon  allpgation  that  he  was  wounded  with  buckshot  by  bush- 
whackers while  recruiting  in  1863.  No  record  of  such  wounds.  Soldier  made  no  claim  for 
pension.  The  evidence  shows  that  he  was  killed  by  a  pistol  shot  in  an  altercation  with 
another  man.    Rejected  in  1885  by  Commissioner  Black. 

THEORORA  M.  PIATT. 

Her  husband  served  in  the  volunteer  army  as  major,  and  afterwards  entered  the  regu 
lar  Army  and  was  subsequently  placed  on  the  retired  list,  where  he  remained  until  April 
1885,  when  he  died  by  suicide.    He  was  practicing  law  in  Kentucky.    Not  pensionable. 

NANCY  F.  JENNINGS. 

Her  husband  was  discharged  June  24,  1863.  Never  applied  for  pension.  Died,  1877,  of 
apoplexy.     Not  result  of  Army  service.    Rejected  in  1886  by  Commissioner  Black. 

SALLY  A.  RANDALL. 

Her  first  husband  enlisted  in  the  war  of  18L2  and  was  discharged  in  1814.  Died  April  IS, 
1831.    Never  applied  for  pension.    Death  not  result  from  military  service. 

CYRENIUP  O.  STRYKER, 

Filed  claim  1879.  alleging  injury  to  spine  September,  1862.  Repeated  medical  examina- 
tion failed  to  reveal  any  disability,  and  was  reject*  d  accordingly.  Rejected  by  Commis- 
sioner Black  in  1886. 


DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER.  301 


WILLIAM  H.  HESTER. 

Claims  injury  to  eyes  by  sand  blowing  into  them  in  a  storm  in  1865.  It  Is  conceded  in 
the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  this  bill  was  referred  that  the  claim  was  largely  sup- 
ported by  perjury  and  forgery,  butthat  claiinant  was  believed  to  be  innocent.  The  evidence 
in  the  Pension  Office  clearly  establishes  the  whole  case  to  be  fraudulent  and  sustained 
wholly  by  perjury. 

ROYAL  J.  HIAB. 

Alleged  disease  not  result  of  army  service.  Rejected  March,  1885,  by  Commissioner 
Clarke. 

ELLEK  SHEA. 

Soldier  never  claimed  pension.  No  record  of  any  disability.  In  1884  lost  his  life  in  b 
snow-  slide  in  Colorado.  Not  a  result  of  Army  service.  Rejected  January,  1885,  by  Commis- 
sioner Clarke. 

TARNABEN  BALL. 

Soldier  died  in  1873  from  overdose  of  laudanum.  Not  entitled  to  pension.  Rejected 
by  Commissioner  Black  in  1885. 

ELIZABETH  BURR. 

Husband  enlisted  for  and  served  one  hundred  days  in  1864.  Never  applied  for  pension. 
Died  April,  1867,  of  dropsy.  Thirteen  vears  afterward  his  widow  claimed  pension  on  ground 
that  the  dropsy  was  contracted  in  service.  Claim  rejected  by  Pension  Office  as  not  sus- 
tained by  evidence. 

CHARLES  GLAMANN. 

Served  to  July,  1865.  No  record  of  Injury  or  sickness  except  an  attack  of  remittent 
fever.  Fifteen  years  later  claimed  pension,  alleging  he  was  accidentally  stmckand  injured 
in  left  arm  with  a  half  brick  by  a  comrade,  doubtless  result  of  personal  altercation. 

MARY  F.  HARKINS, 

Husband  pensioned  for  wound  in  right  foot;  died  seventeen  years  after  his  discharge 
"from  rupture  of  the  hf  art."  Widow's  claim  for  p(  neion,  on  ground  that  d<  ath  was  the 
result  of  the  wound  in  foot,  was  properly  rejected  by  the  Pension  Bureau  on  ground  that 
the  death  cause  was  not  the  result  of  the  wound.    Rejected  in  1884  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

ELLEN   SEXTON. 

Her  husband,  dischai^ed  1864  for  disability  arising  from  vicious  indulgence,  died  in  1875 
of  consumption.    The  cause  of  his  death  is  not  due  to  the  Government  service. 

DOLLY  BLAZER, 

Husband  mustered  out  June,  1865;  never  applied  for  pension,  and  died  thirteen  years 
afterward  of  yellow  fever.  Disapproved  for  r^  ason  that  his  death  was  not  due  to  his  mili- 
tary service.    Rejected  in  1886  by  Commissioner  Bia  ck. 

ELIJAH  MARTIN. 

Vetoed  because  the  proposed  beneficiary  is  dead. 

VIRTUE  SMITH. 

Husband  was  pensioned  in  1867  for  wound.  Pension  twice  increased.  Held  Govem- 
nent  clerkship  sixteen  years,  and  died  in  1880,  aged  04,  of  consumption.  Up  to  1877  was  ia 
3xcellent  physical  condition.    His  death  was  not  related  to  his  military  service. 

LIEUT.  JAMES  O.  W.  HARDY. 

While  traveling  in  recruiting  service,  1864,  placed  his  arm  outside  railroad  car  window, 
ivhen  it  was  struck  by  something  outside,  and  one  of  the  bones  broken.  Had  no  right  of 
iction  against  railroad  company.  Hisfraeure  was  not  properly  adjusted  for  ten  months, 
luring  which  time  he  remained  in  service.  Pension  Office  rejected  his  claim.  His  injury 
vas  evidently  the  result  of  his  carelessness. 

MARY  MINOR  HOXEY. 

Husband  was  pensioned,  1871,  for  wounds,  and  in  1879  was  allowed  arrearages  from 
ime  of  his  discharge.  He  died  December,  1881,  of  consumption,  while  drawing  pension  of 
?17  per  month.  In  1884  his  widow  was  allowed  pension  at  same  rate  (also  for  two  minor 
ihildren,  now  attained  the  age  of  sixteen  years),  and  still  receives  it,  the  same  as  allowed 
0  all  widows  of  her  class.  The  bill  proposed  an  increase  of  her  pension,  which  would  be 
mjust  to  other  claimants  equally  meritorious. 

JOHN  A.  TURLEY. 

Interfered  in  altercation  on  steamboat,  under  charge  of  an  officer,  and  falling  struck 
lis  head  fatally.  The  bill  proposed  to  pension  his  widow  therefor.  His  death,  however, 
vas  not  the  result  of  his  military  service. 


I 


302  .  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  SOLDIER. 

MARY  ANN  DOUGHERTY. 

Her  widow'3  pension,  secured  in  1878,  throujrh  fraudulent  testimony  and  much  false 
pwearing  on  her  part,  and  stopped  upon  discovering  her  husband  was  alive  and  himself 
drawing  a  pension.  The  bill  in  this  case  now  proposes  tog-rant  her  pension  for  injury  she 
alleged  to  have  received  while  makinir  cartridges  In  Unittd  States  arsenal.  Records  show 
oo  such  woman  was  ever  employed  ihere. 

POLLY  H.  SMITH. 

Husband,  In  1870,  after  sixteen  years'  service,  was  placed  on  retired  list  as  officer  on 
account  of  incapacity  arising  from  fistula,  developed  in  1868.  Fifteen  years  after  his  retire- 
ment, while  attempting  to  raise  a  trunk  to  his  shoulder,  he  suddenly  died  of  heart  disease. 
It  is  not  seen  how  cause  of  his  death  can  be  connected  with  his  service  or  incapacity 
therefrom. 

JOEL  B.  MORTON. 

Claimed  pension  for  death  of  his  son,  Calvin  Morton,  in  Custer  massacre,  1876.  The 
casualty  records  of  the  massacre,  though  very  complete,  contain  no  mention  of  such  a  soldier. 
Pension  Bureau  now  searching  for  proof  of  son  s  service,  which,  if  obtained,  will  secure 
claimant  justice  under  general  law.  War  Department  records  show  Morton  was  alive  and 
drawing  pay  two  years  aft«r  his  death  as  claimed  by  this  bill. 

JULLA.  WELCH. 

Her  widow's  pension  claim  having  been  rejected  by  Pension  Bureau  because  soldier 
died  from  disease  which  bore  no  relation  to  any  complaint  contracted  by  him  in  Army,  the 
veto  upholds  such  rejection  as  correct.    Rejected  in  1886  by  Commissioner  Black. 

MARY  ANN  LANG. 

Husband  was  pensioned  for  wound  in  nose  and  died  February,  1881,  of  dropsy.  Widow'8 
<5laim.  filed  1884,  was  rejected  on  ground  that  soldier's  fatal  disease  was  not  the  result  of  hia 
military  service.  Reputable  medical  evidence  shows  that  soldier  died  of  liver  trouble  from 
long  and  excessive  drinking  of  beer  and  liquor ;  drinking  harder  towards  the  last  of  his  life, 
though  warned  by  his  family  physician.  The  medical  referee  of  Pension  Bureau,  to  whom 
appeal  was  taken  for  reversal  of  rejection  by  Pension  Bureau,  sustained  the  rejection. 
Rejected  in  1886  by  Commissioner  Black. 

NATHANIEL  D.  CHASE. 

His  claim  in  Pension  Office  besrun  June,  1864.  renewed  1870,  reopened  1880.  and  now 
pending,  awaits  further  information  and  evidence  to  substantiate  it.  The  Pension  Bureau 
is  competent  to  judge  of  his  pensionability.  Rejected  in  1864  by  Commissioner  Barrett, 
and  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

HARRIET  E.   COOPER. 

Her  husband,  a  major,  resigned  1863,  on  account  of  business  affairs.  Was  afterward 
pensioned  for  rheumatism,  and  died  twenty  years  afterward  from  chronic  alcoholism, 
according  to  his  attending  physician's  testimony,  upon  which  rejection  of  her  claim  by 
Pension  Office  was  based.  The  veto  sustains  action  of  Pension  Office,  which  tiie  bill 
endeavors  to  set  aside. 

WILLIAM  M.  CAMPBELL,  JR. 

Enlisted  Augusts,  1868, mustered  out  July  18,  186i,  was  a  deserter  for  one  year  and 
seven  months,  and  arrested  and  court-martialed.  He  allies  that  in  February,  1862,  he  con- 
tracted mumps  from  impure  virus  in  vaccination.  As  he  was  not  in  United  States  8er%ace 
at  that  time,  proposed  bill  "seems  neither  to  have  law  nor  meritorious  equity  to  support 
It."    Rejected  in  1880  by  Commissioner  Bentley. 

VAN  BUREN  BROWN. 

Eighteen  years  after  discharge  claimed  pension,  alleging  various  disabilities.  His  case, 
full  of  uncertainty  and  contradiction,  was  very  thoroughly  examined  by  Pension  Bureau, 
rejected,  subsequently  reopened,  re-examined,  and  again  rejected.  Three  medical  exami- 
nations failed  to  disclose  any  pensionable  disability.  Rejected  by  Commissioner  Black  in 
1885  and  1887. 

8ARAH  B.  M'CALEB. 

Her  husband  was  discharged  .Tune,  1865.  Died  1878  by  suicide.  No  firround  for  pension 
shown.    Rejected  in  1883  by  Commissioner  Dudley. 

DAVID  A.  SERVIS. 

Alleges  comrade  put  powder  in  his  pipe,  which  exploded  and  injured  his  eyes:  no  record 
thereof  or  of  any  disability,  although  served  two  and  a  half  years  thereafter,  when  regi- 
ment was  mustered  out  June,  186.5.    Never  made  claim  until  twenty-two  years  later. 


DEMOCKACY   AND   TUH.   SOLDIER. 


ANNA  MERTZ. 


Her  husband,  who  served  as  captain,  resided  June.  1863.  December  1,  lf84,  more  than 
.•wenty  years  after  his  discharge,  died  from  an  overdose  of  morphine  self-administerd. 

JOHANNA  liOBWINGER.  * 

Husband  pensioned  for  chronic  diarrhea,  died  July,  187^5.  A  coroner's  inquest  found 
f  erdict  of  suicide  by  cutting  his  throat  with  a  razor.  His  death  was  not  caused  by  his  mili- 
tary service. 

STEPHEN    SCHIEDEL. 

Served  from  October,  1861,  to  October,  1864,  without  record  of  injury  or  disability.  Six- 
teen years  after  discharge  claimed  pension,  allegrin„  injury  to  back  and  shoulder  in  June, 
1862.  Medical  examinations  disclosed  injury  to  hand  and  arm  and  some  rheumatic  trouble, 
pil  incurred  since  discharge,  but  do  not  sustain  the  injury  for  which  he  claimed  pension. 
Death  not  result  of  military  service. 

ELISHA  GBISWOLD. 

Was  discharged  February,  1866.  Filed  claim  1880,  alleging  that  while  in  prison  in  Jan- 
uary, 1866,  he  fell  from  a  swing  and  hurt  his  head  and  shoulder.  No  record  of  injury.  Not 
result  of  army  service.  After  this  claim  was  rejected,  in  March,  1888,  he  filed  another, 
alleging  diarrhea  and  malarial  poisoning. 

CHARLES    GLAMANN. 

Served  from  September,  1864,  to  July,  1865;  was  injured  in  left  arm  by  a  brick  thrown 
by  a  comrade  in  a  personal  altercation. 

BRIDGET  FOLEY. 

Husband  enlisted  in  August,  1862,  and  was  discharged  when  he  reached  Washington  for 
rheumatism  contracted  before  he  enlisted.  He  never  applied  for  a  pension,  but  died  in 
1873  of  consumption.    Cause  of  death  had  no  relation  to  army  service. 

TOBIAS  BANET. 

Enlisted  February,  1865,  and  was  discharged  in  January,  1866.  Claim  for  disability  from 
palpitation  of  the  heart.  This  case  has  been  repeatedly  examined  by  the  Pension  Bureau 
since  1878  and  always  rejected  as  unworthy.  No  reason  why  that  Bureau's  conclusion 
should  not  stand  in  this  case  as  in  others. 

AMANDA  F.  DECK. 

Husband  was  pensioned  for  a  wound  received  in  shoulder  in  an  Indian  fight  in  1864.  He 
was  killed  in  1883  m  a  personal  difficulty  not  connected  with  his  Army  service. 

THOMAS  SHANNON. 

Soldier  in  regular  Army.  While  on  leave  at  Eio  Gmnde,  Texas,  in  1873,  was  injured  by 
an  explosion  of  powder  at  a  4th  of  July  celebration.    Rejected  by  Commissioner  Baker. 

THERESA  HEKBST. 

Husband  was  in  the  Union  Army  and  captured  by  the  C^f  ederates  at  Gettysburgh. 
He  then  ioined  the  rebel  army  and  fought  in  its  ranks  for  ten  TBonths,  when  he  was  taken 
prisoner  oy  the  Union  forces.    He  died  of  heart  disease  in  1868.    The  President  says; 

"I  will  take  no  part  in  putting  a  name  upon  our  punsion-roll  which  represents  a  Union 
soldier  found  fighting  against  the  cause  he  swore  he  would  uphold;  it  would  have  been  a 
sad  condition  of  affairs  if  every  captured  Union  soldier  had  deemed  himself  justified  in 
fighting  against  his  Government  rather  than  to  undergo  the  privations  of  capture." 

JOHN  F.  BALLIBB. 

Claimant  is  now  drawing  under  general  law  the  full  amount  fixed  by  this  bill. 

WOODFORD    M.  HOUCHIN. 

Disability  is  no  wise  attributable  to  Army  service.  The  claim  has  been  thoroughly 
3xamined  and  rejected  by  Commissioners  Bentley,  Dudley  and  Black. 

MARY  FITZMORRIS. 

The  claimant  is  now  receiving  under  general  law  the  precise  sum  named  in  this  bill. 


SC4  «ai  POST-gFFicE  Diii'Ai;iMaiJt. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 
THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT. 


A    REMAEKABLE  SHOWING    OF    INCREASED    AND    MORE    EFFICIENT 
SERVICE    AT     LOWER    COST. 


The  Railway   Mail,   the  Star  Route  and   the  Steamboat 
Branches  all  Show  Increased  Efficiency  and  Extra- 
ordinary Expansion — Decline  in  the  Niirriber 
of  Depredations  and  Defaulters  Among 
Postmasters  and  Other  Postal 
Employes. 


Thip  impulse  from  soond  business  methods  and  honest  administration  of  public 
affairs  inculcated  and  enforced  by  the  President  in  every  branch  of  the  Govern- 
mental service,  is  demonstrated  in  every  part  of  the  great  postal  establishment. 
Perfunctory  processes,  chronic  evils,  favoritism  in  contracts,  indifference  to  pecula- 
tion and  fraud  have  given  way  to  inspection,  reform  in  method,  and  rigorous 
enforcement  of  law. 

While  the  service  has  been  extended  far  beyond  precedent  in  the  history  of  the 
Department  for  any  similar  period  of  time,  and  indeed  for  any  period  of  double  the 
time,  the  revenues  have  in  like  proportion  increased,  and  the  proportionate  cost 
has  in  like  manner  decreased. 

Expedition  and  accuracy  have  reached  a  degree  of  progress  never  before 
attained.  The  standard  of  competency  of  all  employes  is  higher  than  ever  before, 
and  the  complaints  of  the  service  are  fewer  than  ever  before.  Just  complaints 
receive  more  efficient  attention  than  ever  before,  and  depredations  and  frauds  are 
fewer  in  number  than  ever  known. 

The  truth  of  all  these  averments  needs  no  other  demonstration  than  the  record 
herewith  submitted. 


THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPAKTMENT.  805 


INCREASE  OF  EFFICIENCY  AT  REDUCED  COMPARATIVE  COST. 

A.   SHOWING    OF    CAREFUL,   PRUDENT    AND    STILL    PROGRESSIVE    MANAGEMENT    IN 
EVERY   BRANCH   OF  THE   POSTAL   SERVICE. 

With  all  the  enormous  extension  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  with  an  increase 
Df  the  number  of  postoffices  of  nearly  eight  thousand,  with  the  money  order  busi- 
less  reaching  the  sum  of  nearly  $150,000,000,  with  the  introduction  of  the  parcel 
post  system  (initiated  by  this  administration)  with  foreign  countries,  with  the  cost 
)f  foreign  mail  service  doubled,  with  the  free  delivery  offices  more  than  doubled, 
vith  the  additional  cost  of  the  new  special  delivery  service,  with  a  practical  renewal 
)f  equipment  throughout  the  service,  and  finally  with  an  added  expenditure  of  over 
ive  millions,  besides  the  proper  use  of  moneys  before  wasted  by  improper  manage- 
nent  and  fraud,  the  Department  shows  a  deficiency  of  but  little  over  two  millions 
it  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1888,  as  compared  with  a  deficiency  of  upwards  of 
even  millions  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1885. 

This  has  been  done,  too,  under  a  policy  which  has  been  steadily  followed,  to 
.fiord,  within  the  limits  of  the  appropriations,  the  best  service  that  money  could 
)rocure,  and  to  extend  that  service  wherever  needed.  What  proper  methods  have 
lone  may  be  seen  from  the  following  tables: 


306 


THB   rOST-OFFICE   DEPAKTMLNT 


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806  THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT. 

IL 

RAILWAY  MAIL  AND  STAR  ROLTE  SERVICES. 

THOUGH     EXTENDED     BEYOND    ALL    PRECEDENT,    IT    HAS    BEEN     HONESTLY    AND 
FAITHFULLY    PERFORMED. 

It  has  been  said  that  there  has  been  a  parshnonious  curtailment  of  the  service 
to  procure  these  financial  results.  Here  is  the  record  in  the  report  of  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster  General  (and  accompanying  tables),  which  show  the  method 
of  reduction,  of  proportionate  cost  and  the  extension  of  the  service. 

The  following  tables,  marked  "B,"  "C"  and  "D,"  and  the  statement  of  the  increase 
of  service  and  the  decrease  in  proportionate  expenditures  from  March  31, 1885,  to 
June  30, 1888,  show  the  work  done  in  the  office  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General,  in  which  the  business  of  the  transportation  of  the  mails  is  conducted. 

SAVINGS  IN  STAR,  STEAMBOAT  AND  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION. 

An  inspection  of  table  "  B  "  shows — 

(1)  That  in  the  star  service  from  the  31st  of  March,  1885,  to  the  30th  of  June, 
1888,  while  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  routes  of  1,935,  or  15.84  per 
cent., in  the  number  of  miles  traveled  per  annum  of  231, 669.29  miles,  or  27  per  cent., 
and  an  increase  in  the  average  number  of  trips  per  week  of  3.79  per  cent.,  showing 
an  increased  frequency  in  the  performance  of  service,  there  has  been  a  net  decrease 
in  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  therefor  of  $473,361. 99f,  or  8.71  per  cent.,  a  de- 
crease in  the  rate  of  cost  per  mile  traveled  of  8.90  per  cent.,  and  a  decrease  in  the 
rate  of  cost  per  mile  of  length  of  routes  of  5.62  per  cent,  as  the  service  stood  on  the 
above  dates  respectively.  But  the  actual  saving,  taking  into  consideration  the  ser- 
vice as  let  in  the  first  contract  section,  embracing  the  New  England  States,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  "West  Virginia, 
under  advertisement  of  September  15,  1884,  is  larger,  as  explained  in  note  to  Table 
**  B,"  being  $712,217,991  or  13.11  per  cent,  decrease. 

(2)  That  in  the  railway  mail  service,  or  mail  transportation  on  railroads,  during 
the  same  period,  to  wit,  from  March  31, 1885,  to  June  30, 1888,  while  there  has  been 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  routes  of  386,  or  23.99  per  cent.,  an  increase  in  the 
length  of  routes  of  23,103.32  miles,  or  19.15  per  cent.,  there  has  been  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  miles  traveled  per  annum  of  34,104,603.33  miles,  or  22.52  per  cent., 
and  an  increase  in  the  average  number  of  trips  per  annum  of  2.90  per  cent. — showing 
a  greatly  increased  frequency  of  service — there  has  been  a  decrease  in  the  annual 
rate  of  cost  per  mile  traveled  of  2.59  per  cent.,  while  the  rate  of  cost  per  mile  oT 
length  of  routes  has  only  been  increased  0.22  per  cent. 

(3)  That  in  the  steamboat  service  from  March  1, 1885,  to  June  30, 1888,  wh: 
there  has  been  an  increase  of  five  in  the  number  of  routes,  or  4.09  per  cent.,  and  an 
increase  of  2.57  per  cent  in  the  average  number  of  trips  per  week,  showing  increased 
frequency  in  service  and  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  miles  traveled  per  annum  of 
12.87  per  cent.,  there  has  been  a  decrease  in  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for  this 
branch  of  the  service  of  26.96  per  cent.,  a  decrease  in  the  annual  rate  of  cost  per 


I 


I 


THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT.  309 

mile  of  length  of  routes  of  14.05.  The  decrease  in  the  length  of  routes  and  the 
number  of  miles  traveled  above  stated  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  great  deal  of  this 
service  was  discontinued  or  curtailed  by  reason  of  the  extension  of  railroads  and  the 
placing  of  mail  service  thereon,  giving  better  and  more  efficient  accommodations. 

(4)  That  in  the  mail  messenger  service  during  the  same  period,  to  wit,  from 
March  1, 1885,  to  June  30, 1888,  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  routes 
of560,  or  10.46  per  cent.,  while  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for  this  branch  of 
the  service  has  been  decreased  $16,478.25,  or  1.83  per  cent.  This  mail  messenger 
service  is  performed  by  the  Department  between  railroad  stations  and  postoffices 
situated  over  eighty  rods  from  railroad  stations,  and  has  necessarily  been  very  largely 
Increased  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  and  extraordinary  extension  of  the  mail  ser- 
vice on  railroads  during  the  last  three  years,  as  shown  by  the  above  figures. 

SAVING    BY    DISCONTINUANCE     OP    PAY    ILLEGALLY    ALLOWED    POU     APARTMENT 

CAR    SERVICE, 

In  June,  1885,  it  was  discovered  that  the  Department  had  been  paying  certam 
Tailroads  for  apartment  cars,  that  is,  postal  cars  less  than  forty  feet  in  length,  in 
addition  to  the  compensation  given  them  by  law  for  weights  of  mail  carried  by  them. 

An  examination  of  sections  4003,  4003  and  4004,  United  States  Revised 
Statutes,  led  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  to  the  conclusion  that  such 
additional  allowance  for  this  apartment  car  service  was  not  warranted  by  law. 
This  conclusion  was  sustained  by  the  Assistant  Attorney -General  for  the  Postofflce 
Department  and  by  the  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  and  further  pay- 
ments for  this  apartment  car  service  were,  from  the  1st  of  June,  1885,  ordered  to  be 
discontinued. 

The  aggregate  amount  thus  illegally  paid  from  the  1st  of  July,  1873,  when  the 
existing  law  prescribing  the  compensation  of  railroad  companies  for  mail  service 
went  into  effect,  up  to  the  30th  of  June,  1885,  was  $979,959.07.  By  the  discon- 
tinuance of  this  illegal  payment  there  has  been  effected  a  reduction  in  the  annual 
rate  of  expenditure  for  railway  postal  cars  of  $80,161,73  from  July  1, 1885. 

READJUSTMENT  OP  PAY  OF  CERTAIN  LAND  GRANT  RAILROADS. 

The  thirteenth  section  of  the  act  of  July  13, 1876,  provides  "  that  all  railroad 
■companies  whose  railroad  was  constructed  in  whole  or  in  part  by  a  land  grant 
made  by  Congress  on  the  condition  that  the  mail  should  be  transported  over  their 
road  at  such  price  as  Congress  should  by  law  direct,  shall  receive  only  eighty  per 
oent  of  the  compensation  authorized  by  this  act,"  An  investigation  in  the 
<3ivision  of  Railway  Mail  Adjustment,  office  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
■Gteneral,  was  made  early  in  1886,  lo  ascertain  if  any  of  the  railroads  subject  to  the 
above  condition  had  been  omitted  from  the  list  of  land  grant  railroads  kept  in  the 
Department,  and  this  investigation  led  to  the  disclosure  of  the  fact  that  a  number 
of  railroads  so  subject  had  been  omitted  in  that  list,  and  that  these  railroads  had 
been  paid  the  full  rates  allowed  by  law  for  the  transportation  of  the  mails  instead 
of  only  eighty  per  cent  Orders  were  thereupon  made  directing  deductiouu  from 
the  compensation  to  the  full  amounts  thus  overpaid  these  roads  which  covered  the 
entire  period  from  July  1, 1876,  or  from  the  time  service  was  established  on  them 


I 


310  THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT. 

to  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1886.  The  total  deductions  amounted  to  $69,674.91 
for  the  above  period.  In  addition  to  this  there  was  effected,  by  putting  these  roads- 
on  the  list  of  land  grant  roads,  a  reduction  in  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for 
railway  mail  transportation  of  $12,176.07. 

BEDUCTION  OF  EXPENDITURE  IN  THE  STAR  AND  STEAMBOAT  SERVICE. 

In  February,  1886,  contracts  were  made  under  a  general  advertisement  issued 
September  15, 1885,  for  the  performance  of  star  service  from  July  1,  1886,  to  June 

30. 1890,  in  the  fourth  section,  embracing  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Texas^ 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Oregon,  Nevada  and  California,  the  Indian  Territory, 
and  the  Territories  of  Dakota,  Montana,  Wyoming,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Utali, 
Idaho,  and  Washington.  These  contracts  were  made  at  an  annual  rate  of  cost 
which  resulted  in  a  saving  of  $238,175.10  per  annum,  being  a  reduction  of  twelve 
per  cent,  on  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for  the  sfune  service  in  that  section 
during  the  previous  contract  term,  and  this  reduction  represents  a  saving  in 
the  rate  of  expenditure  for  the  contract  term  of  four  years,  from  July  1,  1886,  to 
June  30,  1890,  of  $952,700.40. 

In  February,  1886,  contracts  were  made  under  a  general  advertisement  issued 
September  15, 1886,  for  the  performance  of  star  service  from  July  1,  1887,  to  June 

30. 1891,  in  the  third  section,  embracing  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan^ 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Missouri.  Under  these  contracts  a  saving 
of  $86,507.32  was  effected  in  the  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for  star  service  in  that 
section  over  the  rate  of  cost  for  the  same  service  during  the  previous  contract  term, 
and  this  reduction  represents  a  saving  for  the  contract  period  of  four  years  from 
July  1,  1887,  to  June  30,  1890,  of  §346,029.28. 

In  February,  1888,  contracts  were  made  under  a  general  advertisement  issued 
September  15, 1887,  for  the  performance  of  star  and  steamboat  service  in  the  second 
section,  embracing  the  States  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky,  from  the  1st  of  July,  1888,  to  the 
30th  of  June,  1892.  Although  the  number  of  miles  traveled  per  annum  waa 
increased  in  the  advertisement  for  the  service  in  these  States  by  1,663.596.69  miles 
over  the  distance  traveled  per  annum  during  the  preceding  contract  term  in  the 
said  States,  yet  the  contracts  were  made  at  a  saving  per  annum  of  $40,824.86  over, 
the  previous  contract  period,  and  this  reduction  represents  a  saving  to  the  Depart-] 
ment  for  service  for  the  above  contract  period  in  these  States  for  four  years,  that 
from  July  1, 1888,  to  June  30, 1892,  of  $163,299.44. 

SAVINGS  IN  THE  MAIL  EQUIPMENT  DIVISION. 

By  an  inspection  of  table  "  C  "  it  will  be  seen  that  the  same  economy 
prevaUed   with   equally   favorable    results  in  the  Mail  Equipment  Division    of| 
this  ofl&ce. 

Under  the  contracts  made  from  July  1,  1885,  to  June  30,  1888,  for  the  various 
articles  of  mail  equipment  mentioned  in  said  table,  there  has  been  a  total  net  savingJ 
to  the  Department  during  the  period  of  three  years  from  July  1, 1885,  to  June  30»| 
1888,  of  $116,052.01  by  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  the  articles  mentioned  therein  si 
the  present  contract  prices  over  the  previous  contract  prices. 


THE  POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT.  811 

In  regard  to  locks  and  keys,  I  have  to  remark  that  the  existing  contracts  for 
furnishing  the  service  with  these  articles  of  equipment  were  made  by  the  Depart- 
ment in  1884  and  cover  a  period  of  four  years,  beginning  September  1,  1884,  and 
terminating  September  1, 1888.  As  a  matter  of  course  there  would,  therefore,  be  no 
reduction  in  the  prii^s  of  the  articles  ordered  under  these  contracts  during  the 
above-mentioned  period  from  July  1, 1885,  to  June  30,  1888,  but  the  Postmaster- 
General  in  availing  himself  of  a  provision  in  these  contracts  for  extending  them  for 
another  period  of  four  years,  beginning  September  1,  1888,  and  terminating  Sep- 
tember 1,  1892,  has  accomplished,  by  an  agreement  with  the  contractors  for 
supplying  these  articles,  the  following  reductions  in  the  prices  of  mail  locks,  to 
wit: 

(a).  Inside  street  letter-box  locks  are  hereafter  to  be  fhrnished  for  eighty  cents 
each,  instead  of  eighty-five  cents  each,  being  a  reduction  of  six  per  cent. 

(6).  General  iron  locks  are  hereafter  to  be  furnished  at  forty-five  cents  each, 
instead  of  fifty-two  cents  each,  being  a  reduction  of  thirteen  and  one-half  per  cent. 

(c).  The  repairing  of  these  general  iron  locks  is  to  be  done  at  thirty- three 
•cents  each,  instead  of  thirty-five  cents  each,  being  a  reduction  of  six  per  cent. 

{d).  An  agreement  has  also  been  entered  into  with  the  same  contractors  for 
fumishiug  the  service  with  street  letter-box  locks  for  a  term  of  four  years,  begin- 
ning September  1, 1888,  and  terminating  September  1,  1892.  These  locks,  which 
cost  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  each,  will  be  furnished  for  the  said  contract 
term  for  fifty  cents  each,  being  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  this  article  of  mail  equip- 
ment of  sixty  per  cent. 

Recently  the  Postmaster-General  ordered  an  investigation  into  the  condition  of 
the  Repair  Shops  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Washington,  which  resulted  in  the 
■discovery  of  the  fact  that  large  numbers  of  leather  mail  bags,  and  jute  tie,  and 
<»nvas  sacks  had  been  suffered  to  accumulate  in  these  offices  which  were  not 
repaired  and  promptly  put  in  the  service.  The  Repair  Shop  in  Washington  was 
placed  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General. 
L  nder  the  regulations  of  the  Department  previously  existing  it  had  been  under  the 
charge  of  the  Postmaster  at  the  City  of  Washington.  The  force  in  the  Repair 
Shop  at  Washington  was  largely  increased,  and  a  new  foreman  was  appointed. 
Orders  were  issued  to  the  various  depositories  and  shops  in  other  parts  oi  the 
country  to  immediately  forward  to  the  Washington  Shop  all  this  accumulated 
stock  in  order  to  have  it  repaired  and  promptly  put  in  the  service.  It  is  impossible 
to  state  with  absolute  accuracy  the  saving  which  has  been,  or  will  be,  effected  by 
these  changes,  but  a  comparison  of  the  number  of  requisitions  for  new  bags  and 
€acks  since  this  change  has  gone  into  efiect,  with  the  number  of  requisitions  for  the 
same  articles  for  the  same  period  of  time  preceding  this  change,  indicates  that  the 
saving  to  the  Department  by  thus  repairing  and  putting  in  the  service  this  stocky 
which  had  been  suflTered  to  accumulate  at  the  Washington  and  New  York  Ctiy 
postoffices,  will  not  be  less  than  $50,000  per  annum. 

Table  •'  D "  is  a  succinct  and  condensed  statement  of  the  total  amount  of 
savings  efiected  by  new  contracts  made  for  service  and  for  articles  of  mail  equip- 
ment at  reduced  rates,  and  also  by  the  discontinuance  or  curtailment  of  service 
where  the  same  was  unnecessary,  and  where  this  service  was  replaced  by  other 
and  more  efficient  means  of  mail  transportation  and  at  a  less  rate  of  cost ;  this 
total  amount  is  $3,258,089.33. 


318  THE  POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


THE  OBLIGATIONS  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT  TO  THE  PEOPLE  RECOGNIZED. 

While  economy  in  the  administration  of  this  branch  of  the  postal  service  ha* 
kept  steadily  in  view,  the  results  achieved  have  not  been  at  the  expense  of 
efficiency  in  the  service,  or  at  any  sacrifice  of  the  public  interests  so  deeply  involved 
in  its  proper  performance.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  been  accompanied  by  a 
large  extension  and  expansion  of  the  service,  unprecedented  at  any  previous  period 
of  its  history,  and  a  very  great  and  considerable  increase  in  the  frequency  of  the 
service,  or  in  the  number  of  trips  per  week. 

It  has  not  been  forgotten  that  the  Government,  in  establishing  for  itself  a 
monopoly  of  the  mail  service,  is  under  an  obligation  of  the  highest  character  to 
supply  every  part  of  the  country  with  ample,  prompt,  and  efficient  mail  facilities. 
It  can  be  said  with  entire  accuracy  that  the  service  has  been  kept  fully  abreast 
with  the  rapid  and  phenomenal  growth  in  railroad  construction,  with  the  extra- 
ordinary development  in  all  the  varied  business  interests  of  our  widespread 
country,  and  with  the  demands  of  a  constantly  increasing  population,  which  have 
marked  the  period  embraced  in  the  above  tables  and  statement.  This  duty  and. 
policy  of  the  Department  to  furnish  this  character  of  service  has  received  addi- 
tional emphasis  by  instructions  from  the  Postmaster-General  to  the  effect  that  the 
building,  equipment,  and  operation  of  new  railroad  lines  or  routes  in  any  part  of 
the  country  should  be  taken  as  evidence  that  mail  service  was  there  needed,  and  it 
has  been  promptly  put  on  such  routes  accordingly  on  obtaining  the  written  agree- 
ment of  the  raih'oad  companies  to  assume  the  service  on  the  terms  and  conditions^ 
prescribed  by  law  and  the  regulations  of  the  Department  J 


statement  of  Increases  made  In  number  of  routes  of  mail  service  from  March  31,'1885, 
June  30,  1888  : 

Star  Routes 1,935 

Steamboat  Routes b 

Railroad  Routes 386 

Mail  Messenger  Routes 560 

Total  increase  in  Routes  of  all  kinds 2,b86 

Bemg  an  increase  of  14.95  per  cent,  during  the  above  period. 


THE  POST-OPFICB  DEPARTMENT. 


31S 


Statement  showing  the  extent  and  magnitude  of  the  Mall  Service  of  ttie  United  States 
Btood  on  the  books  of  the  PostoflBce  Department  June  30, 1888 : 


NO.  or  ROUTES. 


LENGTH 

OF  ROUTES. 

MiUs. 


O.  or  MILES 
TRAVELED    PER 
ANNUM. 


Railroad  service 

Steamboat  service 

STAR  service: 
Number  of  routes  with  service  six 

times  a  week  or  o<  er 5,502 

Number  of  routes  with  service  three 

TiraeBE  week 4,285 

Number  of  routes  wli  h  service  twice 

a  week 3.302 

Number  of  routes  with  service  once 

a  week 1,05' 


Mail  Messenger  Service 
Special  Ofl5ce  Service.... 


Total. 


1,995 
127 


11146 
5.910 


24,814 


143.713.32 
11,058.49 


225,55194 
4,602.00 
16,709.00 


401,634.75 


185,485,783.33 
3,216,035.9& 


83.5'>3,707.» 

10,632,148.00' 

3.476,213.00 


'■286,363»887.eO 


i*Or  more  than  11,000  times  the  circuit  of  the  globe. 


tii 


THE  POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


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a 
i« 

<X>   1) 

.  P^-3 
.  CO "ii^  iH 

O)    tC    '^    03 

-^  »^  aj  9j 


s 

5  aJ  55  — 
o 


O  S  O  fl  '-*i 


5  ^ 

bCt- 


go 


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13  §  C  3  c3 


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816 


THE  POBT-OFPICB    DEPAKTMEKT. 


TABLE  "C"— MAIL  EQUIPMENT  DIVISION. 

Statement  showing  the  savings  effected  in  the  cost  of  Mail  Equipments  for  the  three  fisc 
years  beginning  with  July  1st,  1885,  and  ending  June  30th,  1888,  by  comparison  of  cost 
of  articles  at  present  contract  prices  with  cost  of  same  at  the  preceding  contract  prices : 


ASTIGLES. 


At  previous 
contract 
price. 


At   present 
contract 
price. 


KEDUCTION 
IN  COST. 


INCREASE 
IN  COST. 


Leather  mail  pouches 

Leather  horse  bags 

Mail  catcher  pouches 

Through  register  pouches. . . . 

Jute  canvas  sacks 

Cotton  canvas  sacks 

Foreign  register  sacks 

Label  cases 

Wooden  tags 

Cord  fasteners 

Mail  catchers 

Brackets 


49,500 

3,250 

15,500 

3,400 

474,012 

39,800 

1,000 

74,000 

1,206,400 

420,000 

1,400 

1,400 


?224,410  00 

17,768  50 

60,605  00 

20,785  00 

298,405  63 

34,977  50 

415  00 

1,416  00 

1,687  80 

34,348  00 

5,002  00 

310  00 


8202,970  00 

15,204  00 

53,&55  00 

17,801  00 

218,692  12 

30,607  50 

430  00 

1,398  20 

1,584  60 


?21,440  00 
2,564  50 
7,750  00 
2,984  00 
79,718  51 
4,370  00 


$15  00 


17  80 
8  20 

37,488  00' '     3,140  00 

4,548  00  454  00  1 

400  00   :  90  00 


TotAls. 


$700,030  43 


8583,978  42  «1 19,297  01  I  13,245  00 


Net  Baving  to  the  Department,  $116,052.01. 


THE  POST-OFFICB    DEPAKTMENT. 


81T 


TABLE  D.  —  CONDENSED  STATEMENT. 

Statement  showing  savings  effected  in  annual  rate  of  expenditure  for  Postal  Service^ 
with  total  amounts  thereof,  by  orders  aud  new  contracts  for  transportation  and  mail 
equipments,  from  April  1,  1885,  to  June  30,  1888: 


Decrease  b}'  orders  to  June  30,  1886 : 

Star  Service 

Steamboat  Service 

Mail  Messenger  Service 

Decrease  in  Star  Service  by  orders  from  June  30, 

1886,  to  J  une  30, 1888 


Railroad  Service : 

tDecrease  by  dispensing  with  unnecessary  service, 

[By  deductions  from  land  grant  roads 

"Jy  discontinuing  payments  for  R.  P.  O.  apart- 
ment cars 

IjBy  dispensing  with  unnecessary  R.  P.  0.  car  ser 

vice 

jy  deductions  from  present  compensation  of 
railroads  (not  heretofore  treated  as  land  grant 
roads) 


^ail  EquipmenU : 

I  Decrease  for  ^e  three  fiscal  years  beginning  July  1 
i  1885,  and  ending  June  80,  1888,  as  shown  by 
I  comparison  of  cost  of  articles  at  present  con 
p.,  tract  prices,  with  cost  of  same  at  the  preceding 
I  contract  prices 
ItReduction  in  cost  of  Mail  Bags  and  Mail  Sacks  by 
I  orders  for  repairs  of  accumulated  stocks  in 
I  depositories,  and  by  curtailing  requisitions  for 
I  new  supplies  thereof 
r  Servuie : 

Fourth  contract  section,  term  1886  to  1890. 

, Decrease  by  new  contracts,  as  compared  with 

cost  of  same  service  under  contracts  super 

seded 

Total  for  contract  term ■ 


lird  contract  section,  term  1887  to  1891. 
fDecrease  by  new  contracts,  as  compared  with  cost 
of  same  service  under  contract*  superseded. . 
Total  for  contract  term 

;ond  contract  section,  term  1888  to  1892. 
[Decrease  by  new  contracts  as  compared  with  cost 
of  same  service  under  contracts  superseded. 
Total  for  contract  term 


Total  amount  saved. 


ANNUAL  BATE. 


$300,499  00 

107,659  00 

18,579  00 

238,856  00 


TOTAL  AMOUNTS. 


S665,593  00 

§12,950  00 
12,139  71 

80,161  78 

29,114  00 

68,905  28 


^203,271  20 


$238,175  10 


86,507 


40,824  86 


«665,593  OO 


303,271  2^ 


116,052  01 


50,000  00 


952,700  40 


846,029  28 


168,999  44 


12,496,945  33 


THE   POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


TABLE  E. 

Comparative  Statement  of  the  Railway  Mail  Sei*vice,  showing  the  increase  in  the  number 

of  R.  P.  O.  lines,  mileage,  &c.,  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30th,  1888, 

over  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30th,  1885. 


June     30th,  June     30th, 

1888.  1885. 


Number.   Per  Cent 


Number  of  Railway  Post  Oflice  lines  in 
operation 

Whole  number  of  clerks  in  the  service.. 

Miles  run  by  railway  postal  clerks  from 
register  to  register 

Number  of  railway  postal  cars  and  de- 
partments in  use  and  in  reserve 

Number  of  closed  pouch  lines  upon 
which  no  clerks  are  employed  in  the 
distribution  of  the  mail 

Miles  of  route  covered  by  closed  pouch 
lines , 


5,095 
141,799 
+2,485 

850 
17,179 


858 
4,385 

121,829 

2,165 

718 
13,529 


135 

710 

♦20,470 
+320 

132 
3,650 


15.73 
16.19 

16.87 

14.78 

18.38 
27.00 


*Net  increase  in  mileage  caused  by  the  establishment  of  new  R.  P.  O.  lines,  and 
•extension  of  old  ones. 

+Not  including  the  following  increases,  which  have  been  authorized  since  the  9th 
of  May  last,  but  which  have  not  gone  into  operation  yet,  the  necessary  cars  not 
having  been  completed : 

6  lines  of  40- foot  cars  for  8  R.  P.  0.  lines,  covering  1,993.10  miles  of  route. 
1  line  of  60-foot  cars  for  1  R.  P.  O.  line,  covering  136.00  miles  of  route. 
Size  of  cars  increased  from  40  feet  to  50  feet  on  one  line  covering  311.87  miles  of 
route. 
Two  daily  lines  of  cars  increased  from  50  to  60  feet  on  one  line,  covering  982.26  miles 
of  route. 


THE  POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


31» 


VI. 
EXPEDITION  OF  MAILS. 

GAINS    IN    TIME     OF     TRANSMISSION    OF    MAILS    BETWEEN  IMPORTANT  BUSINESS- 
CENTRES  OF   THE  COUNTRY. 

The  following  table  "G"  shows  the  principal  gains  in  expedition  of  the  mails 
under  the  present  administration.  Minor  routes  have  received  corresponding: 
attention : 

IMPROVEMENTS  IN  RAILWAY  SERVICE  SINCE  MARCH  AtK,  1885. 
Tables  showing  the  expedition  in  the  delivery  of  the  mails  at  various  important 
cities  in  the  West  and  Southwest  secured  by  the  fast  mail  between  New  York,  St.  Louia 
and  Kansas  City. 


Old 
Schedule. 


Fast  Mail 
Schedule. 


Gain. 
Hrs.  Mins. 


St.  Louis 

lefferson  City. 

5edalia 

Independence., 
iansas  City. .. 
L.eavenworth. . 

k.  Joseph 

Copeka. 

Function  City. 

ialina 

)enver 

;:heyenne. 

^adville , 

>S<ien 


rrand  Island. 

"remont 

)maha 


.mpona, 

.a  Junta 

'ueblo 

tlbuquerque 

,os  Angeles 

an  Francisco 

;i  Paso 

hihuahua,  Mexico. 

ity  of  Mexico 

tchison 

awrence 


6.15  A.  M. 

1.24  P.  M. 
3.45      " 
7.00      " 
7.30      " 
9.36      " 

11.35      " 
1.10  A.  M. 
4.30      " 
6.32      ** 
7.05      " 
5.40  P.  M. 
7.15  A.  M. 
5.40  P.  M. 
4.55      '* 

12.53      " 

10.55  A.  M. 
3.55      " 

10.45  P.  M. 
1.10  A.  M. 
3.30      " 
9.00  P.  M. 

10.40  A.  M. 
4.30  P.  M. 

7.25  A.  m 
8.00      " 

10.35  P.  M. 
11.55      " 


2.45 
6.07 
7.49 
9.40 

11.00 

12.17 
1.30 
1.40 
3.38 
5.10 
7.45 
6.10 
6.30 
6.10 
3.10 

10.49 
8.50 
4.30 
6.30 
8.25 
4.00 
9.30 

11.10 
5.00 
7.55 
8.30 
1.10 

12.44 


A.  M. 


P.  M. 


A.  M. 
P.M. 


A.  M. 
P.  M. 


A.  M. 


P.  M. 
A.M. 
P.  M. 
A.  M. 

P.M. 


23 


20 
17 
56 
20 
30 
19 
05 
30 
52 
22 
20 
80 
45 
30 
45 
04 
05 
2!> 
25 
45- 
30 
80 
30 
30 
30 
80- 
15 
25 


the  facilities  for  exchanging  mails  with  Mexico  have  been  greatly  improved 
I  the  past  year  by  the  completion  of  the  Mexican  International  Railroad 
Jtween  Eagle  Pass,  Texas  (Piedras  Negras,  Mexico),  and  Torreon,  Mexico.  This- 
Qe  was  completed  about  March  1st,  and  immediately  upon  official  notification  of 
:e  same  a  general  order  was  issued  directing  the  dispatch  of  all  foreign  closed 
ails  for  Mexico  City  and  also  the  domestic  accumulation  destined  for  the  interior 
'  Mexico,  including  Mexico  City,  to  be  dispatched  via  Eagle  Pass,  Texas.  By 
is  change  an  advance  of  one  full  day  i£  secured  to  all  mails  from  New  York  and. 
e  Northern,  Middle  and  Southeastenii  States  :g  Mexico  City. 


MEXICO. 


^30  TnE  POST-OFPICB    DEPARTMENT. 

TBANS-CONTINENTAL  SERVICE— CHICAGO  AND  PORTLAND,  OREGON. 

Previous  to  February  of  the  present  year  the  time  between  Portland,  Oregon, 
and  Chicago,  Illinois,  by  the  railway  postofflce  (East-bound)  was  five  days  and  thre€ 
hours.  Arrangements  were  finally  completed,  however,  so  that  a  schedule  is  a1 
present  in  operation  by  which  the  time  between  these  points  has  been  reduce(] 
twenty- four  (24)  hours.  The  entire  Northwestern  section  partakes  of  this  improve<j 
facility  for  correspondence,  commercial  and  otherwise,  with  Chicago  and  all  of  th« 
country  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  completes  a  fast-mail  service,  East  anc 
West,  between  Chicago  and  Portland. 

TRANSCONTINENTAL  SERVICE— CHICAGO  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

On  March  25  of  the  present  year  arrangements  were  completed  between  th« 
Department  and  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad  Company,  increasing 
the  fast  mail  from  Chicago, Ills.,  to  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa.,  from  six  to  seven  times  a  weel 
so  as  to  make  the  fast  mail  a  daily  service,  instead  of  daily  except  Sunday.  T( 
fully  secure  the  benefits  of  this  change,  arrangements  will  shortly  be  completec 
with  the  railroads  east  of  Chicago  to  New  York,  over  which  the  fast  mail  railwa] 
postofflce  is  being  maintained  between  these  latter  points,  to  have  the  service  per 
formed  dally  instead  of  daily  except  Sunday,  as  at  present,  when  a  daUy  fast  mai 
railway  postofflce  will  be  in  operation  between  New  York  and  the  Pacific  coast. 

Pursuant  to  a  new  contract  between  the  Department  and  the  Chicago,  Burlingtoi 
and  Quincy  Railroad  Company,  a  fast  mail  East  was  established  between  Counci 
Bluffs  and  Chicago,  taking  up  at  the  former  point  the  through  fast  connection  frou 
San  Francisco.  This  new  service  reduces  the  transit  time  between  San  Fraucisc( 
and  Chicago  one  full  day.  Until  November  last  there  was  but  one  through  trail 
between  San  Francisco  and  the  East,  but,  the  railroad  company,  finding  it  p^racti 
cable,  put  on  a  second  fast  express  train  East,  and  it  is  in  connection  with  this  fas 
express  that  the  new  fast  mail  from  Council  Bluffs,  East,  is  run. 

The  change  and  improvements  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  service  vi* 
the  Union  and  Central  Pacific,  and  also  Northern  Pacific  railroads^  bring  the  trans 
continental  service  up  to  a  standard  as  near  perfection  as  it  is  possible  to  make  will 
the  facilities  at  command. 

After  considerable  correspondence  having  passed  between  the  Department  anc 
the  railroad  companies  performing  service  between  Chicago  and  Cincinnati  am 
Louisville,  and  with  a  view  of  improving  the  facilities  between  Chicago  and  Louis 
ville  in  such  a  manner  as  would  admit  of  an  early  morning  dispatch  of  mails  frou 
Louisville  for  the  West  and  Southwest,  satisfactory  arrangements  have  been  finally 
completed. 

The  new  arrangement  advanced  the  Louisville  through  morning  mails  nim 
hours  at  Montgomery,  and  nearly  twelve  hours  at  New  Orleans,  making  the  expe 
dition  equal  to  twenty-four  hours.  Besides  this  the  Chicago  mails  partook  of  i 
similar  gain,  and.  at  New  Orleans  an  advance  of  twelve  hours  was  made  in  all  maiU 


THE  SERVICE  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


I 


At  the  iistance  of  the  Department,  a  change  of  schedule  was  made  June 
1888,  by  the  railroad  companies  between  Boston  and  New  York,  decreasing  th 


THE  POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT.  ^1 

transit  time  from  Boston  to  New  York  nearly  an  hour.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
importaat  changes  in  recent  years  for  the  transmission  of  the  heavy  mails  from  and 
to  New  England  and  New  York. 

The  arrival  at  Boston  and  New  York  at  an  earlier  hour  than  heretofore  insures 
all  connections  previously  made  and  makes  some  additional  connections  which, 
under  the  old  schedule,  it  was  impossible  to  make.  The  later  dispatch  from  Boston 
admits  of  a  sure  and  complete  dispatch  from  that  point  of  mails  from  all  sections  of 
northern  New  England  destined  for  New  York  and  points  in  the  West,  Southwest 
and  South. 

In  connection  with  the  above  it  is  proper  to  state  that  the  urgent  requests  from 
the  New  England  section  of  the  country  for  improved  mail  facilities  in  the  direction 
of  New  York  appear  to  have  been  fully  met  by  the  changes  above  described. 


vn. 

BRINGING  DELINQUENTS  TO  BOOK. 

<3AINS  IN  BNPOECEMENT  OF  LAW  AND  GAINS  IN  HONEST  METHODS  OP  ADMINISTRA- 
TION IN  EACH  YEAR  OP  DEMOCRATIC  POWER. 

The  following  Table  (H)  is  a  comparative  statement  of  the  work  of  the  Inspect- 
ors of  the  Department  upon  crime  and  fraud  in  and  against  the  service  for  the 
years  '84,  '85,  '86,  '87  and  '38.  The  statement  of  amounts  recovered  from  Post- 
office  employes  is  instructive,  when  we  consider  that  the  percentage  recovered  from 
Postoffice  employes  appointed  under  Republican  administrations  about  equals  the 
percentage  of  money  recovered  from  Postmasters  appointed  by  such  administra- 
tions, as  shown  by  Table  A.  The  third  set  of  figures  on  Table  H  should  be  studied 
in  the  light  given  by  the  fact  that  the  prosecutions  and  recoveries  for  '85,  '86,  '87 
and  '88  are  with  comparatively  rare  exceptions  cases  of  Republican  employes. 


THE    POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


I IC  Tt<  p- 


t»  GO  W-* 
iO«DlCO 


I   T-t  »— I   t- 


?3     S 

OO        ''Ji 


8l 
li  ^ 


10  05NCO 


S       ^       :  S 


8 


i    8 


£  o 


II 


o  p 

^-.-a  o  «  9 

^fl  j;  t;  «* 

o  o  gi 


C3   oj 


rtj  'jQ  (/)  uD  a> 

05  tC  tc  !C  W 

05  eS  rt  eS  « 

t.  o  o  t>  y 


ill 


aa 


o  o 


88 


<u  o  — 
O  d  as 


WO  qco' 


l«j 


THE    POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT. 


VIII. 

DECLINE  OF  COMPLAINTS. 

GAINS  ON  ACCURACY  AND  ON  THE   NUMBER  OP  COMPLAINTS  MADE  OP  IMPERFECT 
OR  UNSAFE  WORKING   OP  THE  SERVICE. 

A  consideration  of  table  I  and  comparison  of  the  results  for  the  diflferent  years^ 
proves  conclusively  that  the  safety  of  the  registered  mail  has  materially  and  steadily 
improved  for  the  past  three  years,  and  that  its  present  treatment  is  one  of  the  strong- 
est evidences  of  reform  in  the  mail  service.  In  proof  of  this  claim,  attention  ia 
called  to  the  fact  that  the  number  of  complaints  this  year  has  decreased  466,  or  8 
per  cent.;  the  number  of  losses  has  decreased  220,  or  20  per  cent.;  while  the  number 
of  pieces  handled  has  increased  774,461,  or  6^  per  cent.;  and  the  ratio  of  pieces  lost 
to  pieces  handled  has  decreased  from  1  in  11,187  to  1  in  15,016--a  decided  improve- 
ment. It  is  thus  shown  in  every  respect  that  the  registered  mail  is  more  safely 
handled,  more  accurately  delivered,  in  1888  than  in  1887  or  any  previous  years. 

Table  J  presents  the  depredations  and  casualties  in  the  ordinary  mail  and  pos- 
tal property  for  the  past  six  years.  It  fully  sustains  the  claim  ol  radically  improved 
mail  service  more  definitely  made  in  table  I.  Unquestionably  the  volume  of  ordi- 
nary mail  has  largely  increased,  as  shown  by  the  increased  revenue  of  the  Depart- 
ment from  the  sale  of  postage  stamps.  The  total  number  of  pieces  of  mail  handled 
has  doubled  since  1883,  and  the  revenue  on  pieces  handled,  if  at  the  rate  of  1883  (Act 
reducing  postage),  would  now  be  upward  of  $70,000,000  per  annum. 

»  CONCERTED  PARTISAN  ATTACKS  ON  THE  SERVICE. 

In  February  and  March  there  was  a  general  and  widespread  movement  among 
Republican  papers,  showing  concert  of  action,  to  attack  the  efficiency  of  the  mail 
service,  but  the  files  of  the  Postofflce  Department,  which  were  gone  over  carefully 
by  the  Postmaster-General,  to  make  his  report,  showed  that  the  number  of  com- 
plaints is  now  smaller  than  ever  before  in  comparison  with  the  business  transacted, . 
many  of  those  making  complaint  now  having  been  most  conspicuous  in  the  same- 
kind  of  attack  under  former  administrations^ 

TABLE  I. 

Statistics  relating  to  the  Domestic  Registered  mail  for  the  fiscal  years  ending  June  30th, 

1884,  1886,  1887  and  1888. 


m 

Total    number  of 

Total  No.  lost  each  year. 

complaintsofloss, 

-a      5 

§ 

H  ^ 

rifling,  missent, 

1     -2 

B'^ 

and  other   depre 

•:3     ? 

-s-s 

Total  number 

m^ 

dations    or    acci- 

m 

"S-S  * 

Total  number  of  of   letters     and 

■  -^ 

dents  on  or  to  the 

£-S§ 

.-j       letters  and  packa- 

packages    h  a  n- 

B " 

Domestic    Regis- 

^ i 

r«-s 

-^       'ges   reg is tereddledtoone piece 

'      1884 

tered  mail. 

W  S.O   !    H       each  year. 

lost. 

4,238 

.516 

743     :  1,259 

10,750,155 

8,538 

1886 

4,281 

1,042 

....        1,042 

11,102,607 

10,655 

1887 

5,286 

1,065 

....     1  1,065 

11,914,792 

11,187 

1888 

4,820 

565 

280    !      845          *12,689,253 

«15,016 

♦Estimated  on  the  basis  of  63^  per  cent,  increase  over  preceding  year,  which  is  protK 
below  the  actual  increase. 
21 


384 


THE    POST-OFFICB    DEPARTMENT. 


Table  showing  amount  realtaied  from  the  sale  of  postage  stamps,  and  the  percentage  of 
increase  for  the  fiscal  years  ending  June  30,  1885,  1886,  18-87  and  1888. 


Tears. 

Amount  of  Sales. 

Increase  oyer  Previous  Years. 

1885 
1886 
1887 

1888 

$40,056,226.69 
41,447,095.88 
45,670,983.84 

♦50,000,000.00 

1.7  per  cent 
3.4    "      " 
10.1    "      " 
9.       "      " 

♦Estimated. 


GAINS  IN  THE  FKEE  DELIVERY  SERVICE.  9 

The  number  of  free  delivery  offices  March  1,  1985,  was 177    ^| 

The  number  of  carriers  in  service  March  1,  1885,  was 4,348    ^B 

The  number  of  pieces  handled  for  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1885,  was 1,744,537,413 

The  cost  of  the  free  delivery  service  for  year  ended  June  30, 1885,  was $3,985,9.52  .55 

The  number  of  free  delivery  offices  July  1,  1888,  was 859 

The  number  of  carriers  in  service  July  1, 1888,  was 6,349 

The  number  of  pieces  handled  for  year  ended  June  30,  1887,  was 2,284,564,6.56 

The  cost  of  the  service  fer  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1887,  was 84,618,692  07 


INCREASE  IN  NUMBER  OF  POSTOFPICES. 

1883-'84  1887-'8S 

Tirst  class  offices  at  end  of  fiscal  year 81  82 

Second  class  offices  at  end  of  fiscal  year 404  436 

Third  class  offices  at  end  of  fiscal  year 1,838  1,970 

Fourth  class  offices  at  end  of  fiscal  j-ear 47,694  54,888 

Total  number  of  offices  at  end  of  fiscal  year 50,017  57,376 

Increase  of  offices  at  end  of  fiscal   year  1887-'88  over  end  of  fiscal 

year  1883-'84 7,! 


FtJRTHER  OAms  IN  HONESTY. 

From  July  1,  1854,  to  June  30,  1885,  of  total  stamps  sold $40,068,^ 

The  Government  received. 71.93  per  cent. 

Third  and  fourth  quarters  of  1887,  or  first  half  of   fiscal  year   1888,  of 

total  stamps  sold $24,150,954 

The  Government  received 74.56  per  cent. 

Said  amount  being  2.63  percent,  more  than  in  1884,  which  amounts  upon 

C.  sales  of  that  year  to $1,053,795 

Fourth  class  offices  from  July  1,  1884,  to  June  30,  1885,  sold $9,871,650 

The  Government  received 24.41  per  cent. 

Fourth  class  offices  during  third  and  fourth  quarters  of  1887,  sold $5,923,138 

The  Government  received  29.  .50  per  cent,  or  5.09  per  cent,  more  than  m 
1884,  which  upon  sales  of  that  year  would  be  a  gain  to  the  Government 
jof $502,467 


THE   POST-OFFICE    DEPARTMENT.  325 

IX. 
PARCEL  POST  CONVENTIONS 

THE    PROMPT    AND    EFFICIENT    EXTENSION    OF    THE    PARCEL    POST    SERVICE  TO 
FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  UNDER  THE  PRESENT  ENTERPRISING  MANAGEMENT. 

The  first  Parcel  Post  Convention  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign 
country  was  undertaken  under  Mr.  Cleveland's  administration,  that  concluded  with 
Jamaica,  and  which  went  into  effect  October  1,  1887;  and  since  then  Parcel  Post 
Conventions  have  been  concluded  between  the  United  States  and  the  following 
foreigh  countries,  viz.: 


I 


With  Barbadoes went  into  effect December  1, 1887. 

"     The  Bahamas "      "        "     Februbary  1, 1888. 

"     British  Honduras "      "        "     March  1,  1838. 

"    Mexico "      "        "     July  1,1888. 


The  provisions  of  these  different  Parcel  Post  Conventions  are  substantially  the 
same.  The  Parcel  Post  rates  to  all  these  countries  are  the  same,  viz.:  12  cents  per 
pound  or  fraction  of  a  pound.  In  addition  to  this,  a  charge  for  interior  service  and 
delivery  may  be  collected  from  the  addressee  in  the  country  of  destination.  This 
charge  is  5  cents  on  each  single  parcel  of  whatever  weight,  and  if  the  weight  exceed 
one  pound,  one  cent  for  each  four  ounces  or  fraction  thereof.  The  highest  possible 
charge  for  a  parcel  weighing  eleven  pounds  sent  Irom  the  United  States  to  any  of 
the  above-mentioned  countries  by  parcel  mail  will,  therefore,  be  $1.76,  of  which 
amount  the  sender  will  have  to  pay  $1.32,  and  the  addressee  44  cents.  These 
charges  will  certainly  compare  favorably  with  the  chaises  of  foreign  express  com- 
panies. The  principal  advantage  of  the  new  system,  however,  which  has  made  it 
so  exceedingly  popular,  is  that  it  does  away  with  the  former  slow  and  expensive 
method  of  meeting  the  custom-house  requirements. 

Prior  to  the  conclusion  of  the  convention  with  Mexico  (July  1,  1887)  it  was 
forbidden  to  send  through  the  mails  exchanged  between  the  United  States  and  any 
foreign  country  any  article  of  merchandise  having  a  merchantable  value.  The 
effect  of  these  conventions,  herein  referred  to,  has  been  to  remove  the  restrictions 
which  previously  existed  on  the  transmission  by  mail  of  this  class  of  matter,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  has  and  will  continue  to  augment  the  trade  relations 
with  those  countries  without  imposing  additional  burdens  on  the  postal  revenue  of 
the  United  States,  as  the  postage  collected  on  such  matter  dispatched  will  more 
than  equal  the  expenditure. 

—  ^  PROMOTING  TRADE  WITH  MEXICO. 

^f  The  conclusion  of  a  Parcel  Post  Convention  with  Mexico  is  of  special  interest, 
as  that  country,  with  its  large  population  and  with  rapidly  developing  industries, 
naturally  looks  to  the  United  States  for  extending  every  possible  aid  in  strengthen- 
ing the  bonds  of  commercial  relations  between  the  two  great  "  Sister  Republics," 
whose  interests  are  the  sdme,  and  it  will  be  found  that  new  and  hitherto  almost 
inaccessible  markets  have  been  opened  out  to  American  merchants. 


I 


326 


THE    POST-OFFICE    DEPAKTMENT. 


Parcel  Post  Conventions  are  now  pending  with  all  the  Central  and  Souti 
American  States,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  '*  Three 
Americas "  will  be  embraced  in  one  grand  Parcel  Postal  Union,  which  will,  in  iti 
way,  aid  this  country  in  fulfilling  its  eventual  mission,  viz.:  To  control  the  marl^etg 
of  this  hemisphere  and  become  the  leader  in  its  industrial  and  commercial  progress. 
Parcel  Post  Conventions,  commencing  less  than  a  year  ago,  have  already  dom 
more  to  promote  the  commercial  relations  with  our  neighbor  nations  than  the  gifts 
of  money  altogether  ever  voted  to  ship  owners  on  the  pretense  of  promoting  com- 
merce, in  the  whole  history  of  the  Republic. 

GAINS  IN  HONEST   SERVICE   FOR   SAX.ARIE8  PAID. 

Report   of  Absences  of  Employes  of   the   Posioffice  Department. 

FS&gal  year  ending  June  .30,  1884 .19,818  days. 

BIft'al  year  ending  June  .30,  1885 19,046  days 

Fiscjil  year  ending  June  30,  1886 15,119  day 

Fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1888 14,264  daj 

A  saving  "^to  the  Department  of  4,782  days  for  1888  as  compared  with  188S. 

Whilst  the  work  of  the  Department  has  steadily  increased  in  all  divisions,  tne 
force  has  not  been  increased  to  meet  it,  yet  the  work  was  never  more  closely  uj 
to  date,  nor  performed  more  promply  than  at  the  present  time.  This  is  accom- 
plished by  requiring  of  the  clerks  their  whole  service  during  office  hours,  and  bj 
cutting  off  unnecessary  leaves  of  absence,  usually  issued  to  party  workers  for  Con- 
gressional, National,  State,  and  even  less  important  political  campaigns. 

GAINS  IN   SAVING  IN  DEPARTMENT    EXPENDITURES. 


Stationery 

Fuel,  etc 

Gas 

Plumbing 

Telegraphing 

Painting 

Carpets  and  Matting. 

Furniture 

Keeping  horses,  etc.. 

Hardware 

Miscellaneous 

Rent,  Topographers. . 

"     M.  O.  Building. 

'*     Auditors 

Postal  Guide 

Sales,  etc 

P.R.  Maps 

Foreign  Postage 


$8,913  30 
7,032  07 
5,331  94 
4,692  49 
2,880  93 
4,662  22 
5,376  61 
6,340  02 
1,064  51 
1,601  22 

13,500  00 
1,500  00 
8,000  00 


26,421  69 
"2i,'()64'25 


$6,349  00 
7,253  94 
5,333  11 
3,634  36 
2,320  79 
2,407  56 
3,570  60 
1,383  71 
987  97 
534  81 

10,897  93 
1,500  00 
8,000  00 
4,125  00 

13,708  00 


16,990  04 
448  50 


$7,470  02 
6,711  95 
3,996  40 
1,792  23 
1,989  46 
2,85«>  71 
2,496  86 
2,068  58 
1,152  80 
776  23 
8,376  76 
1,500  00 
8,000  00 
4,500  00 

17,873  42 


16,631  89 
377  50 


Total $118,381  25 


$89,560  36 


$88,573  81 


$9,086  97 
7,015  38 
3,654  05 
1,167  40 
1,949  42 
1,956  25 
2,301  70 
1,754  92 
713  73 
492  58 
8,270  06 
1,500  00 
8,000  00 
4,500  00 

15,361  98 


$173  67 

16  69 

1,687  89 

3,525  09- 

931  51 
2,705  97 
3,074  91 
4,5&5  lOr 

350  78 
1,108  64 
5,229  94 


16,718  27 
469  00 


11,099  71 
'  4,845*98 


$84,911  71 


1 


THE  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE.  327 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 
THE  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 


THE  APPLICATION   OF   BUSINESS  METHODS   HAS   IMPROVED  ITS  EFFI- 
'f  ' 

^K  CIENCY   AND    REDUCED   ITS   COST. 

^*The  history  of  the  Government  Printing  Office,  under  Republican  administra- 
•n,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  was  a  record  of  inefficiency,  mismanagement  and  fla- 
raat  corruption.  The  facts  in  connection  with  the  abuses  nourished  in  the  office 
became  so  well  known  that  it  acquired  the  title  of  the  "Botany  Bay"  of  the  Gov- 
ernment service.  The  management  of  the  office  was  absolutely  subservient  to  the 
^'spoils  system,"  so  rigidly  enforced  by  the  Republican  leaders  in  and  out  of  Con- 


The  politicians  literally  ran  the  office,  dictating  appointments  as  a  direct 
reward  for  party  service,  securing  the  removal  of  experienced  and  competent 
mechanics  because  they  would  not  declare  their  fealty  to  the  Republican  party,  and 
enforcing  assessments  upon  the  employes  in  more  than  one  exciting  political  cam- 
paign. The  contracts  for  supplying  the  office  with  material,  etc.,  were  controlled 
by  a  ring  of  Republican  favorites,  who  regularly  received  the  same  at  prices  so 
far  above  the  market  rates  of  the  material,  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  all  observ- 
ant printers  throughout  the  country,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  law  actu- 
ally required  the  awarding  of  the  contracts  to  the  lowest'  responsible  bidder,  upon 
proper  specimens,  and  that  the  best  manufacturers  and  dealers  in  the  materials  cov- 
ered by  the  contracts  were  constantly  among  the  unsuccessful  bidders.  Political 
favorites  filled  many  of  the  leading  positions  in  .the  office,  drawing  the  best  salaries, 
while  their  work  was  done  by  more  experienced  subordinates.  The  best  foremen 
in  the  office  were  repeatedly  discharged  during  political  campaigns,  for  lack  of 
interest  in  the  Republican  canvass,  and  in  some  instances  reinstated,  only  when  the 
threatened  collapse  of  the  management  made  their  return  to  the  office  a  necessity. 

I 

^p  The  material  and  machinery  supplied  the  office  under  Republican  Public  Printers 
was  in  many  cases  the  source  of  grave  public  scandal.  Exorbitant  prices  were 
paid  for  the  lowest  grade  material,  and  much  of  the  machinery  put  in  the  office  was 
practically  unfit  for  use.    In  spite  of  large  and  constantly  increasing  appropriations 


CONTBACTS  FOR  MATERIAL  AND  MACHINERY. 


I 


328  THE  G0VER1*MENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

by  Congress,  the  public  printing  was  neither  promptly  nor  properly  done.  Tho 
amount  of  delayed  -work  constantly  increased,  and  the  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment sufifered  the  greatest  embarrassment  in  consequence  of  the  long  delays  in 
completing  urgent  work. 

The  office  probably  reached  its  lowest  estate  in  1881-82.  Its  degradation 
threatened  a  grave  scandal  upon  President  Arthur's  administration,  and  he  made  an 
effort  to  reform  it.  The  appointment  of  S.  P.  Rounds  as  Public  Printer  in  1883 
rescued  the  office  in  a  measure  from  the  contempt  with  which  it  had  been  regarded, 
and  with  lavish  appropriations  an  effort  was  made  to  bring  up  the  delayed  work. 
The  office  was  supplied  with  much  new  material,  and  an  earnest  effort  seems  to  have 
been  made  for  a  time  to  improve  its  record. 

WHEN  THE  OFFICE  WAS  AT  ITS  BEST  ESTATE. 

The  period  from  1882  to  1884  may  be  said  to  be  the  brightest  in  the  record  of 
the  Republican  management  of  the  office.  It  was  the  acme  of  Republican  reform. 
The  office  did  not  escape  the  control  of  republican  politicians,  however,  and  it  was 
again  run  for  all  it  was  worth  as  an  adjunct  to  the  Republican  machine  in  1883  and 
1884.  All  pronounced  democrats  in  the  mechanical  divisions  were  removed,  and 
their  places  filled  by  Republicans.  Active  politicians  were  appointed  to  the  head  of 
some  of  the  principal  divisions  of  the  office,  and  were  absent  from  the  office  for  weeks 
at  a  time  engaged  in  political  work.  The  old  ring  of  political  contractors  again  got  the 
upper-hand,  and  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Rounds'  administration  was  characterized  by 
a  flagrant  disregard  of  economy  and  of  the  public  interests  in  the  award  of  contw<?*' 
and  in  the  general  expenditures  for  material  purchased  in  the  open  mac 


WORK  FOR    PRIVATE  PARTIES. 

The  growth  of  illegal  "private"  work  was  a  grave  scandal  upon  the  adminis- 
tration. An  immense  mass  of  binding  was  done  in  the  Government  Printing  Office 
for  private  parties  and  in  direct  violation  of  law.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  political 
and  personal  influences  controlled  this  private  binding.  Thousands  of  elaborately 
bound  volumes  of  public  and  private  works  were  issued  by  the  Government  bindery 
as  "presents"  to  personal  friends  of  the  favorites  of  the  administration,  while  illegal 
requisitions  for  binding  were  borrowed  for  nearly  every  department  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  office,  and  the  Government  departments  as  well,  became  demoralized 
by  this  execution  of  private  work,  and  by  the  suspicious  and  extravagant  influences 
that  so  evidently  surrounded  the  management. 

Nevertheless,  the  administration  of  Public  Printer  Rounds  had  been  so  evident- 
ly an  improvement  upon  that  of  his  predecessors,  and  the  growth  of  the  public  print- 
ing had  been  so  rapid,  that,  upon  the  accession  of  a  Democratic  administration 
March  4th,  1885,  a  change  in  the  admininistration  of  the  Government  Printing 
Office  was  regarded  as  of  doubtful  expediency,  and  many  of  the  best  Democrats  at 
the  capital  united  in  recommending  to  President  Cleveland  the  relention  of  Mr. 
Rounds.  It  was  not  until  September,  1886,  that  a  change  was  made,  and  Tho  E 
Benedict  (then  occupying  the  position  of  Deputy  Comptroller  of  the  State  ox  New 
York),  was  appointed  as  the  first  Democratic  Public  Printer  since  the  creation  of 
the  office. 


I 


THE   GOVEIiNMENT  PKINTING   OFFICE.  329 


WHEN   AND   HOW  REFORM   METHODS  WERE  INAUGURATED. 


^Pltical  examination  of  its  condition  in  every  branch  and  division.  A  force  of  2,420 
Employes  was  found  upon  tlie  rolls  of  the  of3ce.  This  was  found  to  be  at  least  400 
in  excess  of  the  actual  needs  and  working  facilities  of  the  office.  It  was  also  found 
that  the  appropriations  available  for  the  public  printing  were  entirely  inadequate  to 
pay  this  excessive  force,  and  a  discharge  of  some  500  superfluous  and  in  msot  cases 
inexperienced  and  incompetent  employes,  followed  at  an  early  date.  This  dis- 
charge was  based  absolutely  on  the  reports  of  the  foremen  of  divisions,  and  the 
immediate  re.^ult  was  an  increase  in  the  amovnt  ofjinish£d  work  turned  out  of  the  office  by 
the  relief  in  working  space  and  facilities  afforded  the  more  experienced  mec/ianics  who 
were  retained. ' 
^m  This  discharge  was  followed  by  a  most  thorough  and  comprehensive  scheme 
^K  reforming  the  sanitary,  mechaMical  and  economical  facilities  of  the  office.  The 
^ffitire  building  (which  was  found  to  be  in  a  decidedly  filthy  and  unsanitary  con- 
dition) was  at  once  cleaned,  whitewashed  and  painted  from  top-floor  to  basement. 
New  doors  were  cut  for  the  better  ingress  and  egress  of  the  tons  of  paper,  material, 
and  printed  matter  daily  used  and  issued  by  the  office.  Hydraulic  elevators  were 
put  in  for  the  more  rapid  movement  of  work  and  material  to  and  from  the  upper 
floors.  Wooden  staircases  were  replaced  by  iron  ones,  for  the  better  protection  of 
employes,  m  case  of  fire.  Every  division  of  the  office  was  overhauled,  its  machinery 
rearranged  with  an  eye  to  the  most  efficient  service,  and  new  and  more  modern 
facilities  provided.  An  entirely  new  and  modern  electrotype  plant  was  put  in,  and 
the  obsolete  method  of  letterpress  work,  then  in  vogue,  at  once  done  away  with. 
New  type  and  facilities  were  added  in  the  composing  divisions,  new  floor  space  and 
machinery  to  the  bindery,  and  the  folding  room  was  relieved  of  a  dangerous  accu- 
mulation of  printed  and  pressed  work. 

The  methods  of  every  division  of  the  office  were  thoroughly  reorganized  in 
accordance  with  the  systems  prevailing  in  the  largest  and  best  modern  private  print- 
ing offices.  Economy  of  material,  workmanship  and  methods  was  studied  in  every 
direction,  while  the  comfort  and  profit  of  all  employes  was  sought  in  more  roomy 
and  convenient  surroundings,  and  in  the  opportunity  to  secure  better  wages  as  the 
result  of  less  competition  and  a  larger  opportunity  for  the  display  of  skill  and 
industry. 

The  working  force  of  the  office  was  gradually  improved  by  the  discharge  of  ineffi- 
cient employes,  as  the  result  of  a  system  of  competitive  examination  as  to  merits 
and  the  engagement  of  new  employes  subject  to  the  same  tests  as  to  their  efficiency 
as  mechanics.  All  efficient  and  industrious  mechanics  of  the  old  administration 
were  retained,  except  in  cases  where  the  reorganization  at  the  office  discontinued 
their  positions,  as  was  in  some  cases  necessary, 

H_  HOW  THE   IMPROVED   SYSTEM  HAS  WORKED. 

^f   Some  of  the  results  of  Mr.  Benedict's  reforms  in  the  Government  Printing 
Office  may  be  briefly  stated  : 

The  completion  of  a  large  amount  of  delayed  work  of  from  two  to  eight  years* 
standing.  There  were  233,76-5  volumes  of  such  work,  printed  and  gathered  and 
collected,  or  pressed  in  signatures,  awaiting  the  bindery  in  September,  1886.  There 
remained  in  June,  1888,  only  129,841  volumes  awaiting  binding. 


I 


VS) 


THE   GOVERNMENT   PKINTINQ   OFFICE. 


The  execution  of  a  largely  increased  amount  of  work.  This  has  been  rendered  i 
necessary  in  bringing  up  delayed  work  and  meeting  the  increased  demands  of 
departments.  The  following  comparison  of  figures  for  stated  periods  of  1885-86. 
find  1887-88,  representing  equal  portions  of  the  years,  including  the  fii-st  sessions  of 
the  forty-ninth  and  fiftieth  Congress,  show  a  few  items : 

COMFARATIVE   TABLES   OF    WORK   FOR   TWO   YEARS. 


Letter  and  note  sheets,-  reams 

Envelopes 

Tokens  printed 

Forms  printed 

Priutiog  and  writing  paper  used,  lbs. 

Ledger  papers  used,  lbs 

Binder's  board  used,  lbs 

Book  cloth  used,  pieces 

Sheep  skins,  dozen 


18Sr>-86. 


18ST-S1 


7593^ 

1,126% 

1,950,975 

4,92>^,0.50 

475,180 

513.185 

56,752 

n9,><.58 

6,094,785 

6,326.360 

450,880 

545,021 

647,306 

817,873      • 

3,490 

4,524 

2,349 

3,009 

All  printing  inks  have  been  purchased  under  this  administration  at  an  average 
cost  of  24.85  cents  per  pound,  as  against  an  average  cost  of  66.14  cents  per  pound  in^ 
1886,  and  the  ink  under  this  administration  has  been  much  better  in  quality  at 
saving  of  from  |12,000  to  $15,000  per  year. 

Roller  composition  of  a  much  better  quality  has  been  purchased  under  the  present! 
administration  at  an  average  cost  of  26  cents  per  pound,  as  against  45  cents  in  1886, 
and  a  saving  of  upwards  of  50  per  cent,  has  been  made  in  oil  and  material  generally 
purchased  for  the  press-room. 

Tbe  books  of  the  office  show  that  a  saving  of  from  10  to  40  per  cent,  has  been 
made  under  this  administration  in  all  type  and  machinery  purchased,  and  that  t 
saving  of  from  10  to  350  per  cent,  has  been  effected  in  all  material  purchased  in  th( 
open  market,  and  better  type,  machinery  and  material  have  been  furnished. 


ECONOMY  WITH  WHICH  THE  WORK  HAS  BEEN  DONE. 

The  expenditures  of  the  Government  Printing  Office  in  1887.  the  first  year  or 
aDemocraiicadmiuistration,  were  $388,302.57  less  than  in  18S3,  and  $162,483.71 
less  than  1886,  the  last  year  of  Republican  administration,  and  the  amount  of  worl 
executed  in  1887  was  greatly  in  excess  of  any  previous  year. 

In  general,  the  present  management  of  thf  Government  Printing  Office  is  in 
full  accordance  with  the  reform  idevs  of  Fre>ident  Cleveland's  administration. 
Business  methods  rule,  and  partisanship  is  subservient  to  honest  methods  and  the, 
highest  possible  efficiency.  The  books  of  the  office  will  now  bear  the  most 
tnorough  scrutiny,  and  in  many  respects  the  office  is  a  model  for  the  study  of  enter* 
prising  printers. 


THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.  831 


I 


CHAPTER  XXYIL 
THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 


I. 
HONEST  AND  EFFICIENT  WORK. 


THE    APPLICATION  OF  BUSINESS  METHODS  TO  THE   ERECTION  OF  POSTOFPIOES    AND 
COURT  HOUSES  UNDER  EXISTING  MANAGEMENT. 

Among  the  many  scandalous  methods  in  vogue  in  the  public  service  during 
former  years  few  were  more  serious  or  more  costly  than  those  connected  with  the 
contracts  for  public  buildings.  Many  incompetent  men  who  permitted  vicious 
business  methods  to  rule  had  occupied  the  ofl3ce  of  Supervising  Architect  of  the 
Treasury.  The  government  had  thereby  been  subject*  d  to  great  loss,  and  the  cities 
which  it  would  be  supposed  the  public  buildings  would  adorn  from  an  architect  point 
of  view,  were  compelled  to  put  up  with  structures  of  the  most  outlandish  and  for- 
bidding appearance.  Even  these  were  not  honestly  built — many  of  them  being  con- 
structed upon  a  simple  basis  of  collusion,  which  if  the  conspiracy  laws  had  been 
rigidly  enforced,  would  hare  sent  a  good  many  architects,  superintendents,  con- 
tractors and  Republican  politicians  to  serve  terms  in  the  Albany  penitentiary. 

The  iuvestigations  of  a  Democratic  House  h>.d  exposed  these  methods  pretty 
thoroughly  before  the  advent  of  the  present  administration  into  Executive  control, 
md  the  most  serious  abuses  had  been  corrected.  Still  incompetent  and  common- 
place architects  had  been  given  charge  of  this  most  important  work,  and  as  a  result 
ierious  loss  in  money  and  much  in  the  character  of  the  public  buildings  of  the  country 
'esulted. 

THE  PROMOTION   OP  ECONOMY  AND   EFFICIENCY. 

Under  the  new  management  of  the  architect's  office  the  purpose  has  been  to  so 
lu-ect  the  operations  as  will  result  in  the  most  economical  prosecution  of  all  work 
mder  its  control,  consistent  with  substantial  and  satisfactoiy  workmanship,  and  to 
Lttain  this  end  it  seemed  necessary  that  the  technical  work  performed  in  this  office 
hould  be  curtailed ;  that  a  greater  publicity  should  be  given  to  the  invitation  for  pro- 
posals and  thus  secure  keener  competition,  and,  that  wherever  practicable,  the  number 
f  contracts  to  be  awarded  should  be  reduced  to  as  few  as  possible.  In  July,  1887, 
a  the  case  of  some  buildings  twenty  to  twenty -five  contracts  existed,  thus  dupli- 
ating  drawings,  specifications,  legal  and  clerical  service,  which  could  have  been 
voided  had  a  number  of  the  branches  of  work  been  concentrated  under  fewer 


I 


333  THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

contracts.  At  different  buildings  throughout  the  country,  twenty-two  draftsmen 
■were  engaged,  being  paid  on  an  average  of  five  dollars  ($5.00)  per  day.  This 
expense  was  discontinued,  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done  without  detriment  to  the 
Government  interests,  and  thereafter  the  work  in  question  was  performed  in  this 
office,  without  necessitating  any  increase  in  force.  This  Is  roundly  placed  at  one 
hundred  dollars  ($100)  per  day,  and  notwithstanding  this  change  the  number  of 
draftsmen  now  emplcf^ed  is  less,  by  seven,  than  the  number  employed  in 
July,  1887. 

A  saving  also  amounting  to  over  two  hundred  dollars  ($200)  per  day  was  effected^ 
at  the  close  of  the  building  season  of  1887,  by  the  retrenchment  instituted  in  the 
contingent  expense  at  buildings  being  erected  at  various  points. 

That  the  labor  and  consequent  cost  for  the  preparation  of  drawings  and 
specifications  under  previous  methods  was  largely  in  excess  of  that  under  the 
present  system,  must  be  apparent  when  it  is  known  that  for  four  buildings  under 
the  first  method  three  hundred  and  eighty  drawings  and  fifty-one  specifications 
were  prepared,  while  under  the  present  method  for  four  buildings  of  nearly  cor- 
responding cost  only  eighty- six  drawings  and  four  specifications  are  required.  This 
comparison  has  excluded  those  cases  where  the  drawings  were  prepared  largely  in 
excess  of  the  average  here  taken,  as  for  instance,  for  the  Baltimore  building,  where 
four  hundred  and  four  drawings  were  prepared,  and  for  the  Pittsburg  building  two 
hundred  and  seventy- nine.. 

SHARPER  COMPETITION  AND  QUICKER  WORK. 

To  secure  keener  competition  in  submitting  proposals,  a  wider  publicity  was 
given  to  invitations  for  tenders,  and  instead  of  publishing  advertisements  in  a  local 
paper  and  in  one  or  two  building  periodicals,  as  formerly,  the  office  has  now  the 
use,  free  of  cost,  of  the  advertising  columns  of  eighteen  building  papers  published 
in  all  points  of  the  country,  and  this  is  supplemented  by  paid  advertisements  iu 
seven  other  building  publications,  in  the  daily  papers  of  some  of  the  large  'Cities, 
and  in  the  local  papers  where  the  work  is  to  be  done.  In  furtherance  of  this 
end,  also,  the  Architect's  office  has  secured  the  co-operation  of  forty-three  building 
exchanges  located  in  all  the  principal  cities,  and  as  a  result  where  three  or  four 
proposals  were  formerly  received  the  number  has  increased  in  one  case  as  high  as 
forty- four. 

One  very  important  factor  in  the  cost  of  public  buildings  has  been  the  long 
time  expended  in  prosecuting  the  work,  and  this,  in  many  cases,  has  arisen  from 
the  variety  of  contracts  entered  into,  each  contractor  being  in  great  measure  at 
the  mercy  of  other  contractors ;  but  this  has  now  been  reduced  to  zero  by  making 
one  contractor  responsible  for  the  rapid  prosecution  of  all  work  and  holding 
liable  for  any  expense  incident  to  the  proper  superintendence  of  the  work,  sul 
quent  to  the  date  stipulated  in  the  contract  as  the  date  for  completion. 

BUILDINGS  NOW   UNDER  CONSTRUCTION. 

During  the  past  year  work  has  been  commenced  on  seventeen  buildings 
buildings  have  been  completed,  and  there  are  now  twelve  buildings  in  so  far 
advanced  a  condition  as  to  warrant  the  statement  that  they  will  be  completed  befoj 
the  date  of  the  next  annual  report  in  September. 


I 


THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.  333 


The  work  of  the  architects  for  the  past  three  years  is  shown  by  the  following 
statement: 

1887.     Number  of  buildings  commenced 7 

"  "  "  completed 4 

1886.         "  "         commenced 13 

^^>      '•  "  completed. 6 

^K   1885.  "  commenced 10 

^B  completed 3 

As  an  evidence  of  the  advanced  condition  of  the  work  in  the  Architect's  ofiBce,  it 
may  be  stated,  that  plans  are  now  being  prepared,  as  a  basis  for  the  invitations  for 
proposals  for  work,  before  the  expiration  of  the  present  session  of  Congress  which 
authorized  the  erpenditure. 


n. 

VETO  OP  PUBLIC  BUILDING  BILLS. 

THE    CARE  MANIFESTED    BY  THE  PRESIDENT  WHEN   DEALING   WITH  NEW  COURT 

■  HOUSES  AND  POSTOFFICES  IN  SMALL  PLACES. 

For  a  long  time  the  method  of  making  appropriations  for  the  erection  of  pub- 
lic buildings  has  led  to  many  and  serious  abuses.  Representatives  from  different 
sections,  States  or  districts  would  practically  club  together  for  the  purpose  of  putting 
up  expensive  public  buildings  in  towns  and  villages  where  the  requirements  of  the 
public  business  were  not  such  as  to  demand  or  justify  such  an  expenditure  from  any 
conceivable  point  of  view.  The  appropriation  of  sums  ranging  from  $50,000  to 
$100,000  have  in  some  cases  been  made,  and  in  many  more  asked,  for  buildings 
where  the  annual  rental  of  offices  for  the  transaction  of  the  public  business  did  not 
exceed  $700  or  $900. 

t;  THE  LOG-ROLLING  OP  PUBLIC  BUILDING  BILLS. 

By  the  judicious  use  of  a  system  of  log-rolling,  not  peculiar  to  the  political 
institutions  of  this  country,  members  from  every  district  where  the  people  of 
some  ambitious  county-seat  town  had  sighed  vainly  for  a  postoffice  building  would 
join  together  in  passing  the  first  public  building  bill,  perhaps  one  of  merit,  which 
could  secure  a  favorable  report  from  a  committee.  Then  the  promoter  of  this 
bill  would  feel  a  sense  of  obligation  which  could  only  be  discharged  by  voting  for 
every  other  bill  in  the  districts  of  the  men  who  had  helped  him.  In  fact,  the  pas- 
sage of  bills  for  erecting  public  buildings  has  very  well  illustrated  the  old  ditty  of 
avy  Crocket,  in  which  he  represents  his  neighbor  as  saying  to  him ; 

"Tickle  me,  Davy,  tickle  me  true. 
And  in  my  turn  I'll  tickle  you  too." 


^84  THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

HOW  IT  WAS  RECOGNIZED    BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 

President  Cleveland  early  recognized  the  bad  results  of  such  a  policy,  and  with 
Tiis  usual  courage  he  vetoed  a  number  of  the  bills  passed  at  the  first  session  of  the 
forty -ninth  Congress.  He  laid  down  the  general  principles  as  a  guide  in  his  work 
that  expensive  buildiags  ought  not  to  be  erected  in  small  towns  where  the  Govern- 
ment had  no  business  except  a  postoffice ;  that  appropriations  ought  not  to  be  made 
for  this  purpose  where  the  interest  on  the  money  was  greatly  in  excess  of  the  annual 
rental  already  paid  for  good  accommodations,  and  that  it  was  scarcely  good  policy 
for  the  Federal  Government  to  undertake  the  work  of  putting  up  a  building  to  be  a 
decoration  to  a  given  town  unless  the  demands  of  the  public  business  were  such  as  to 
justify  it. 

He  also  found  that  in  many  cases  bills  would  be  passed  fixing  a  limit,  to  which 
It  was  never  intended  to  adhere,  and  that  as  the  result  the  year  after  the  first  bill 
has  passed  a  new  one  would  be  enacted  into  law  which  increased  the  limit  of  cost 
and  thus  led  the  Government  to  make  an  investment  of  a  sum  of  money  larger  out 
of  all  proportion  than  the  demands  of  the  public  business  could  reasonably  justify. 

Applying  this  general  principle  to  the  actual  conditions  as  shown  in  the  towns 
affected  by  the  bills  sent  him  by  Congress,  he  had,  before  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year 
1887-8,  vetoed  fourteen  bills  making  appropriations  for  public  buildings  in  various 
sections  of  the  country,  North  and  South,  East  and  West. 

MOKEY  NOT  TO  BE  SPENT  FOR  UNNECESSABY  ORNAMENT. 

In  one  of  the  first  of  these  veto  messages  he  said  : 

So  far  as  I  am  informed  the  patrons  of  the  postoffice  are  fairly  well  accommodated  in 
a  building  which  is  rented  by  the  Government  at  the  rate  of  eight  hundred  dollars  per 
annum;  and  though  the  postmaster  naturally  certifies  that  he  and  his  fourteen  employes 
require  much  more  spacious  surroundings,  I  have  no  doubt  he  and  they  can  be  induced  to 
continue  to  serve  the  Government  in  its  present  quarters. 

The  public  buildings  now  in  process  of  cctistruction,  numbering  eighty,  involving  con- 
•stant  supervision,  are  all  the  building  projects  which  the  Government  ought  to  have  on 
hand  at  one  time,  unless  a  very  palpable  necessity  exists  for  an  increase  in  the  number. 
The  multiplication  of  these  structures  involves  not  only  the  appropriations  made  t'ir  their 
completion,  but  great  expense  in  their  care  and  preservation  thereafter. 

While  a  fine  Government  building  is  a  desirable  ornament  to  any  town  s>r  city,  and 
while  the  securing  of  an  appropriation  therefor  is  often  considered  as  an  illustration  of  zeal 
and  activity  in  the  interest  of  a  constituency,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  expenditure  of 
public  money  for  such  a  purpose  should  depwxd  upon  the  necessity  of  such  a  building  for 
public  uses.  _ 

PAYING  TOO  DEAR  FOR  THK  VTHISTLE. 

In  another  he  laid  down  the  rule  in  the  case  of  an  appropriation  made  forj 
place  in  Ohio  of  no  considerable  importance : 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Government  has  any  public  department  or  business  which ; 
should  quarter  at  Dayton  except  its  post-office  and  internal-revenue  office.  The  former  i 
represented  as  employing  ten  clerks,  sixteen  regular  and  two  substitute  letter  carriers, 
two  special-delivery  employes,  who,  I  suppose,  are  boys,  only  occasionally  in  actual  servi( 
I  do  not  understand  that  the  present  post-office  quarters  are  either  insufficient  or  incoi 
venient.  By  a  statement  prepared  by  the  present  postmaster  it  appears  that  they  are  rem 
by  the  Government  for  a  period  of  ten  years  from  the  fifteenth  day  of  October,  1883,  at 
annual  rent  of  twenty-nine  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  which  includes  the  cost  of  heat 
the  same. 


THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS.  335. 

With  only  these  two  offices  to  provide  for,  I  am  not  satisfied  that  the  expenditure  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  their  accommodation,  as  proposed  by  this  bill, 
is  in  accordance  with  sound  business  principles,  or  consistjeut  with  that  economy  in  public 
affairs  which  has  been  promised  to  the  people. 

LOOKING   TEN   YEARS  INTO   THE   FUTURE. 

Concerning  another  in  Massachusetts  he  says  with  a  grim  humor  character- 
istic of  the  man : 

Congressional  tiction  in  ite  favor  appears  to  be  based,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  upon  repre- 
sentations oonoerning  the  population  of  the  town  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  erect  the 
building  and  the  increase  in  such  population,  the  aumber  of  railroad  trains  arriving  and 
departing  daily,  and  various  other  it  ms  calculated  to  demonstrate  the  importance  of  the 
city  select  d  for  Federal  decoration.  Theee  statements  are  supplemented  by  a  report  from 
the  postmaster,  s-^tting  forth  that  his  postal  receipts  are  increasing,  giving  the  number  of 
square  feet  now  occupied  by  his  oihoe,  the  amovmt  of  rent  paid,  and  the  numberlof  his. 
employes. 

This  bill,  unlike  others  of  its  class  which  seek  to  provide  a  place  for  a  number  of  Federal 
offices,  simply  authorizes  the  construction  of  a  building  for  the  accommodation  of  the  postr 
office  alone.  The  report  of  the  postmaster  differs  also  in  this  case  from  those  which  are 
usually  furnished,  inasmuch  as  it  is  ther  in  distinctly  stated  that  the  space  now  furnished 
for  his  office  is  suffici*  nt  for  its  pr  sent  operations.  He  adds,  however,  that  from  present, 
indications  there  will  be  a  large  increase  in  the  business  of  the  office  during  the  next  ten 
years. 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  there  ia  no  necessity  for  the  expenditure  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  the  amount  limited  in  this  bill,  or  any  other  sum,  for  the  construction  of 

proposed  building  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  Government, 


^K!e 


AN  ATTACK  UPON  THE  GOOD  FAITH  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

In  another  he  reveals  some  of  the  methods  resorted  to  in  the  localities  to  be 
fected,  by  saying: 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Federal  business  at  this  point  requires  other  •ooommodation 
except  for  the  postoffioe  located  there. 

As  usual  In  such  cases,  the  postmaster  reports,  in  reply  to  inquiries,  that  his  present 
quarters  are  inadequate,  and,  as  usual,  it  appears  that  the  postal  business  is  Increasing. 
The  rent  paid  for  the  rooms  or  building  in  which  the  postoffioe  is  kept  is  eleren  hundred, 
dollars  per  annum. 

I  have  been  informed  since  this  bill  has  been  in  my  hands  that  last  spring  a  building 
was  erected  at  Lafayette  with  special  reference  to  its  use  lor  the  postoffioe,  and  that  a  part 
of  it  was  leased  by  the  Government  for  that  purpose  for  the  term  of  five  years.  Upon  the 
faith  of  such  lease  the  premises  thus  rented  were  fitted  up  and  furnished  by  the  owner  of 
the  building  in  a  manner  especially  adapted  to  postal  uses,  and  an  account  of  such  fitting 
up  and  furnishing  is  before  me,  showing  the  expense  of  the  same  to  have  been  more  than, 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 

In  view  of  such  new  and  recent  arrangements  made  by  the  Government  for  the  trans- 
action of  its  postal  business  at  this  place,  it  seems  that  the  proposed  expenditure  for  the 
tjtion  of  a  building  for  that  purpose  is  hardly  necessary  or  justifiable. 
He  elaborates  the  same  idea  more  fully  in  another  case : 
The  usual  statement  is  made  in  support  of  this  bill  setting  forth  the  growth  of  the 
r  where  it  Is  proposed  to  locate  the  building  and  the  amount  and  variety  of  the  business 
ch  is  there  transacted.  And  the  postmaster  in  stereotyped  phrase  represents  the  desira- 
bility of  increased  accommodation  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  under  his  charge. 

But  lam  thoroughly  convinced  that  there  is  no  present  necessity  for  the  expenditure 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  any  purpose  connected  with  the  public  business  at 
this  place. 


ANOTHER  CASE   OP  TOO   GREAT  COST. 


836  THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

The  annual  rent  now  paid  for  the  postofiBce  is  thirteen  hundred  dollars.  The  interest, 
at  three  per  cent.,  upon  the  amount  now  asked  for  this  new  building  ia  three  thousand  dol* 
lars.  As  soon  as  it  is  undertaken,  the  pay  of  a  superintendent  of  its  construction  will 
begin,  and  after  its  completion  the  compensation  of  janitors  and  other  expenses  of  its 
maint<^nance  will  follow. 

The  plan  now  pursued  for  the  erection  of  public  buildintrsis  in  my  opinion  very  objec- 
tionable. They  are  often  built  where  they  are  not  needed,  of  dimensions  and  at  a  cost 
entirely  disproportionate  to  any  public  use  to  which  they  can  be  applied,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, they  frequently  serve  more  to  demonstrate  the  activity  and  pertinency  of  those 
who  represent  localities  desiring  this  kind  of  decoration  at  public  expense,  than  to  meet 
any  necessity  of  the  Government. 

EXTRAVAGANT  DEMANDS  FOB  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

In  another  he  lets  in  some  light  on  the  great  demands  made  upon  the  country 
by  the  bills  pending  in  Congress,  saying : 

The  fact  was  communicated  to  me,  early  in  the  present  session  of  the  Congress,  that  the 
aggregate  sum  of  the  appropriations  contained  in  bills  for  the  erection  and  extension  of 
public  buildings,  which  had  up  to  that  time  been  referred  to  the  House  Committee  on  Pub- 
lic Buildings  and  Grounds,  was  about  thirty-seven  millions  of  dollars. 

Of  course  this  fact  would  have  no  particular  relevancy  if  all  the  buildings  asked  for 
were  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  public  business,  as  long  as  we  have  the  money  to  pay 
for  them.  But  inasmuch  as  a  large  number  of  the  buildings  proposed  are  unnecessary  and 
their  erection  would  be  wasteful  and  extravagant,  beside  furnishing  precedents  for  further 
and  more  extended  reckless  expenditures  of  a  like  character,  it  seems  to  me  that  applica- 
tions for  new  and  expensive  public  buildings  should  be  carefully  scrutinized. 

He  enforces  this  same  idea  again  in  another  message : 

Not  a  little  legislation  has  lately  been  perfected  and  very  likely  more  will  be  necessary 
to  increase  miscalculated  appropriations  for,  and  correct  blunders  in,  the  construction  of 
many  of  the  public  buildings  now  in  process  of  erection. 

"While  this  does  not  furnish  a  good  reason  for  disapproving  the  erection  of  other  build- 
ings where  actually  necessary,  it  induces  close  scrutiny,  and  gives  rise  to  the  earnest  wish 
that  new  projects  for  public  buildings  shall  for  the  present  be  limited  to  suoh  as  are  required 
by  the  most  pressing  necessities  of  the  Government's  business. 

THE   DISTRIBUTIVE  IDEA  CONSIDERED. 

The  locality  idea,  the  argument  that  one  section  must  have  a  postoffice  build- 
ing because  it  has  not  had  its  share,  is  thus  presented  in  another  message: 

It  is  further  stated  in  a  communication  from  the  promoter  of  this  bill  that  "there  Is  not 
a  Federal  public  building  in  the  State  of  Ohio  east  of  the  line  drawn  on  the  accompanying 
map  from  Cleveland  through  Columbus  to  Cincinnati;  and  when  wealth  and  population  and 
the  needs  of  the  public  service  are  considered,  the  distribution  of  public  buildings  in  the 
State  is  an  unfair  one." 

Here  is  disclosed  a  theory  of  expenditure  for  public  buildings  which  I  can  hardly  think 
should  be  adopted.  If  an  application  for  the  erection  of  such  a  building  is  to  be  determined 
by  the  distance  between  its  proposed  location  and  another  public  building,  or  upon  the 
allegation  that  a  certain  division  of  a  State  is  without  a  Government  building,  or  that  the 
distribution  of  these  buildings  in  a  particular  State  is  unfair,  we  shall  rapidly  be  led  to  an 
entire  disregard  of  the  considerations  of  necessity  and  public  need  which  it  seems  to 
should  alone  justify  the  expenditture  of  public  funds  for  such  a  purpose. 

The  care  and  protection  which  the  Government  owes  to  the  people  do  not  embi 
the  grant  of  public  buildings  to  decorate  thriving  and  prosperous  cities  and  villages,  not 
should  such  buildings  be  erected  upon  any  principle  of  fair  distributions  among  localities. 

The  Government  is  not  an  almoner  of  gifts  among  the  people,  but  an  instrumentali^ 
by  which  the  people's  affairs  shou^  be  ccmiducted  upon  business  principles,  regulated 
the  public  needs. 


11 


THE  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 


337 


QUESTIONING  THE  LATEST    DIRECTORY  STATISTICS. 

He  does  not  always  accept  the  hopeful  estimates  of  the  promoters  of  such 
schemes  as  to  the  population  of  a  given  town,  but  subjects  them  to  an  analysis 
which  is  somewhat  damaging,  as  the  following  will  show: 

The  report  of  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  whom  this  bill  was 
referred,  states  that  by  the  census  of  1880  the  population  of  Sioux  City  was  nearly  eight 
thousand,  and  that  by  other  enumerations  since  made  its  population  would  seem  to  exceed 
twenty-three  thousand.  It  is  further  stated  in  the  report  that  for  the  accommodation  of 
this  population  the  city  contains  three  hundred  and  ninety-three  brick  and  two  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  eighty-four  frame  buildings. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  consideration  of  the  merits  of  this  bill  the  necessities  of  the 
Government  should  control  the  question,  and  that  It  should  be  decided  as  a  business  propo- 
sition depending  upon  the  needs  of  a  Government  building  at  the  point  proposed  in  order 
to  do  the  Government  work. 

This  greatly  reduces  the  value  of  statistics  showing  population,  extent  of  business, 
prospective  growth,  and  matters  of  that  kind,  which  though  exceedingly  interesting,  do 
not  always  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  the  expenditure  of  a  large  sum  of  money  for  a 
public  building. 


MB.  thurman's  public  eecord. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
MR.  THURMAN^S  PUBLIC  RECORD. 

VIEWS  OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC    CANDIDATE   FOR    VICE-PRESIDENT   OX 
QUESTIONS   OF  IMPORTANCE. 

A  Progressive    Demoerat — Grounded   in    the  Faith — The^ 

Services  of  a  Ripe  Jurist  and   Fearless 

Public  Servant. 


I. 

Allen  G.  Thurman,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President,  is  no  political! 
tyro,  no  untried  publicist,  no  statesman  of  a  day  sprung  into  notoriety  by  the 
accident  of  a  passing  occasion.  For  thirty  years  he  has  been  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  his  party  in  the  third  State  of  the  Union  ;  and  during  twelve  years  of 
service  in  the  Senate  he  was  by  common  consent  accorded  a  chief  place  among  the 
few  men  of  acknowledged  first  rank  in  that  body,  by  reason  of  his  learning  as  a 
lawyer,,  his  wisdom  and  patriotism  as  a  statesman,  his  power  as  a  debater  and  his- 
purity  as  a  man. 

He  was  first  chosen  to  Congress  in  1844,  and  took  his  seat  when  Clay,  Calhoun,. 
Webster,  Benton  and  other  Senatorial  giants  were  in  the  maturity  of  their  powers. 
The  tariff  of  1846,  the  Mexican  war  and  the  Oregon  question  were  some  of  the 
subjects  of  disputation  during  his  single  Congressional  term.  He  served  on 
Judiciary  Committee  in  the  House,  of  which  body  Dr.  John  W.  Davis,  of  Indii 
was  Speaker. 

He  supported  the  administration  and  its  conduct  of  the  Mexican  war. 
made  a  speech  on  the  Oregon  issue,  and  stood  firm  with  Stephen  A.  Dougl 
Andrew  Johnson  and  Howell  Cobb  against  the  abandonment  by  most  of  his  Der 
cratic  colleagues  of  the  bold  position  they  had  before  taken  for  "Fifty -four  Foi 
or  Fight" 

In  the  division  of  the  Northern  Democrats  over  the  •*  Wilmot  Proviso**  he  vol 
with  Hannibal  Hamlin,  Preston  King,  Simon  Cameion,  and  John  Wentworth,  of 
his  party,  in  favor  of  that  momentous  amendment   to  the   proposed   executij 
grant. 


MK.  THDRMAN'S  public  RECORD.  339 

In  the  Douglas-Buchanan  party  differences  he  opposed  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  and  advocated  non-interference  of  the  Federal  Government  for 
slavery  in  the  Territories.  He  was  against  the  Lecompton  Constitution  for  Kansas, 
and  supported  Douglas  for  President  in  1860,  though  never  accepting  his  doctrine 
of  "squatter  sovereignty."  He  strenuously  antagonized  the  doctrine  of  secession 
and  loyally  supported  the  Union  cause.  He  believed  in  the  vigorous  prosecution 
of  the  war,  though  he  never  justified  the  resort  to  unconstitutional  means  nor  recog- 
nized the  necessity  of  imperiling  the  Union  to  save  it.  He  had  but  two  logical 
alternatives  as  to  the  relation  of  the  seceded  States  to  the  general  Government :  If 
they  were  out  of  the  Union  the  North  was  at  war  with  them  and  every  loyal  man 
must  stand  by  the  flag ;  if  they  were  in  the  Union,  they  were  in  a  state  of  insurrec- 
tion that  must  be  suppressed. 

VIEWS  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

From  a  speech  which  he  made  in  one  of  the  Ohio  campaigns  about  the  time  ol 
his  election  to  the  United  States  Senate,  an  extract  on  the  tariff  issue  will  show  how 
clearly  he  foreshadowed  the  issue  of  the  campaign  in  which  he  has  come  to  be  one 
of  the  standard  bearers  in  1888. 

On  September  7th,  1868,  he  said : 
I  desire  to  call  your  attention,  first,  to  the  subject  of  the  tariff.  What  is  the 
tariff?  It  is  a  duty  or  tax  levied  by  the  Government  upon  goods  imported  into  the 
Yniied  States.  When  no  higher  than  was  required  for  the  purposes  of  revenue,  it 
has  always  been  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  by  the  people.  They  have  generally  pre- 
ferred it  to  any  other  mode  of  taxation,  and  they  have  not  objected  to  so  arranging 
a  revenue  tariff  as  to  afford  incidental  protection  or  benefit  to  our  own  manufactu-- 
rers.  But  when  a  tariff,  like  that  now  in  force,  is  framed,  not  for  revenue  purposes, 
but  to  give  one  class  of  capitalists  a  monopoly  of  the  market,  or  at  least  to  enhance 
the  price  of  everything  they  make  and  thus  burden  the  consumers,  it  becomes  seri 
ously  oppressive.  It  is  a  tax  that  benefits  no  one  but  the  favored  capitalist.  It  does 
not  benefit  the  Government,  for  a  greater  revenue  would  be  produced  by  a  lower 
tax.  When  a  tariff  is  exorbitant,  importations  fall  off,  the  revenue  fails,  and  the 
Government  loses. 

But  the  favored  monopolist,  having  the  market  substantially  to  himself,  adds 
to  the  price  of  his  commodities,  and  the  consumers  suffer.  Whether  they  buy 
imported  or  domestic  goods,  in  the  price  thev  pay  for  them  they  pay  the  tax  levied 
by  the  Government  If  the  goods  be  imported,  the  importer  pays  the  tax  and  adds 
it,  with  a  per  cent,  of  interest  or  profit,  to  the  price  when  he  sells  to  the  retail  mer- 
chant, and  the  latter  adds  to  that  his  per  cent  of  interest  or  profit  when  he  sells  to 
the  consumer,  who  is  the  man  that  in  the  end  pays  the  tax,  and  the  profits  or  interest 
theaeon.  If  the  goods  be  not  imported,  yet  the  domestic  manufacturer  raises  the 
price  of  his  goods  to  that  of  the  importations,  and  so  the  consumer  pays  the  amount 
of  the  tax,  while  the  Government  gets  not  one  cent  of  it  Now,  that  is  precisely 
what,  is  going  on  every  day.  There  is  not  an  article  you  wear,  the  price  of  which  is 
not  enhanced  by  the  enormous  tariff  duties  levied  by  our  Government." 

n. 

0»  STATE  RIl&H'CS  AND  FEDERAL  POWERS. 

In  a  speech  In  th«  S^iate^  January  23, 1872,  Mr,  Thurman  gave  very  lucid  expo- 
sition of  the  i^odeaTi  Democratic  idpa  of  tfce  Constitutional  relation  of  State  Rights 
to  Federal  powers,  when  he  said  : 

Ml-.  President,  I  once  more  say  that,  although  I  luave  never  gone  to  any  such 
length  as  some  State-rights  men  have  gone  in  d^udng  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of 
seee^on,  and  haTB  never  believed  and  do  not  ^liev,e  in  that  doctrine,  yet  I  am,  and 
23 


I 


840  MR.  thurman's  public  record. 

hope  I  shall  die,  a  State  rights  man.  I  am  so  because  I  believe  that  the  existence 
of  the  States  and  the  existence  of  local  self-government  are  essential  to  freedom  and 
to  prosperity  in  this  country. 

If  there  is  no  such  thing  as  State  rights,  how  comes  it  that  the  two  distinguished 
Senators  from  Vermont  are  here,  coming  from  a  State  with  not  one-tenth,  not  one- 
twelfth,  very  little  more  than  one-thirteenth,  of  the  population  of  the  State  of  New 
York  ?  How  comes  it  that  with  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  only,  there  are 
two  Senators  on  this  floor  from  Vermont,  while  New  York,  with  more  than  four 
millions,  has  but  two?  How  comes  that,  sir,  if  there  be  no  such  thing  as  State 
rights?  What  right  have  they  to  make  local  law  for  Ohio?  Why  should  New 
York,  with  her  four  millions  of  people  and  only  two  Senators  on  this  floor,  have  her 
local  law  made  here  by  the  votes  of  twelve  Senators  from  New  England,  when  all 
New  England  has  not  a  population  equal  to  hers  ?  How  is  it  that  twelve  votes  shall 
be  received  here  from  New  England  to  make  local  law  for  Missouri  ?  In  that  local 
law  New  England  has  no  interest  whatsoever,  while  that  great  State,  soon  to  have 
a  population  equal  to  that  of  all  of  New  England,  and  now  with  a  population  half 
as  great,  has  but  two  Senators  on  this  floor?  What  is  it  that  gives  this  unequal  rep- 
resentation in  the  Senate  but  the  doctrine  of  State  rights ;  nay,  sir,  to  go  further, 
but  the  doctrine  of  the  original  sovereignty  of  the  States  ? 

I  am  not  complaining  of  this.  I  am  willing  to  stand  by  this  inequality  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  so  long  as  you  stand  by  the  constitution  as  its  framers 
intended  it  to  be.  So  long  as  you  do  not  trample  State  governments  out  of  exist- 
ence, so  long  as  you  let  local  legislation  be  the  subject  of  local  State  law  alone,  so 
long  as  you  do  not  interfere  and  usurp  the  powers  that  properly  belong  to  the  States, 
I  greet  with  arms  wide  open  the  Senators  from  the  smallest  State  of  this  Union; 
nay,  I  will  take  the  Senators  from  Nevada  into  my  embrace,  although  their  whole 
State  does  not  contain  as  many  people  as  the  little  city  in  which  I  live;  I  will  take 
them  and  welcome  them  here  so  long  as  you  leave  to  the  State  governments  that 
power  which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  intended  they  should  have,  and  which, 
in  my  judgment,  is  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  free  institutions  at  all.  But  if 
you  will  strike  down  that  power,  if  you  will  abolish  local  legislation,  if  you  will 
annihilate  the  States,  if  you  will  make  them  mere  departments  of  a  centralized  Gov- 
ernment, if  you  will  make  them  the  mere  counties  of  a  great  State,  then  I  say  to  Sen- 
ators the  time  will  come  when  that  inequality  in  the  Senate  will  not  be  submitted  to 
longer.  I  do  not  want  to  see  that  time.  I  want  to  see  no  such  question  raised.  1 
want  to  see  the  Constitution  administered  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  framed.  I 
want  the  General  Government  sufficiently  strong  to  protect  us  against  all  foreign 
aggression.  I  want  it  to  be  sufficiently  strong  to  protect  us  in  the  enjoyment  ot 
peace  in  this  country  so  far  as  that  function  is  devolved  upon  it  by  the  Constitution. 
I  want  to  believe  that  with  all  ita  blessings,  it  will  endure  for  all  time  to  come,  if 
anything  of  earthly  institution  can  so  long  endure.  But  I  do  firmly  believe  that  it 
is  precisely  the  institution  of  State  governments,  it  is  precisely  the  allotment  of  local 
legislation  to  a  local  power,  which  enables  this  Republic  to  spread  itself  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  and  from  the  arctic  zone  down  to  the  torrid.  Strike  that  out  of  it,  strike 
its  local  self-government  out  of  the  system,  and  it  will  go  the  way  that  all  consoli- 
dated, centralized  governments  have  gone  in  all  time  past ;  first  a  despotism  unen- 
durable, and  next  a  rending'into  fragments  more  numerous  far  than  the  States  of  this 
union  now  are. 

m. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  CENTRALIZATIOIT. 

In  a  previous  campaign  speech  he  had  thus  forcibly  set  forth  the  dangers  of 
the  centralizing  tendencies  which  were  at  this  period  controlling  th^  legislation  of 
the  country : 

I  am  opposed  to  the  centralization  of  all  powers  in  the  Federal  GovernmenV 
for  reasons  that  can  be  but  briefly  and  imperfectly  stated  in  the  proper  limits  of  ^ 
speech. 


MR.  THURMAN's  public  RECORD.  341 

First.  I  am  opposed  to  it  because  it  would  be  destructive  of  the  existence  of 
the  Republic.  The  Republic  could  not,  in  my  judgment,  long  endure  under  such  a 
system.  It  would  break  down  under  its  own  weight.  There  never  was  a  greater 
mistake  than  to  suppose  that  a  government  of  despotic  powers  is  alone  able  to  gov- 
ern a  great  extent  of  territory.  The  very  reverse  of  the  proposition  is  nearer  the 
truth.  Vast  monarchies  have  existed,  covering  great  portions  of  the  earth,  and 
«eeming  for  a  time  to  be  indestructible,  yet  how  few  of  them  remain  ?  And  where 
they  yet  exist,  how  miserable,  comparatively,  is  the  condition  of  the  people!  I  am 
not  speaking  of  compact  countries  of  limited  extent,  in  which  centralized  power  is 
possible  and  may  long  endure.  Nor  am  I  speaking  of  people  who  have  no  aspira- 
tion lor  freedom  or  for  a  better  state  of  mental,  material  and  social  well-being. 
What  I  speak  of  is  a  territory  similar  to  our  own,  and  a  people  loving  freedom  and 
seeking  prosperity.  And  it  is  in  reference  to  such  a  territory  with  such  a  people, 
that  I  affirm  it  to  be  an  impossibility  that  a  great  centralized  government  can  long 
rule  over  it.  Either  the  government  will  undergo  a  change^  or  the  territory  will  be 
rent  into  pieces  and  separate  and  independent  governments  be  set  up  on  the  frag- 
ments. 

This,  then,  is  my  first  objection  to  such  a  centralized  government  as  I  have  sup- 
posed. Its  inevitable  result  would  be,  in  my  opinion,  the  disintegration  of  the 
Republic  at  no  very  distant  day. 

Secondly,  But  were  it  possible  for  such  a  government  to  rule  this  country,  what 
would  be  its  effects  ?  We  have  a  territory  of  vast  extent,  stretching  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  with  a  great  diversity  of  climate,  soils,  productions,  arts,  industries,  occupa- 
tions, capital,  and  wages.  The  diversity  of  peoples  is  not  less  remarkable.  And 
then  the  people  of  each  State  have  grown  up  under  their  own  State  laws,  to  which 
their  affections  are  bound  by  the  force  of  habit,  and  because  they  are  the  enactments 
of  their  own  free  will.  Add  to  these  considerations  the  difference  in  social  observ- 
ances and  customs,  and  conceive,  if  you  can,  of  a  country  in  which  local  self-gov- 
ernment is  more  indispensable  to  the  interest  or  happiness  of  the  people,  or  in  which 
it  would  be  more  impossible,  without  a  crushing  tyranny,  to  subject  the  whole  com- 
munity to  an  uniform,  iron  rule. 

IV. 

THE  ELECTIVE  FRANCHISB. 

In  the  United  States  Senate  in  December,  1878,  when  Mr.  Blame  mtroduced  a 
resolution  inquiring  into  interferences  with  the  free  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise 
Air.  Thurman,  with  most  unsparing  severity,  pointed  out  that  the  object  of  the 
inquiry  was  not  to  vindicate  the  right  of  suffrage  throughout  the  Union,  but  to 
revive  sectionalism,  to  arouse  hatred  in  one  portion  of  the  country  against  the 
defenseless  people  of  another.  On  the  broad  subject  of  the  elective  franchise,  Mr. 
Thurman  said : 

I  am  not  here  to-day  to  justify  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  any  man,  however 
humble  he  may  be,  whatever  may  be  the  color  of  his  skin,  whatever  may  be  the 
poverty  of  his  situation.  I  am  here  for  no  such  purpose  as  that.  If  I  know  my  own 
heart,  I  am  as  much  in  favor  of  respecting  the  rights  of  every  man  under  the  ()on- 
stitutioQ  as  the  Senator  from  Maine  or  any  other  Senator  on  this  floor ;  but  I  do 
know  that  property,  intehigence,  education  will  assert  their  influence  everywhere  on 
the  face  of  this  globe. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  let  me  say  one  word  more  on  this  subject.  Who  was  it 
that  drew  the  color  line  between  the  whites  and  the  negroes  in  the  South  ?  Let  me 
tell  you,  sir,  that  millions  of  money,  of  the  money  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
were  expended  by  your  agents,  the  Freedman's  Bureau  agents,  in  getting  every  col- 
ored man  in  the  South  into  loyal  leagues  and  swearing  him  never  to  vote  for  a  Dem- 
ocrat. That  is  where  the  color  line  began  to  be  drawn.  That  institution  which  took 
charge  of  the  negro  at  the  ballot-box,  took  charge  of  him  in  the  cotton  fleld,  took 


I 


342  MR,  thurman's  public  hecord. 

charge  of  him  everywhere,  supervised  every  contract  that  he  made,  allowed  no 
contract  to  be  made  unless  it  had  the  approval  of  the  agents  of  the  Freedman's 
Bureau,  and  spent  the  money  and  property  called  "captured  and  abandoned  prop- 
erty," that  was  surrendered  to  it,  and  many  millions  of  money  directly  appropriated 
out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States — it  was  that  Bureau  and  its  agents  who 
first  drew  the  color  line. 

And  yet,  when  the  white  people  of  the  South,  when  the  men  owning  the  prop- 
erty and  having  the  intelligence  and  the  education  at  the  South,  saw  their  very 
social  system  menaced  with  destruction,  saw  their  very  households  threatened  with 
ruin  under  an  inundation  of  barbarit-m  directed  by  the  most  unscrupulous  of  men, 
and  when  they  naturally  came  together,  when  they  naturally  united,  as  people 
menaced  with  danger  ever  will  unite,  then  a  cry  is  raised  against  "the  solid  South !" 
Ah,  Mr.  President,  it  will  not  do.  This  system  of  legislation  toward  the  South  that 
began  more  than  ten  years  ago  is  reaping  its  fruit;  and  it  is  not  by  additional  penal 
laws  that  you  can  better  the  condition  of  this  country.  What  does  the  Senator 
want  more  penal  laws  fOr  ?  Let  him  look  into  the  statute-book  on  this  very  sub- 
ject ;  let  him  read  the  statutes  in  regard  to  the  enforcement  of  the  rights  of  citizens 
to  vote,  and  I  defy  him  to  find  in  the  statute-books  of  any  civilized  countir  on  thia 
globe  a  body  of  laws  so  minute,  so  searching,  and  bristling  all  over  with  fines  and 
forfeitures  as  do  these  laws. 

But  that  is  not  all.  In  addition  to  that  you  have  a  vast  machinery  of  superin- 
tendents of  election,  Federal  supervisors,  marshals,  deputy  marshals,  paid  election- 
eers out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  under  the  guise  of  being  men  to 
preserve  the  freedom  of  suffrage  and  peace  at  elections.  You  have  a  whole  army  of 
them  provided  for  by  your  statutes.  What  more  does  the  Senator  want?  I  think  I 
see,  Mr.  President,  what  is  wanted.  I  think  this  is  a  note  which  is  sounded  to  the 
people  of  the  North  that  they  must  retrace  their  steps;  and  this  very  party  which 
required  two  amendments  to  the  Constitution  to  be  made  in  the  interest,  it  was  said, 
of  the  colored  population  of  the  South,  is  now  preparing  to  face  about,  retrace  its 
steps,  and  undo  what  it  did  only  a  few  years  ago.  Either  directly  or  by  indirection 
that  is  to  be  done.  Indeed,  I  thought,  while  the  Senator  from  Maine  was  making- 
his  speech,  how  much  reason  this  country,  and  especially  the  Southern  part  of  the 
country,  had  to  congratulate  itfeelf  that  the  next  House  of  Representatires  will  not 
have  a  majority  of  gentlemen  thinking  like  the  Senator  from  Maine,  for  if  he  i& 
right  in  what  he  said,  if  his  threats  are  not  mere  idle  wind—and  I  certainly  do  not 
attribute  any  such  thing  to  hUn — if  they  are  deep-seated  and  permanent  thoughts  of 
those  with  whom  he  acts,  then  I  should  be  prepared  to  see  a  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  which  there  was  a  Republican  majority  exclude  Southern  members  by  the 
score;  then  I  should  be  prepared  to  see  them  decide  themselves  that  the  right  of 
sufirage  was  prohibited  down  there  to  the  negro,  and  then  to  see  them  In  their 
supreme  authority,  aa  they  would  construe  it,  vote  out  the  chosen  RepesentatiTes  of 
the  South,  not  by  ones,  not  by  twos,  but  by  the  score.  It  is  a  fortunate  thing  for 
this  country,  it  is  a  fortunate  thing  for  our  free  institutions,  that  there  is  not  in  the 
present  House  of  Representatives,  and  will  not  be  in  the  next,  a  majority  thinking 
as  the  Senator  from  Maine  thinks,  and  willing  to  act  as  1  fear  he  is  willing  to  act. 

One  word  on  the  amendment  I  have  offered.  My  own  belief  Is  that  there  is  a 
far  greater  danger  that  menaces  our  institutions  and  menaces  the  right  of  suffrage 
in  this  country  than  that  to  which  the  Senator  from  Maine  has  alluded.  Sir,  the  most 
dishea-1;ening  thing  to  an  American  who  loves  free  institutions  is  to  se«  that  year  by 
year  the  corrnpt  Ujse  of  money  in  elections  is  making  iis  way  until  the  time  may 
come,  and  that  within  the  observation  of  even  the  oldest  man  here,  when  elections 
in  the  United  States  will  be  as  debauched  as  ever  they  were  in  the  worst  days  of  the 
old  borough  parliamentary  elections  in  the  mother  land, 

Mr.  Picesident,  there  te  the  great  danger.  The  question  is  whether  thia  country 
shall  be  govecmed  with  a  view  to  the  rights  of  every  man,  the  poor  man  as  well  m 
the  rich  man,  or  whether  the  longest  purse  shall  oairy  the  elections  and  this  be  a 
mere  plutocracy  instead  of  a  democratic  republia  That  is  the  danger;  and  that 
danger,  let  me  tell  my  friend,  exists  for  more  in  the  North  than  it  does  in  the  South. 
Sir,  if  he  wante  to  preserve  the  pnrity  of  electiona,  if  he  wants  to  have  this  Gknrem- 


MR.   THURMAN'8  public  RECORD.  343 

lent  perpetuated  as  a  system  that  can  be  honestly  administered  from  the  primary 
lection  to  the  signature  of  a  bill  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  let  him  set 
face  and  exercise  his  great  ability  in  stopping  the  flood-gates  of  corruption  that 
jreaten  to  deluge  the  ■whole  land  and  bring  republican  institutions  into  utter  ruin 
id  disgrace. 


ON  THE  CHINESE  QUESTION. 

Before  the  importation  of  Chinese  servile  laborers  in  great  hordes  upon  the 
Pacific  coast  had  become  a  subject  of  general  attention  and  discussion  throughout 
the  country,  Mr.  Thurman  had  expressed  his  views  and  taken  a  decided  position. 
As  early  as  September  10,  1870,  in  a  campaign  speech  at  Cincinnati,  more  thau  five 
years  before  the  Legislature  of  California  memorialized  Congress  on  the  subject,  Mr, 
Thurman ,  addressing  his  constituents,  said : 

I  do  not  think  that  a  large  Chinese  immigration  to  this  country  is  desirable.  I 
do  not  think  it  would  be  a  valuable  acquisition.  On  the  contrary,  I  think  it  would 
be  a  eeriously  disturbing  element  In  race,  civilization,  habits,  education,  and 
religion  the  Chinese  are  widely  different  from  our  people — so  different  as  to  form  a 
very  sinking  contrast.  The  European  immigrants  are  of  the  same  race,  religion, 
and  civilization  as  ourselves,  and  while  they  add  immensely  to  the  power  and  wealth 
of  the  Republic,  th^  do  not  seriously  disturb  the  substantial  homogeneity  of  our 
white  population.  Their  migration,  therefore,  benefits  the  country  and  deserves 
encouragement.  Not  so  with  the  Chinese.  They  will  never  become  one  people 
with  us.  Were  they  to  dwell  here  for  centuries  they  would  probably  be  as  distinct 
from  the  ivhite  race  as  are  gypsies  in  Spain  from  the  pure-blooded  Spaniard. 

We  are  destinea  to  bave  a  great  commerce  with  Asia,  and  the  natural  result 
will  be  the  voluntary  migration  from  that  continent  of  h  limited  number  of  business 
men.  I  see  no  objection  to  that.  It  will  not  interfere  with  our  mechanics  or  laborers, 
will  not  disturb  our  social  or  poliical  system,  while  it  will  tend,  by  an  increase  of 
our  commercial  connections,  to  add  to  our  commerce  and  wealth.  But  that  is  a 
wholly  different  thing  from  the  Coolie  immigration  that  is  now  going  on,  and  which, 
if  not  stopped,  must  alarmingly  increase.  This  immigration  is  in  no  proper  sense 
of  the  word  voluntary.  It  is  a  kind  of  Chinese  slave  trade.  Instead  of  an  indepen- 
dent, self-reliant  body  of  freemen,  it  introduces  a  horde  of  quasi  slaves,  working  at 
half  wages  by  the  command  of  a  taskmaster. 

And  this  leads  me  to  notice  a  statement  I  have  seen,  that  this  country  needs 
cheap  labor;  in  other  words,  men  who  will  work  for  low  wages;  that  there  is  a 
scarcity  of  laborers  here,  and,  therefore,  Chinese  laborers  should  be  imported  to 
supply  the  deficiency. 

I  do  not  concur  in  this  view.  My  opinion  is  that  we,  or  rather  our  posterity, 
are  much  more  likely  to  suffer  from  a  n  dundancy  of  population  than  from  a  dearth 
ot  it.  In  thirty  years  from  now  we  will  have  one  hundred  milliouaof  people, 
without  counting  a  Chinese  immigrant;  in  sixty  years  two  hundred  millions.  In 
one  hundred  years  probably  four  hundred  millions.  We  are  in  no  danger  of  a 
scarcity  of  laborers. 

Nor  do  I  think  that  low  wages  are  a  blessing  to  any  country.  In  the  opinion 
of  an  eminent  thinker.  Buckle,  low  wages  and  despotism  are  inseparable.  It  will 
be  found,  I  think,  that  the  freer  the  institutions  of  a  country  are,  the  greater  will  be 
the  tendency  to  fair  wages  for  labor.  Low  wages  are  mainly  owing  to  an  uneqal 
and  unfair  distribution  of  the  annual  production  of  wealth.  This  annual  produc- 
tion, which  is  nearly  all  the  result  of  labor,  is  being  constantly  divided  into  four 
parts,  rents  to  the  landlord,  interest  to  the  money  lender,  profits  to  the  lusiness 
man,  and  wages  to  the  laborer.  Now,  if  the  wages  be  low  it  must  be  because  the 
annual  product  is  small  and  all  classes  suffer,  or  because  that  product  is  unfairly 
distributed.  In  general,  the  latter  is  the  cause,  and  when  wages  are  very  low  the 
laborer  gets  but  a  bare  subsistence,  while  the  other  classes,  or  some  of  them,  accu- 


I 


844  MB.  thukman's  public  becobd. 

mulatc  enormous  wealth.  And  thus  society  becomes  divided  into  the  very  rich 
and  the  very  poor.  That  this  is  an  unfortunate  condition  for  a  country  is  too- 
obvious  to  need  remai-k,  and  that  its  tendency  is  hostile  to  free  institutions,  as  well 
as  to  the  material  comfort  of  the  people,  is  undoubtedly  true.  I  have  therefore  no 
sympathy  with  the  cry  for  cheap  labor  and  low  wages.  They  may  giv.-:  rise,  it  is 
true,  to  great  public  works  and  magnificent  structures,  but  the  benefit  is  gained  at 
the  expense  of  a  su5"ering  people.  The  Pyramids  are  striking  monuments  of  the 
pride  and  ostentation  of  kings,  but  they  are  more  striking  evidences  of  a  degraded 
condition  of  the  laboring  class.  That  country  is  likely  to  be  most  free  and  happy 
where  the  annual  production  of  wealth  being  justly  distributed,  labor  obtains  a 
fair  reward. 

Six  years  later,  when  Senator  Sargent  presented  the  grievances  of  the  people  of 
his  State  and  section  against  the  evils  of  Chinese  immigration,  and  after  the  report 
of  a  committee  of  inquiry  on  the  subject,  the  bill  to  restrict  the  immigration  of  the 
Chinese,  which  passed  the  House  by  155  to  72,  found  Mr.  Thurman  one  of  its  fore- 
most champions  in  the  Senate.  Hayes  vetoed  the  bill.  Future  restrictive  legisla- 
tion had  Thurman's  support,  and  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  he  has  alwaya 
been  enthusiastically  favored  by  the  people  of  the  Pacific  States. 


VL 

OPPOSITION  TO  THE  SQUANDEBING  OF  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

Mr.  Thurman's  natural  Democratic  instincts  led  him  early  to  see  the  dangers 
which  threatened  the  country  and  the  .people  in  the  vast  accumulationa  of  wealth 
and  power  by  great  corporations.  Before  he  entered  the  Senate  the  subsidies  anfl 
land  grants  given  to  the  monopolies  who  received  their  charters  from  the  Federal. 
Government — and  proposed  to  cross  State  lines  and  traverse  the  Territorial 
dominions  in  their  construction — had  been  the  fruitful  source  of  political  demoraliza- 
tion and  personal  corruption.  The  greedy  "Give!  givel"  of  those  whose  hands 
and  pockets  had  been  already  well  filled  was  ringing  through  the  halls  of  Congress ; 
corporate  power,  having  obtained  valuable  franchises  upon  conditions  never 
fulfilled,  defied  the  Government  to  enforce  the  obligations  whichit  held. 

As  early  as  1870,  in  a  speech  in  Cincinnati,  Senator  Thurman  had  shown  hi 
disposition  to  warn  his  countrymen  against  the  encroachment  of  these  power 
Faithful  guardian  as  he  was  of  the  rights  of  the  Government  and  of  the  interesti 
of  the  people,  the  nice  sense  of  justice  which  endowed  him  for  the  legal  professio: 
withheld  him  from  any  destructive  crusade  upon  the  vested  privileges  of  the  objec 
of  his  denunciation.    He  said : 

Look  at  the  astounding  subsidies  to  railroad  companies — mere  private  corpora 
tions.  To  say  nothing  of  the  fifty-eight  million  acres  granted  to  States  for  purposes 
of  internal  improvement,  most  of  which  have  gone  into  the  hands  of  railroi 
companies,  there  had  been  granted  by  Congress  before  its  last  session  directly 
four  railroad  companies,  the  Union  Pacific  and  branches,  Central  Pacific,  Northe 
Pacific,  and  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  124,000,000  acres — more  land  than  is  contained 
the  Middle  States,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Mississippi  River 
that  is  to  say,  the  seven  States  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  West 
Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  Besides  this,  a  subsidy  of  over  $60,000,000  in 
bonds  was  granted  to  the  two  first-named  roads — every  dollar  of  which,  though  i  ' 
name  a  loan,  will,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted,  have  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States. 


I 

1 

a." 

ses 

i 


*  *  *  *  *  * 


Not  only  this,  the  wealth,  power,  and  dominion  thus  conferred  upon  thee 
great  and  favored  corporations  will  make  them    the   overshadowing  and  ruling 


MR.   THURMAN's  public  RECORD.  345 

power  in  at  least  a  dozen  States.  In  reality,  they  and  not  the  State  Legislatures, 
will  choose  Senators  in  Congress ;  they,  and  not  the  unbiased  voice  of  the  people, 
will  elect  Representatives;  they,  and  not  free  States,  will  speak  in  the  choice  of 
Presidents. 

Think  of  a  road  stretching  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  embracing 
within  its  branches  more  than  two  thousand  miles  of  line,  the  property  of  a  single 
corporation,  and  that  corporation  owning  every  alternate  section  of  land,  or  its  pro- 
ceeds, in  a  belt  of  eighty  miles  wide  for  nearly  the  whole  length  of  its  line — 40  sec- 
tions, or  25,600  acres  to  the  mile — 53,000,000  acres  in  all,  or  the  proceeds  of  their 
sale  at  such  prices  as  the  corporation  may  see  fit  to  exact — with  towns  and  cities 
owned  by  the  corporation  or  a  favored  ring  of  its  stockholders,  scattered  along  the 
road,  and  the  great  stockholders,  those  owning  nearly  all  its  stock  and  ruling  its 
aflairs,  residing  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  and  you  will  have  some 
idea  what  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  is  to  be,  and  what  chance  for  political 
promotion  any  man  within  the  limits  of  its  influence  would  have,  should  he  dare 
seek  to  restrict  its  monopoly,  restrain  its  exactions,  or  otherwise  oppose  its  will. 

Much  is  being  now  said  about  the  relative  rights  of  capital  and  labor;  much 
complaint  is  uttered  at  what  is  said  to  be  the  exactions  of  capital  and  the  depression 
of  labor.  The  workingmen  are  everywhere  forming  unions,  holding  congresses,  and 
issuing  booka,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers,  to  advocate  their  claims,  and  protest 
against  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  which  they  assert  ia  resulting  from  exist- 
ing laws,  and  especially  from  their  tendency  to  aggregate  capital.  But  what  aggre- 
gation of  capital  and  privilege  was  ever  seen  equal  to  that  created  by  Congress,  by 
the  charters  it  has  granted  and  the  donations  it  has  made  to  the  four  railroad  com- 
panies I  have  named  ?  What  other  corporations  have  ever  become  the  owners  in 
fee  of  a  territory  equal  to  seven  States  of  this  Union,  greater  than  the  area  of  Ger- 
many; and  in  addition  to  this  wealth,  been  clothed  with  a  corporate  existence,  and 
immense  corporate  privileges  of  perpetual  duration  ?  I  am  certainly  not  so  absurd 
as  to  be  an  enemy  of  railroads.  No  man  acknowledges  more  fully  than  I  do  the 
immense  advantage  they  are  to  a  country ;  no  man  honors  more  than  I  do  the  men 
who  wisely  project,  and  honestly  build  and  manage  them.  But  there  is  a  vast  dif- 
ference between  roads  built  under  State  authority,  with  capital  furnished  by  the 
stockholders,  supervised  by  the  State,  controlled  and  managed  by  her  citizens,  and 
limited  in  extent,  and  roads  chartered  by  Congress,  built  with  donations  of  the 
public  domain,  spanning  more  than  half  the  Continent,  and  owned  and  controlled 
by  a  few  rich  men  in  the  great  cities  of  the  East. 

Before  I  leave  this  topic,  I  must  call  your  attention  .to  an  alarming  step  taken 
at  the  last  session  of  Congress  in  the  matter  of  these  land  grants.  Before  then 
Congress  had  never  granted  any  but  the  alternate  sections,  designed  by  odd  num- 
bers, and  in  defense  of  these  grants  it  was  said  that  the  construction  of  the  railroads 
would  double  the  value  of  the  even-numbered  sections  retained  by  the  Government, 
and  hence  there  would  be  no  loss  of  money,  and  accordingly  the  price  of 
the  retained  sections  was  raised  from  $1.25  to  $2.50  per  acre.  This  defense 
never  had  any  weight  with  me,  for  it  treated  the  Government  as  a  speculator  in 
lands,  seeking  to  extort  the  highest  price  from  the  settler;  whereas  I  thought,  and 
yet  tQink,  that  it  is  not  as  a  speculator,  but  as  a  beneficent  parent  that  the  Govern- 
ment ought  to  regard  and  administer  these  lands.  But  that  was  the  defense,  and 
with  those  who  look  at  nothing  but  dollars  and  cents  it  suflElced.  But  at  the  last 
session  the  Senate  threw  even  this  defense  away.  For,  in  face  of  the  most  deter- 
mined opposition,  and  after  full  discussion,  it  deliberately  passed  a  bill  granting  to 
the  Central  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  the  even-numbered  sections,  the  odd 
numbered  having  been  already  given  to  other  railroad  companies.  And  so,  for  a  dis- 
tance of  about  three  hundred  miles,  lying  partly  in  Kansas,  partly  in  Nebraska  and 
partly  in  the  Territory  of  Wyoming,  every  fo-t  of  land  belonging  to  the  Government 
was  granted,  so  far  as  the  Senate  could  do  it,  to  railroad  corporations.  And  this  leads 
me  to  observe  that  you  must  not  suppose  that  because  all  the  land -grabbing  bills 
that  passed  the  Senate  did  not  go  through  the  House,  therefore  they  are  dead.  In 
view  of  the  approaching  Congressional  elections,  and  fearful  of  the  people,  the 
House  laid  some  of  them  aside ;  but  they  are  still  upon  its  calendar,  to  be  acted 
upon  next  winter ;  and  should  the  Radical  party  triumph  in  the  fall  elections,  yon 
may  rest  assured  that  every  one  of  them  will  pass. 


346  MR.  thurma.n'8  public  record. 

n. 

HIS  POSITION  JUSTIFIED. 

HOW  'i'HE  SUPREME  COURT  HAS  AFPERMED  HIS  VIEWS  IN  DECISIONS  ON  IMPORTANT 
QUESTIONS  OF  LAW  AND  PUBLIC  POLICY. 
From  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  Independent,  June  7, 1888. 
The  nominalioa  of  Allen  G.  Thurman  for  Vice-President  illustrates  anew  the 
weakness  of  our  electoral  system,  so  far  as  it  affects  that  office.  Theoretically,  the 
man  who  is  elected  to  the  second  place  ought  to  be  qualified  in  every  respect  for 
the  first,  since  experience  has  shown  that  there  is  one  chance  in  six  of  his  being 
called  upon  to  fill  the  higher  position.  Mr.  Thurman  would  not  for  a  moment  be  con- 
sidered, under  any  circumstances,  a  candidate  for  President,  because  everybody 
would  say  that  a  man  in  his  seventy-fifth  year  is  too  old  for  the  Presidency.  Yet  a 
convention  nominates  a  man  who  is  in  his  seventy  fifth  year  to  an  office  whose 
holder  is  liable  at  any  time  durintr  his  term  to  become  President.  It  nominates  him 
in  accordance  with  the  traditional  custom  of  selecting  the  candidate  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent on  the  ground  of  his  "availability"  as  a  help  to  the  Presidential  nominee 
during  the  canvass. 

That  Mr.  Thurman  is  a  strong  nominee  for  campaign  purposes  will  be  gener- 
ally admitted.  His  name  will  warm  the  hearts  of  a  good  many  old  Democrwits  who 
have  never  had  much  symyathy  with  the  new  generation  which  Mr.  Cleveland  lep- 
resents.  His  very  age  in  itself  is  a  help  to  his  candidacy  in  one  aspect,  since  it 
appeals  to  the  pride  which  all  well-regulated  party  men  feel  in  an  "old  Rofoan  "  More- 
over, it  will  be  extremely  embarrassing  for  the  Republicans  to  make  an  issue  of  Mr. 
Thurman's  age.  If  they  say  that  a  man  who  was  born  in  November,  1813,  is  too 
old  to  be  Vice-President,  it  follows  necessarily  that  a  man  who  was  born  in  March, 
1813,  is  too  old  to  be  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Judge  Bradley  should  at 
once  resign  his  seat  on  the  bench  and  allow  Mr.  Cleveland  to  appoint  a  Democratic 
successor.  Practically,  the  age  Issue  will  not  count  for  much.  The  voter  who 
thinks  that  Mr.  Cleveland  is  a  better  man  for  President  than  the  Republican  candi- 
date, will  not  be  deterred  from  voting  for  him  because  he  thinks  that  a  younger  man 
ought  to  have  been  nominattd  for  Vice  President. 

Except  in  the  matter  of  age,  Mr.  Thurman  is  the  bf  st  man  whom  the  Democ- 
racy could  present  for  the  Vice-Presidency.     His  public  career  has  been  a  long  and 
honorable  one,  the  only  spot  upon  which  was  made  by  his  yielding,  with  so  many 
other  good  men  of  both  parties,  to  the  soft-money  craze  which  swept  over  the  West 
fifteen  years  ago.     He  wa«  elected   to  the  lower  branch  of  Congress  in  1844,  was 
judge  of  the  Ohio  Supreme  Court   from  1851  to  1854,  and  its  Chief  Justice  for  th  " 
next  two  years,  and  United  States  Senator  fiom  1869  to  1881 .     The  historian  whoa 
judgments  every  good  Republican   unhesitatingly  accepts  has  be>*towed  upon  hini 
the  highest  praise.     In  his  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  Mr.   Blaine  says  of  Mi 
Thurman  that  "his  rank  in  the  Senate  was  established  from  the  day  be  took  hissea 
and  was  never  lowered  during  the  period  of  his  service.      His  retirement  from  tt 
Senate  was  a  seriousloss  to  his  party— a  loss,  indeed,  to  the  body.      He  left  behii 
him  ilie  respect  ot  all  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  during  his  twelve  years 
hononible  service." 

If  Mr.  Thurman  is  sent  back  to  the  capital,  he  will  return  with  the  unique  satj 
isfaction  of  finding  the  sound  doctrines  of  the  Constitution,  for  which  he  mac' 
a  gallant  but' hopeless  fight  against  a  Republican  majority  in.  the  Senate,  establishc 
for  all  time  by  the  decisions  of  a  Republican  Supreme  Court  overthrowing  the  ac 
which  he  vainly  protested  were  unconstitutional.  Since  his  retirement  in  1881  tt 
highest  judicial  tribunal  has  rendered  a  series  of  decisions  which  fully  sustain  Ml 
Thurman's  position  on  the  great  issue  of  State  rights,  and  which  indeed  sometime 
read  almost  like  extracts  from  his  own  speeches.  When  he  entered  the  Senate 
1869,  there  were  but  nuje  other  Democrats  in  the  body,  the  House  was  Republic 
more  than  two  to  one,  and  the  school  represented  by  Oliver  P.  Morton  in  the  Senat 
and  Benjamin  F.  Butler  in  the  House  were  carrying  through  laws  based  upon  th^ 
theory  that  the  new  amendments  to  the  Constitution  had  worked  a  revolution  " 
the  relations  of  the  States  to  the  Federal  Government. 


MB.  THURMAN'S  public  RECORD. 


347 


l._.... ^„„.„ 

Jffambers  in  Congress,  but  saw  his  position  ultimately  adopted  by  the  Supreme 
Court.  This  act  was  based  upon  the  theory  that  Congress  possessed  the  right  to 
interfere  in  the  States  and  punish  persons  who  denied  blacks  equal  rights  with 
whites  in  hotels,  conveyances,  etc.  The  claim  was  made  that  Congress  had  been 
given  this  right  by  the  fourteenth  amendment.  Mr.  Thurman  earnestly  contested 
this  claim.  He  pointed  out  that  the  amendment  only  gave  Congress  the  right  to 
interfere  when  a  "  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privi- 
leges or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  whereas  it  was  not  pretended 
that  any  State  had  made  or  enforced  any  such  law.  It  is  interesting  to  see  how 
closely  the  reasoning  upon  this  point  of  the  Republican  Supreme  Court  in  the  deci- 
sion of  1883.  declaring  theact  unconstitutional,  agreed  with  that  of  Mr.  Thurman  in 
his  arguments  of  1874 : 


t 


MR.  THURMAN. 


THB    SUPREME  COURT. 

An  Inspection  of  the  law  shows  that  it 
makes  no  reference  whatever  to  any  sup- 
posed or  apprehended  violation  of  the  Four- 
teenth Amendment  on  the  part  of  the  States. 
It  is  not  predicated  on  any  such  view.  It 
proceeds  ex  directo  to  declare  that  certain 
acts  committed  by  individuals  shall  be 
deemed  offences,  and  shall  be  prosecuted, 
and  punished  by  proceedings  in  the  courts 
of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  We  are  of  opin- 
ion that  no  countenance  of  authority  for  the 
passage  of  the  law  in  question  can  be  found 
either  in  the  Thirteenth  or  Fourteenth 
Amendment  of  the  Constitution,  and  no 
other  ground  of  authority  for  its  passage 
b«ing  suggested,  It  must  necessarily  be 
declared  void. 

It  has  seldom  been  allowed  a  man  to  enjoy  such  a  triumph  as  Mr.  Thurman 
must  feel  in  the  decisions  of  a  Supreme  Court  controlled  by  his  political  opponents, 
asserting  his  views  of  the  Constitution,  and  annulling  act  after  act  which  he  had 
fought  on  the  ground  that  they  were  unconstitutional.  The  fact  shows  most  strik- 
ingly how  complete  is  the  settlement  of  the  State-rights  issue.  No  Republican  dares 
dissent  from  the  position  laid  down  by  a  Republican  Supreme  Court,  while  every 
Democrat  applauds  the  assertion  by  that  tribunal  of  the  doctrines  which  Mr.  Thur- 
man so  ably  maintained. 


'No  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law 
'hich  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immu- 
nities of  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  says 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  Does  this  bill 
deal  with  any  such  law  of  a  State  ?  No,  sir, 
it  does  not  profess  to  do  so.  It  is  not  aimed 
at  any  law  of  a  State.  It  is  aimed  against  the 
acts  of  individuals.  There  is  not  one  single 
sentence  in  the  whole  bill  which  is  levelled 
against  any  law  made  or  enforced  by  a  State. 
.  .  .  Why,  sir,  if  it  is  constitutional  rea- 
soning that  supports  this  bill,  then  I  confess 
that  all  my  studies  of  the  Constitution  have 
been  wholly  in  vain. 


THB    DSMOCBACY    A^^D    LABOB. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
THE  DEMOCRACY  AND  LABOR. 


EECOED  OF  THE  PARTY  AND  ITS  CANDIDATE. — EFFORTS  TO  LIGHTEN 
THE  TAXES  AND   RELIEVE  THE  BURDENS    OF  THE  POOR. 


Stirring   Words  in  Behalf  of  those  who  Toil — Mr.  Cleve- 
land's Course  as  Governor  of  New  Yorlc  in  Relation 
to  Labor  Legislation — His  Sympathy  with 
Measures  LooJcing  to  the  Elevation 
of  Labor  and  the  Enhance- 
ment of  its  Rewards, 


I 


AN  HONEST  DAY'B  WAGES  FOR  AN  HONEST  DAY'B  WORK. 

During  the  hundred  years'  existence  of  this  Government,  and  from  the  time* 
when  the  Democratic  Party  was  established  to  maintain  our  institutions,  that 
organization  has  ever  been  true  to  its  name.  It  is  emphatically  the  party  of  the 
people ;  and  as  the  great  majority  of  the  American  people  is  composed  of  those  who 
labor  with  their  hands,  the  interests  of  Democracy  and  of  labor  have  always  been 
identical  The  professions  of  the  party,  as  expressed  in  its  platforms,  have  been 
realized  in  the  legislation  effected  whenever  and  wherever  it  was  in  control  of 
the  law- making  power.  In  no  campaign  in  the  Idstory  of  American  politics  was 
this  better  illustrated  than  at  present,  when  the  declaration  of  principles,  the  record 
of  the  candidate  and  the  conduct  of  the  President  upon  every  occasion  when  the 
rights  of  labor  were  at  stake,  combine  to  attest  the  devotion  of  the  Democracy  to 
the  interests  of  the  workingman. 

Grover  Cleveland,  himself  a  man  of  laborious  habit  and  unshirking  industry,  is 
a  genuine  American — the  product  of  our  own  soil  and  institutions.  He  has  never 
been  even  a  visitor  to  foreign  countries.  In  his  veins  flows  the  blood  of  English- 
men, of  Irishmen,  and  of  Germans.  These  are  the  races  which  have  peopled  the 
United  States  and  made  them  great.  He  represents  them  all.  He  has  a  strong 
man's  love  for  the  land  where  he  was  born,  and  in  which  his  parents  are  buried. 
His  kindred  have  lived  here  many  generations;  they  have  been  soldiers,  and  farmers^ 
and  mechanics,  and  preachers  of  the  Gospel  His  ancestry  is  the  best  that  can  be 
found,  an  ancestry  of  frugal,  laborious  and  patriotic  men  and  women. 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AJ?]>    LABOR.  3^ 

IL 

CLEVELAND'S  LABOR  RECORD  AS  GOVERNOR. 

HB  PROMOTED   THE    mTERESTS    OF    LABOR    DURING    HIS  SERVICE    TO  THE 
PEOPLE   OF   THE   STATE    OF  NEW   YORK. 

le  highest  labor  body  in  the  State  of  New  York  is  the  State  Trades  Assem- 
It  is  not  organized  for  political  purposes,  but  has  for  its  sole  object  the 
advancement  of  the  condition  of  the  workingmen  in  all  things.  It  lias  for  years 
applied  to  the  great  political  organizations  for  as8istan(  e  and  consideration.  It  has 
received  these  only  from  the  Democratic  party.  Organization  in  this  branch  of 
endeavor  has  had  its  effect,  as  it  does  everywhere;  and  so  it  came  about  that  in 
1882,  as  a  result  of  organization,  and  for  the  first  time,  it  presented  well  defined 
contentions,  with  which  it  appeared  before  the  two  great  parties  of  the  State— the 
Democratic  and  the  Republican.  The  Republican  partjr  gave  no  heed  whatever  to 
its  requests.  The  Democratic  party'listened;  and  believing  in  them,  embraced  them 
in  their  platform  of  that  year.  Upon  this  platform  Grover  Cleveland  was  placed 
by  the  Democracy  of  the  State,  and  upon  it  he  was  elected  to  be  Governor.  His 
faithful  adherence  to  the  pledges  and  promises  of  that  platform  is  known  of  all 
men,  and  so  faithful  as  to  be  regarded  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  politics,  when 
candidates  would  regard  the  obligations  of  formulated  party  utterances. 

THE  LABOR  PLANK  OF  1882. 

The  plank  relating  to  labor  was  the  twelfth  and  read  as  follows : 
Twelfth.  We  reaffirm  the  policy  always  maintained  by  the  Democratic  party  that  it  is  of 
the  first  importance  that  labor  should  be  made  free,  healthful  and  secure  of  just  remune- 
ration. That  convict  labor  should  not  come  into  competition  with  the  industry  of  law-abiding 
3itizens.  That  the  labor  of  children  should  be  surrounded  with  such  safeguards  as  their 
aealth,  their  rights  of  education  and  their  future,  as  useful  members  of  the  community, 
iemand.  That  work  shops,  whether  large  or  small,  should  be  under  such  sanitary  control 
IS  will  insure  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  employed  and  will  protect  all  against  unwhole- 
jome  labor  and  surroundings.  That  labor  shall  have  the  same  rights  as  capital  to  combine 
for  its  own  protection,  and  that  all  legislation  which  cramps  industry,  or  which  enables  the 
powerful  to  oppress  the  weak,  should  be  repealed;  and,  to  promote  the  interests  of  labor, we 
•ecommend  the  collection  of  statistics  and  information  respecting  the  improvements,  needs 
md  abuses  of  the  various  branches  of  industry. 

This  plank  Grover  Cleveland  accepted  in  its  entirety,  not  only  in  the  letter  but 
in  the  spirit,  as  the  subsequent  record  will  show,  in  the  following  words,  which  are 
aken  from  his  letter  of  accceptance  of  the  gubernatorial  nomination,  dated  at 
Buffalo,  October  7, 1882: 

"The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our  population.  They  should  be 
protected  in  their  efforts  to  assert  their  rights  Mhen  endangered  by  aggregated  capital, 
ind  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should  recognize  the  case  of  the  State  for  honest  toil,  and  be 
ramed  with  a  view  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  workingman," 

Having  thus  found  the  Democratic  party  and  its  candidate  willing  to  accept 
ihese  contentions  as  their  own,  the  representative  laboriDg  men  proceeded  to  put 
hem  into  effect  by  drafting  bills  to  present  to  the  Legislature.  Thus  in  an  orderly 
ind  efficient  way,  in  fact  the  only  way  in  which  to  put  them  into  effect,  these 
jontentions  were  formulated  into  measures.    Four  bills  were  introduced  in  the 

ilature  of  1883,  the  first  year  of  Oovernor  Cleveland's  term. 


350  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

1.  One  was  the  bill  providing  for  the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  of  Labor  Sta- 
tistics. This  the  labor  people  regarded  as  by  far  the  most  important  of  all  the 
measures  they  had  presented.  So  soon  as  the  bill  reached  him,  the  Governor  showed 
his  intention  of  keeping  his  pledges  by  signing  it. 

2.  Another  v^as  the  bill  prohibiting  the  manufacture  of  cigars  in  tenement 
houses,  which  the  Governor  promptly  signed.  This  law  was  subsequently  declared 
defective  in  title,  and  therefore  unconstitutional  by  the  courts ;  ^mother  bill  was 
introduced  in  the  Legislature  of  1884,  the  defect  in  the  title  having  been  remedied, 
was  passed  and  the  Governor  signed  it  again. 

3.  Another  was  the  bill  prohibiting  the  manufacture  of  woolen  hats  in  the  State 
prisons,  penitentiaries  and  reformatories  of  the  State,  and  this  was  promptly  signed 
by  the  Governor.  For  several  years  ineffectual  efforts  had  been  made  to  pass  this 
bill. 

CONVICT   LABOR  BILL. 

4.  The  fourth  of  the  series  of  the  labor  bills  for  1883  was  the  bill  to  abolish  con- 
vict labor  in  States  prisons.  This  bill  met  with  very  great  opposition  from  the 
Republicans  of  the  Legislature  and  was  laid  aside.  The  question  was  submitted  to 
the  voters  in  November,  1883,  and  decided  by  a  very  large  majority  against  the  con- 
tinuance of  convict  prison  labor. 

WHAT  WAS  DONE  IN  1884. 

In  1884  the  labor  people,  encouraged  by  their  successes  in  1883,  again  presented 
themselves  before  the  Legislature  with  further  demands  formulated  into  measures, 
as  follows : 

The  tenement  house  cigar  bill,  to  which  reference  was  made  above.  This  was 
made  necessary  by  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  that  the  bill  was  unconsti- 
tutional, in  that  its  title  was  defective.  The  defect  having  been  remedied,  the  Gov- 
ernor signed  it 

CONVICT  LABOR  AGAIN. 

The  bill  prohibiting  the  employment  of  convicts  in  State  prisons  on  contract 
labor.  This  was  popularly  known  as  the  "Comstock"  bill,  and  provided  no  substi- 
tute for  the  labor  the  convicts  were  employed  in.  There  were  several  defects  in  the 
bill  as  it  reached  the  Governor,  which  would  have  made  it  inope»ative,  but  the 
Governor  called  in  Mr.  Thayer,  the  President  of  the  State  Trades'  Assembly,  and 
pointing  out  the  defects,  among  which  was  that  penitentiaries  were  excepted  from 
the  provisions  of  the  bill,  suggested  a  recall  of  the  bill  to  correct  it,  which  was  done, 
and  then  it  was  signed.  Had  not  the  Governor  been  the  friend  of  labor,  he  could 
have  defeated  its  object  by  signing  it  as  it  came  to  him.  Subsequently,  a  bill  known 
as  the  Howe  Commission  bill  passed  the  Legislature,  providing  for  the  appoiutmeat 
of  five  commissioners,  to  investigate  and  report  by  May  Ist,  some  suitable  system 
for  the  employment  of  convicts.  After  an  investigation  of  only  a  few  days,  they 
reported  that  they  could  not  make  a  report  within  the  specified  time  A  bill  was 
then  passed  extending  the  time  until  January  1,  1885.  This  the  Governor  vetoed, 
and  in  forcible  terms,  declaring  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to  provide  at 
that  session  some  substitute.  The  Republican  Legislature  dallied  with  the  question 
and  let  it  die. 

CHILD  CONTRACT  LABOR  BILL, 

One  of  the  bills  introduced  in  the  interest  of  labor  this  year,  was  that  making  it 
unlawful  for  the  trustees  or  managers  of  any  house  of  refuge,  reformatory  or  other 
correctional  institution,  to  contract,  hire  or  let  the  service  or  labor  of  any  child  com- 
mitted to  or  an  inmate  of  such  institutions.  It  was  passed  and  signed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. 


I 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AI7D    LABOB.  351 


^■Dne  of  the  bills  introduced  was  that  one  known  as  the  Mechanics'  Lien  Law. 
iBs  bill,  which  was  a  local  act,  applying  only  to  Kings  and  Queens  counties,  was 
vetoed  by  the  Governor,  and  as  an  examination  shows,  clearly  in  the  interest  of  the 
vvorkingmen.  Instead  of  giving  the  mechanic  the  first  lien,  as  was  the  object  of  the 
bill,  by  an  oversight  in  the  drafting  of  it,  it  gave  to  all  parties  having  claim,whether 
nechanics  or  not,  the  first  lien,  thus  reducing  the  mechanics  to  a  level  with  all 
3laimant8.  Moreover,  it  repealed  in  distinct  terms,  a  number  of  mechanics'  lien 
laws,  already  on  the  statute  books.  To  make  it  a  law  was  to  give  the  mechanics  a 
ioubtful  advantage  while  sacrificing  many  other  real  and  substantial  advantages. 


I 


MAEING  LABORING  MEI7  PREFERRED  CREDITORS. 


an  evidence  of  the  care  Cleveland  manifested  for  laboring  men,  the  prompt 
g  of  a  bill  which  creates  laboring  men  preferred  creditors  for  wages  in  the 
)ase  of  the  assignment  of  an  employer.  This  bill,  most  important  to  laboring  men, 
attracted  little  attention  even  from  laboring  men,  at  the  time  of  its  enactment,  but 
lie  quick  eye  and  mind  of  the  Governor  appreciated  its  value  and  he  made  it  a  law. 
rhe  law  is  as  follows : 

CHAPTER  338. 

§  39.  In  all  assignments,  made  In  pursuanoe  of  this  aot,  the  wa^ree  or  salaries  actually 
>wlng  to  the  employes  of  the  assignor  or  assignors  at  the  time  of  the  execution  of  the 
issignment,  shall  be  preferred  before  any  other  debt;  and  should  the  assets  of  the  assignor  or 
issignors  not  be  sufllcient  to  pay  in  full  all  the  claims  preferred,  pursuant  to  this  section, 
hey  shall  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  same  pro  rata  to  the  amount  of  each  such 
;iaiia. 


I 


nL 

THE  DEMOCRACY  IN  1884. 


THE    POLIOT    OP    TiHB    PARTY    OK    THIS    VITAL    QUESTION  Afl  EXPRESSED    IN    ITS 
NATIONAL    PLAT1IX5RM  AT  CHICAGO. 

The  convention  of  1884,  which  nominated  Mr.  Cleveland  for  President,  in  the 
)latform  from  which  he  accepted  and  upon  which  he  was  ejected,  spake  with  no 
incertain  sound.  The  following  extracts  from  the  declarations  of  that  document 
oay  be  specially  recalled  : 

Knowing  full  well,  however,  that  legislation  affecting  the  ocoupattons  of  the  people 
hould  be  cautions  and  conservative  In  method,  not  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  bat 
esponslve  to  Its  demands,  the  Democratio  party  Is  pledged  to  revlae  the  taartff  in  a  spirit  of 
aimess  to  all  interests. 

But  In  mafctag  reduetlon  In  taxes,  It  is  not  piopcsed  to  Injure  any  domestio  Indnstriea, 
)Ut  rather  to  promote  their  healthy  growth,  From  the  focrndatioQ  of  this  Qovaroment 
axes  coUeeted  at  tho  custom-house  have  been  the  chief  sonroe  of  Fedejral  reveooe.  Buoh 
bey  must  continue  »o  be-  Moreover,  many  indnstriea  have  oome  to  rely  upon  leglfllatlcjn 
or  successfnl  oontlntiance,  so  that  Miy  change  of  law  must  be  at  every  Step  regardful  of 
he  labor  and  capital  thus  Involved.  The  nrocees  of  reiorm  must  be  sttbjeot  In  tita  eaooaa- 
lon  to  this  plain  dictate  of  jnatloe. 


I 


353  THE    DEMOCKACY    AKD    LABOR. 

All  taxation  shall  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of  economical  government.  The 
necessary  reduction  In  taxation  can  and  must  be  effected  without  depriving  American 
labor  of  the  ability  to  compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor,  and  -without  Imposing  lower 
rates  of  duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover  any  increased  cost  of  production  which  may 
exist  in  consequence  of  the  higher  rate  of  wages  prevailing  In  this  country. 

We  believe  that  labor  is  best  rewarded  where  It  is  freest  and  most  enlightened.  It 
should  therefore  be  fostered  and  cherished-  We  favor  the  repeal  of  all  laws  restricting  the 
free  action  of  labor,  and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which  labor  organizations  may  be  incor- 
porated, and  of  all  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to  enlighten  the  people  as  to  the  true  rela- 
tions of  capital  and  labor. 

We  believe  that  the  public  lands  ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  be  kept  as  homesteads  for 
actual  settlers;  that  all  unearned  lands  heretofore  improvidently  granted  to  railroad  cor- 
porations by  the  action  of  the  Republioan  party  should  be  restored  to  the  public  domain ; 
and  that  no  more  grants  of  land  shall  be  made  to  corporations,  or  be  allowed  to  fall  into  the 
ownership  of  alien  absentees. 

Under  a  quarter  century  of  Republican  rule  and  policy,  despite  our  manifest  advan- 
tage over  all  other  nations  in  high-paid  labor,  favorable  climates  and  teeming  soils; 
despite  freedom  of  trade  among  all  these  United  States;  despite  their  population  by  the 
foremost  races  of  men  and  an  annual  immigration  of  the  young,  thrifty  and  adventurous 
of  all  nations;  despite  our  freedom  here  from  the  inherited  burdens  of  life  and  industry  in 
old-world  monarchies— their  costly  war  navies,  their  vast  tax-coQSuming,  non-producing 
standing  armies ;  despite  twenty  years  of  peace— that  Republican  rule  and  policy  have 
managed  to  surrender  to  Great  Britain,  alonig  with  our  commerce,  the  control  of  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  British  policy,  we  demand  on  behalf  of  the  Amerl- 
-can  Democracy  an  American  policy. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  discredited  scheme  and  false  pretense  of  friendship 
for  American  labor,  expressed  by  imposing  taxes,  we  deaaand  in  behalf  of  the  Democracy, 
freedom  for  American  labor  by  reducing  taxes,  to  the  end  that  these  United  States  may 
compete  with  unhindered  powers  for  the  primacy  among  nations  in  all  the  arts  of  peace 
And  fruits  of  liberty. 


THE  PRESIDENT  S  INTERPRETATION  OP  THE  LABOR   PLANK. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  under  date  of  August  17, 1884,  Mr.  Cleveland  inter- 
preted the  labor  plank  in  this  language : 

A  true  American  sentiment  recognizes  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  fact  that  honor  lies 
in  honest  toil .  Contented  labor  is  an  elementof  national  prosperity.  Ability  to  work  con- 
stitutes the  capital  and  the  wage  of  labor  the  iuoome  of  a  vast  number  of  our  population, 
*and  this  interest  should  be  jealously  protected.  Our  workingmen  are  not  asking  unrea- 
sonable indulgence,  but  as  intelligent  and  manly  citizens  they  seek  the  same  consideration 
which  those  demand  who  have  other  Interests  at  stake.  They  should  receive  their  full 
share  of  the  care  and  attention  of  those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws,  to  the  end  that 
the  wants  and  needs  of  the  employers  and  employed  shall  alike  be  subserved,  and  the  pros- 
perit  y  of  the  country,  the  common  heritage  of  both,  be  advanced.  As  related  to  this  subject, 
while  we  shouM  not  discourage  the  immigration  of  those  who  come  to  acknowledge  all^-gi- 
ance  to  our  Government  and  add  to  our  citizen  population,  yet  as  a  means  of  protection  to 
our  working  men  a  difTerent  rule  should  prevail  concerning  those  who,  if  they  come  or  are 
brought  to  our  land,  do  not  intend  to  becom«  Americans,  but  will  injuriously  compete  i 
those  justly  entitled  to  our  field  of  labor. 

A  proper  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  workingman  being  Insep  irably  connected 
the  integrity  of  our  institutions,  none  of  our  citizens  are  more  interested  than  they  in 
guarding  against  any  corrupting  influences  which  seek  to  pervert  the  beneficent  purp 
of  our  Government,  and  none  should  be  more  watchful  of  the  artful  machinations  of 
who  allure  them  to  self-inflicted  injury. 


)r  are 
wfflP 


THE    DBMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  853 

lY. 

CLEVELAND'S  RECOMMENDATIONS  AS  PRESmENT. 

PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS  FOR    THE    RELIEF    OP    LABOR,  COMMUNICATED    TO   CON- 
GRESS PROM  TIME  TO  TIME. 

The  perusal  of  the  President's  messages,  letters  and  other  official  utterances, 
published  at  length  in  different  parts  of  this  volume,  will  show  them  to  be  replete 
with  suggestions  similar  to  those  above  given  in  behalf  of  labor  and  of  securing  to  it 
the  highest  possible  reward.  The  entire  policy  of  the  administration  in  all  the  different 
departments  and  bureaus  has  been  directed  to  this  end. 

The  rebuilding  of  the  American  Navy  in  American  shipyards,  and  with  Amer- 
ican material,  upon  honest  businesss  methods ;  the  correction  of  corporation  abuses, 
and  the  enforcement  of  the  Government's  obligations  against  the  great  Pacific  rail- 
ways; the  reclamation  of  many  million  acres  of  the  public  lands;  the  real  pro- 
tection to  American  labor  by  a  tariff  reform  movement,  looking  to  a  reduction  in 
price  of  the  necessaries  of  life  and  a  cheapening  of  the  raw  materials  necessary  to  our 
manufactures;  the  restoration  ot  our  maritime  greatness  and  the  introduction  of 
Ijusiness  methods  in  all  departments  of  the  Federal  Government,  have  all  been  in  the 
true  interest  of  American  labor. 

^^  A  BUREAU  FOR  ARBITRATENQ  DIFPERENCES  RECOMMENDED. 

^Karly  in  1886  the  large  number  of  strikes  and  lockouts  attracted  the  President's 
jTOtention.  As  an  expression  of  his  desire  to  promote  harmony  between  employer 
«nd  workman  he  sent  the  following  message  to  Congress  on  April  22d  of  that  year : 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 

The  ConstitutiMi  Imposes  upon  the  President  the  duty  of  reoommendlngr  to  the  con- 
sideration of  Congress  from  time  to  time  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and 
expedient. 

I  am  80  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  immediately  and  thoughtfully  meet- 
ing the  problem  which  recent  events  and  a  present  condition  have  thrust  upon  us,  involving 
the  settlement  of  disputes  arising  between  our  laboring  men  and  their  employers,  that  I 
am  constrained  to  recommend  to  Congress  legislation  upon  this  serious  and  pressing 
subject. 

Under  our  form  of  government  the  value  of  labor  as  an  element  of  national  prosperity 
should  be  distinctly  recognized,  and  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  man  should  be  regarded  as 
especially  entitled  to  legislative  care.  In  a  country  which  offers  to  all  its  citizens  the 
highest  attainment  of  social  and  political  distinction  its  workingmen  cannot  justly  or  safely 
be  considered  as  irrevocably  consipned  to  the  limits  of  a  class  and  entitled  to  no  atten- 
Bp  and  allowed  no  protest  against  neglect. 

BrThe  laboring  man  bearing  in  his  hand  an  indispensable  contribution  to  our  growth  and 
■progress,  may  well  insist, with  manly  courage  and  as  a  right,  upon  the  same  recognition  from 
those  who  make  our  laws,  as  is  accorded  to  any  other  citizen  having  a  valuable  interest  in 
charge ;  and  his  reasonable  demands  should  be  met  in  such  a  spirit  of  appreciation  and 
fairness  as  to  induce  a  contented  and  patriotic  co-operation  In  the  achievement  of  a  grand 
national  destiny. 

^t  While  the  real  interests  of  labor  are  not  promoted  by  a  resort  to  threats  and  violent 
Hhifestations,  and  while  those  whr>,  under  the  pretexts  of  an  advocacy  of  the  claims  of 
Boor,  wantonly  attack  the  rights  of  capital,  and  for  selfish  purposes  or  the  love  of  disorder 
sow  seeds  of  violence  and  discontent,  should  neither  be  encouraged  nor  conciliated,  all 
legislation  on  the  subject  should  be  calmly  and  deliberately  undertaken,  with  no  purpose 
Of  satisfying  unreasonable  demands  or  gaining  partisan  advantage. 


I 


354  THE   DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

The  present  condition  of  the  relations  between  labor  and  capital  is  far  from  satisfac- 
tory. The  discontent  of  the  employed  is  due  in  a  large  dejjrree  to  the  grasping  and  heedless 
exactions  of  employers,  and  the  alleged  discrimination  in  favor  of  capital  as  an  object  of  govern- 
mental attention.  It  must  also  be  conceded  that  the  laboring  men  are  not  always  careful  to 
avoid  causeless  and  unjustifiable  disturbance. 

BOMB  RKIilBF  MAY  BB  HAD  BY  ULVT. 

Though  the  importance  of  a  better  accord  between  these  interests  is  apparent,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  any  effort  in  that  direction  by  the  Federal  Government  must  be 
greatly  limited  by  constitutional  restrictions.  There  are  many  grievances  which  legisla- 
tion by  Congress  cannot  redress,  and  many  conditions  which  cannot  by  such  means  be 
reformed. 

Something  may  be  done  under  Federal  authority  to  prevent  the  disturbances  which 
so  often  arise  from  disputes  between  employers  and  the  employed,  and  which  at  times 
seriously  threaten  the  business  interests  of  the  country;  and  in  my  opinion  the  proper 
theory  upon  which  to  proceed  is  that  of  voluntary  arbitration  as  the  means  of  settling 
these  difficulties. 

But  I  suggest  that  Instead  of  arbitrators  chosen  in  the  heat  of  conflicting  claims,  and 
after  each  dispute  shall  arise,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  same,  there  be  created  a 
Commission  of  Labor,  consisting  of  three  members,  who  shall  be  regular  officers  of  the 
Government,  charged  among  other  duties  with  the  oonslderation  and  settlement,  when 
possible,  of  all  controversies  between  labor  and  capital. 

A  Commission  thus  organized  would  have  the  advantage  of  being  a  stable  body,  and 
its  members,  as  they  gained  experience,  would  constantly  improve  in  their  ability  to  deal 
intelligently  and  usefully  with  the  questions  which  might  be  submitted  to  them.  If 
arbitrators  are  chosen  for  temporary  service  as  each  case  of  dispute  arises,  experience  and 
familiarity  with  much  that  is  involved  in  the  question  will  be  lacking,  extreme  partisan-ship 
and  bias  will  be  the  qualifications  sought  on  either  side,  and  frequent  complaints  of  unfair- 
ness and  partiality  will  be  inevitable. 

The  imposition  upon  a  Federal  court  of  duty  so  foreign  to  the  judicial  function  as  the 
selection  of  an  arbitrator  In  such  cases,  is  at  least  of  doubtful  propriety. 

JUST  AHD  SXNSIBLB  BBOOaSTITION  OV  JJLBOU. 

The  establishment  by  Federal  authority  of  such  a  Bureau  would  be  a  just  and  sensible 
recognition  of  the  value  of  labor,  and  of  its  right  be  represented  in  the  departments  of  the 
Government.  So  far  as  its  conciliatory  offices  shall  have  relation  to  disturbances  which 
Interfered  with  transit  and  commerce  between  the  States,  its  exirtence  would  be  Justified, 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Conatitutlon,  which  gives  to  Congress  the  power  **  to  regulate 
commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States."  And  In  the  frequent 
disputes  between  the  laboring  men  and  their  employers,  of  less  extent  and  the  conse- 
quences of  which  are  confined  within  State  limits  and  threaten  domeatlo  violence,  the 
interposition  of  such  a  Commission  might  be  tendered,  upon  the  application  of  the  legis 
ture  or  executive  of  a  State,  under  the  eonstitntional  provision  which  requires  ^be  G«nc 
Government  to  **proteot'*  each  of  the  States  "  against  domestis  vtolenoe." 

Fowaa  lo  nrrBSsiaAsa  svbikbs  ahd  liOCK-oiiTta. 

If  such  a  Commisaion  were  fairly  ocrgBniJTOd,  the  rlak  of  a  loss  of  poprUaar  support 
sympathy  resulting  from  a  refusal  to  submit  to  ao  peaceful  an  instrtun«ntality,  wtDuId 
strain  both  parties  to  such  disputes  to  invoke  its  interference  and  abide  by  Its  deoislons. 
There  would  also  be  good  reason  to  hope  that  the  v%ry  existence  of  such  an  agency  would 
Invite  application  to  it  for  advice  and  oomisel,  freqtiently  resulishtur  in  the  advtddanoe 
contention  and  misunderstandlnjsc* 

If  the  useftilness  of  such  a  CommlBStoa  it  doubted  beesose  it  might  lack  power 
enforce  Its  deoislous,  much  encouragement  is  derived  troxa  the  ooneeded  good  that  has 
been  aooompllsJied  by  the  railroad  commlseions  which  have  been  orgtuiteed  in  many  of  the 
States,  which,  having  little  more  tban.  advisory  power,  have  •xarted  a  most  salu^ 
influence  tn  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  oonflictlng  interests. 


I 


THE    DEMOCKACY   AND    LABOR.  355 

In  July,  1884,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  a  Bureau  of  Labor  was  established  and  placed  In 
charge  of  a  Commissioner  of  Labor,  who  is  required  to  "collect  information  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  labor,  its  relations  to  capital,  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  earnings  of  laboring  men 
and  women,  and  the  means  of  promoting  their  material,  social,  intellectual  and  mora^ 
prosperity." 

The  Commission  which  I  suggest  could  easily  be  engrafted  upon  the  Bureau  thus 
already  organized,  by  the  addition  of  two  more  Commissioners  and  by  supplementing  the 
duties  now  imposed  upon  it  by  such  other  powers  and  functions  as  would  permit  the- 
Commissioners  to  act  as  arbitrators  when  necessary  between  labor  and  capital  under 
such  limitations  ajid  upon  such  occasions  as  should  be  deemed  proper  and  useful. 

Power  should  also  be  distinctly  conferred  upon  this  Bureau  to  investigate  the  causes 
of  all  disputes  as  they  occur,  whether  submitted  for  arbitration  or  not,  so  that  informa- 
tion may  always  be  at  hand  to  aid  legislation  on  the  subject  when  necessary  and 
desirable. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
ExBCUTivB  Mansion,  April  22, 1886. 


I 


A  PEACEFUL  METHOD  OF  SETTLING  DIFFERENCES. 


In  his  second  annual  message  to  Congress,  December,  1886,  he  recurred  to  the 

question  as  follows : 

The  relations  of  labor  to  capital  and  of  laboring  men  to  their  employers  are  of  the 
utmost  concern  to  every  patriotic  citizen.  When  these  are  strained  and  distorted,  unjusti- 
fiable claims  are  apt  to  be  insisted  upon  by  both  interests,  and  in  the  controversy  which 
results,  the  welfare  of  all  and  the  prosperity  of  the  country  are  jeopardized.  Any  inteiv 
vention  of  the  General  Government,  within  the  limits  of  its  constitutional  authority,  to 
avert  such  a  condition,  should  be  willingly  accorded. 

In  a  special  message  transmitted  to  the  Congress  at  its  last  session  I  suggested  the 
enlargement  of  our  present  Labor  Bureau  and  adding  to  its  present  functions  the  power 
of  arbitration  in  cases  where  differences  arise  between  employer  and  employed.  "When 
these  differences  reach  such  a  stage  as  to  result  in  the  interruption  of  commerce  between. 
the  States,  the  application  of  this  remedy  by  the  General  Government  might  be  regarded' 
as  entirely  within  its  constitutional  powers.  And  I  think  we  might  reasonably  hope  that 
such  arbitrators,  If  carefully  selected  and  if  entitled  to  the  confidence  of  the  parties  to  be 
affected,  would  be  voluntarily  called  to  the  settlement  of  controversies  of  less  extent  and 

I  necessarily  within  the  domain  of  Federal  regulation. 
[ '"'~~ "" 
BBu 
iatio 


BECOGNITION  OF  THE  EQUALITY  OF  AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP. 


t  after  all  has  been  done  by  the  passage  of  laws  either  Federal  or  State  to  relieve  a 
tion  full  of  solicitude,  much  more  remains  to  be  accomplished  by  the  reinstatement 
and  cultivation  of  a  true  American  sentiment  which  recognizes  the  equality  of  American 
citizenship.  This,  in  the  light  of  our  traditions  and  in  loyalty  to  the  spirit  of  our 
institutions,  would  teach  that  a  hearty  co-operation  on  the  part  of  all  interests  is  the 
surest  path  to  national  greatness  and  the  happiness  of  all  our  people,  that  capital 
should,  in  recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of  our  citizenship  and  in  a  spirit  of  American 
fairness,  generously  accord  to  labor  its  just  compensation  and  consideration,  and  that 
contented  labor  is  capital's  best  protection  and  faithful  ally.  It  would  teach,  too,  that  the 
liverse  situations  of  our  people  are  inseparable  from  our  civilization,  that  e^ery  citizen 
Jhould,  in  his  sphere,  be  a  contributor  to  the  general  good,  that  capital  does  not  necessarily 
rend  to  the  oppression  of  labor,  and  that  violent  disturbances  and  disorders  alienate  from 

Ir  promoters  true  American  sympathy  and  kindly  f eeHng. 
E  2'^ 


356  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 


NO   LABORING   CLASS  FIXED   \inCHIN  UNYIELDING  BOUNDS. 

In  another  division  of  the  same  message  he  said : 

Due  regard  should  be  also  accorded  in  any  proposed  readjustment,  to  the  interests  of 
American  labor  so  far  as  they  are  involved.  We  oonurratulate  ourselves  that  there  is 
among  us  no  laboring  class,  fixed  within  unyleldlttg  bounds  and  doomed  under  all  conditions 
to  the  inexorable  fate  of  daily  toil.  "We  recognlae  In  labor  a  chief  factor  in  the  wealth  of 
the  republic  and  we  treat  those  who  have  it  in  their  keeping  as  citizens  entitled  to  the 
most  careful  regard  and  thoughtful  attention.  This  regard  and  attention  should  be 
awarded  them,  not  only  because  labor  is  the  capital  of  our  worklngmen,  Justly  entitled  to 
its  share  of  Government  favor,  but  for  the  further  and  not  less  important  reason,  that  the 
laboring  man  surrounded  by  his  family  in  his  humble  home,  as  a  consumer  is  vitally  inter- 
ested in  all  that  cheapens  the  cost  of  living  and  enables  him  to  bring  within  his  domestic 
circle  additional  comforts  and  advantages. 

This  relation  of  the  worklngman  to  the  revenue  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  manner 
in  which  it  palpably  influences  the  question  of  wages,  should  not  be  forgotten,  in  the  justi- 
fiable prominence  given  to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the  supply  and  protection  of  well- 
paid  labor.  And  these  considerations  suggest  such  an  arrangement  of  Government 
revenues  as  shall  reduce  the  expense  of  living,  while  it  does  not  curtail  the  opportunity 
for  work  nor  reduce  the  compensation  of  American  labor,  and  injuriously  affect  its  condi- 
tion and  the  dignified  place  it  holds  in  the  estimation  of  our  people. 


V. 

LABOR  IMPORTED  UNDER  CONTRACT. 

THE  REPUBLICANS    ENACTED  LAWS  TO    BRING    IN    CHEAPER    LABOR  WHILE  THE 
SOLDIERS  WERE   IN  THE   FIELD. 

Now  that  the  Republicans  are  seeking  to  pose  as  the  special  friends  of  the  labor- 
ing man  in  the  United  States,  it  is  proper  to  subject  their  pretensions  to  analysis.  If 
they  are  so  friendly  now  it  is  well  to  try  and  discover  whether  they  have  always  been 
so,  or  whether  it  is  merely  a  new-found  zeal  which  is  intended  to  be  merely  "a  good 
enough  Morgan  for  this  election." 

Among  the  questions  most  important  to  the  American  laborer  is  the  immi- 
gration under  contract  of  men  from  other  countries.  If  this  can  be  done,  every 
employer  who  is  anxious  to  squeeze  his  labor  down  to  the  lowest  notch  of  wages, 
every  manufacturer  who  is  confronted  by  a  strike  on  the  part  of  his  employes  may 
simply  send  his  agents  abroad  and  import,  under  contract,  as  many  men  and  women 
as  he  needs  without  any  regard,  during  the  time  for  which  the  contract  is  madaB 
the  ruling  rates  of  wages  in  this  country.  S 

It  was  legislation  by  a  Republican  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  whifii 
allowed  this  to  be  done  from  1864,  when  the  law  was  enacted,  to  1885,  when  aftc 
long  and  determined  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Republican  Senate,  a  Demc 
:House  finally  succeeded  in  securing  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  law. 


I  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  357 

A  CONTRACT  LABOR  LAW  WHICH  FILLED  THE  SOLDIERS'  PLACES. 
In  1864,  while  our  mechanics,  operatives,  miners  and  laborers  were  in  the  field 
fighting  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  there  was  introduced  into  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  a  bill  which  inflicted  untold  misery  upon  the  laboring  population 
of  the  United  States.  Senator  Sherman  in  introducing  the  bill  made  use  of  the 
following  words  in  explaining  it : 

The  special  wants  for  labor  In  this  country  at  the  present  time  are  very  great.  The 
war  has  depleted  our  workshops  and  materially  lessened  our  supply  of  labor  in  every 
department  of  industry  and  mechanism.  In  their  noble  response  to  the  call  of  their 
country  our  workmen  in  every  branch  of  the  useful  arts  have  left  vacancies  which  must 
be  filled  or  the  material  interests  of  the  country  must  suffer.  The  Immense  amount  of 
native  labor  occupied  by  the  war  calls  for  a  large  increase  of  foreign  immigration  to  make 
up  the  deficiency  at  home.  The  demand  for  Ubor  never  was  greater  than  at  present,  and 
the  fields  of  usefulness  were  never  so  varied  and  promising. 

»The  second  section  of  this  law  reads  as  follows : 
3Ea  2,  And  be  It  ftertfier  enacted.  That  all  contracts  that  shall  be  made  by  emigrants  to 
United  States  in  foreign  countries,  in  conformity  to  regulations  that  may  be  established 
by  the  said  commissioner,  whereby  emigrants  shall  pledge  the  wages  of  their  labor  for  a 
term  not  exceeding  tn'elve  months,  to  repay  the  expenses  of  their  emigration,  shall  be  held 
to  be  valid  in  law,  and  may  be  enforced  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  several 
States  and  Territories ;  and  such  advances,  if  so  stipulated  in  the  contract,  and  the  con- 
tract be  recorded  in  the  recorder's  office  in  the  county  where  the  emigrant  shall  settle, 
shall  operate  as  a  lien  upon  any  land  thereafter  acquired  by  the  emigrant,  whether  under 
the  homestead  law  when  the  title  is  consummated,  or  on  property  otherwise  acquired  until 
liquidated  by  the  emigrant ;  but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  deemed  to  authorize  any 
contract  contravening  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  creating  in  any  way  the 
relation  of  slavery  or  servitude.    (U.  S.  Stats,  at  Large,  vol.  L5, 1863-'65.) 

The  extent  to  which  the  authors  of  this  measure  knew  they  were  going  is  appa- 
rent from  the  last  lines  of  this  section — "but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be 
deemed  to  authorize  any  contract  contravening  the  Constitationof  the  United  States 
or  creating  in  any  way  the  relation  of  slavery  or  servitude." 

This  will  serve  to  show  to  many  persons,  who  have  often  wondered  how  many 
men  got  rich  so  rapidly  during  the  war,  how  it  was  done.  While  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  country  were  in  the  field  fighting  their  country's  battles,  the  manufac- 
turers, subsidized  by  the  most  exorbitant  duties  ever  levied  in  this  country,  were 
authorized  to  send  their  agents  to  Europe  and  there  seek  out  men  to  fill  the  places 
of  the  absent  soldiers,  who  were  fighting  for  the  munificent  wages  of  $13  a  month 
and  found. 

•  IT  REMAINED  A  LAW  UNTIL  REPEALED  BY  DEMOCRATS. 

This  law  remained  in  force  until  1885 — more  than  twenty  years — and  nearly 
nineteen  years  after  the  war,  which  was  given  as  the  excuse  for  its  enactment, 
was  over ;  and  every  eflbrt  to  repeal  it  in  the  interest  of  American  labor  was 
thwarted  by  Republicans  in  the  interest  of  the  contractor  and  manufacturer.  From 
the  time  of  the  enactment  of  this  law  till  its  repeal  over  6,500,000  immigrants  came 
to  our  shores.  How  many  of  these  came  voluntarily  upon  their  own  resources 
because  of  their  admiration  for  our  institutions,  and  how  many  debased  and  vicious 
characters  were  brought  here  under  this  contract  system  cannnot  even  be  estimated. 
Laborers  were  imported  under  the  provisions  of  this  law  up  to  the  time  of  its  repeal, 
and  the  statutes  now  in  force  prohibiting  the  same  are  being  evaded  in  every  possi- 


358  THE    DEMOCRACY   AND    LABOR. 

ble  way  by  the  men  who  cry  loudest  "protection  to  American  labor !"  The  Repub- 
lican party,  supreme  in  all  the  Departments  of  the  Government,  was  cognizant  of 
the  fact,  but  no  step  was  taken  to  protect  American  labor  from  this  competition. 

Not  only  was  the  war  long  past  and  the  necessity  for  its  continuance  gone,  but 
all  through  the  panic  of  1873  and  the  prolonged  financial  disturbance  which  fol- 
lowed, this  law  remained  unrepealed.  During  this  time  more  than  half  a  million  of 
men  were  discharged  from  mills  and  factories.  But  the  contract  labor  law  still 
went  on.  Under  its  provisions  the  Carnegies,  the  Ammidons,  the  DePauws  and 
the  Phillipses  could  go  freely  into  the  markets  of  the  world  and  buy  all  the  labor 
they  could  find  and  pay  it  such  prices  as  it  would  take. 

The  soldiers  of  the  union  had  long  since  returned,  and  were  as  bravely  pursuing 
the  arts  of  peace  as  they  had  those  of  war.  Still  they  were  cut  off  from  employment 
unless  they  would  accept  the  wages  satisfactory  to  what  the  over-protected  interests 
saw  fit  then,  as  well  as  now,  to  call  'the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,"  or  the  Coolie 
contract  and  servile  labor  of  Asia. 


REFUSAL  EVEN  TO  CONSIDER  THE  QUESTION. 

Individual  efforts  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  secure  a  repeal  or  modifica- 
tion of  the  law.  On  the  13th  of  December,  1869,  Senator  "Wilson,  of  Massachusetts 
introduced  a  bill  to  regulate  the  importation  of  immigrants  under  contract.  This- 
bill  was  called  up  by  him  on  the  22d  of  April,  1870,  and  its  consideration  urged; 
but  Senator  Ferry,  of  Michigan,  objected,  and  the  bill  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Commerce,  a  majority  of  whom  were  Republicans,  who  reported  against 
its  passage.  They  were  unwilling  to  consider  a  bill  to  even  regulate  the  subject 
four  years  after  the  war  was  over. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1870,  Senator  Wilson  introduced  another  bill  (S.  563> 
to  make  the  importation  of  immigration  under  contract  unlawful.  He  made  several 
efforts  to  secuie  consideration  of  the  same  without  reference  to  a  committee,  but 
objections  were  made,  and  on  December  12, 1870,  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Education  and  Labor,  and  was  never  heard  of  again.  No  power  was  strong 
enough  to  carry  a  bill  through  the  committee ;  the  ears  of  Republicans  were  denf 
to  all  appeals.  They  saw  American  workmen  out  of  employment,  wages  going 
down,  strikes  and  lock-outs  daily  occurring,  but  none  of  these  aroused  their 
attention. 

Further  attempts  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  give  the  needed  relief  to 
labor,  but  they  were  ail  successfully  resisted. 

Even  when  the  matter  had  grown  so  serious  that  organized  labor  had  begun  to 
make  itself  felt,  the  proposition  to  repeal  this  law  was  continually  resisted.  On  the 
8th  of  January,  propitious  as  the  anniversary  of  General  Jackson's  victory  at  New 
Orleans,  Martin  A.  Foran,  a  Democratic  Representative  in  Congress  from  the  State 
of  Ohio,  introduced  a  stringent  bill  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  labor  under 
contract. 

The  bill  pas^d  the  Democratic  House  on  June  19  following,  aCd  was  at  on^ 
sent  to  the  Senate.    Here,  however,  it  was  subjected  to  the  same  old  tactics 
delay ;  it  did  not  secure  attention  and  reach  passage  until  February,  1885,  after  tl 
people  at  a  general  election  had  passed  judgment  on  the  Republican  party 
evicted  it  from  office. 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  859 

VI. 

ENFORCING  THE  LAW. 

PERSISTENT     AND    SUCCESSFUL    EFFORTS    TO    EXCLUDE   LABOR   IMPORTED   UNDER 

■CONTRACTS  MADE   ABROAD. 
The  most  vigorous  and  determined   efforts  have  been  made  by  the  President 
and  Department  of  Justice  to  enforce  this  law.    Prosecutions  have  not  only  been 
instituted  whenever  complaint  has  been  made,  but  District  Attorneys  have  been 
instructed  to  give  their  personal  attention  to  any  case  which  might  arise  in  the  dis- 

■'Xa  over  which  they  have  authority. 
I  Soon  after  the  amended  law  became  in  force  the  Attorney-General  wrote  the 
owing  by  way  of  instruction  to  J.  S.  H.  Frink,  United  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  district  of  New  Hampshire  : 

■  Department  ov  Justice,  Washington,  D.  C,  April  26, 1888. 

H.  Fbink,  Esq.,  U.  S.  Attorney, 

Portsmouth,  N.  H. 

Sir:— In  response  to  my  request  I  received  yours  containing  afladavlts  and  other  papers 
relating  to  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  acts  of  1885  and  1887  concerning  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign  labor  by  contract,  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  the  Upper  Coos  Rail- 
road. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  second  section  of  the  act  of  1885,  the  penalty  Is  imposed  for 
the  violation  of  the  first  section  of  the  act.  The  penalty  may  be  sued  for  and  recovered  by 
the  United  States,  or  by  any  person  "who  may  first  bring  the  action."  The  duty  is  imposed 
on  the  United  States  Attorney  to  prosecute  every  such  suit  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States.  If  any  suits  are  brought  by  private  parties  under  the  act  to  recover  the  penalty, 
examine  the  facts  on  which  they  are  founded  with  care,  and  if  they  warrant  action,  prose- 
cute  them  with  diligence.  If  suits  are  not  brought  by  private  parties  in  such  cases  as  from 
the  facts  brought  to  your  knowledge  show  a  wilful  violation  of  the  law,  thoroughly  inves- 
tigate the  facta  that  can  be  proven  by  evidence  that  can  be  relied  on,  and  bring  suit  or 
suits  against  the  culpable  parties  or  corporation,  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  suffi- 
cient in  number  and  amount  to  vindicate  the  sanctity  of  the  law.  *  "  * 

If  Very  Respectfully, 

I  A.  H.  GARLAND,  Attorney  General. 

4 


THE  PRESIDENT  HIMSELF  GIVES  INSTRUCTIONS. 


^  President  Cleveland  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law. 
Lpril  last  there  was  reported  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  employing  fishermen  on 
the  Massachusetts  coast  to  import  under  contract  a  considerable  number  of  men  to  be 
employed  in  the  fisheries.  Thereupon  the  President  wrote  the  following  letter  of 
Instruction  to  the  District  Attorney  for  the  district  of  Eastern  Massachusetts : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  18,  1888. 
To  the  Hon.  O.  A.  Galvin,  United  States  District  Attorney,  Boston,  Mass.  : 

Dear  Sir— Information  has  reached  the  Treasury  Department  that  a  large  number  of 
foreigners  have  been  brought  into  Massachusetts  under  violation  of  the  contract  labor  law, 
for  the  purpose  of  manning  American  fishing  vessels  sent  out  from  the  ports  of  Gloucester, 
Boston,  and  Beverly  for  the  purpose  of  taking  fish  along  the  Canadian  coast. 


3G0  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

It  seems  to  me  quite  certain  that  such  foreigners,  aliens,  have  been  brought  in  by  par- 
ties in  direct  violation  of  the  statute  covering  such  cases,  and  I  believe  that  the  importa- 
tion of  such  foreigners  tends  to  the  displacement  of  American  labor. 

I  am  aware  that  many  of  these  persons  have,  through  the  care  of  the  oflacials,  been 
returned  to  the  country  from  "which  they  came.  I,  therefore,  enjoin  on  you  the  duty  of  a 
prompt  investigation  of  these  cases,  and  request  that  you  confer  with  the  Collectors  of  the 
ports  of  Boston  and  Gloucester,  that  prompt  and  effective  measures  may  be  taken. 

The  department  has  ordered  that  special  agents  be  detailed  who  will  report  directly  to 
you,  and  if  you  require  any  further  assistance  it  will  be  given  you  upon  application. 

Yours  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


SUGGESTING  ADDITIONAL  LEGISLATION  TO  CONQRB6S. 

The  following  letter,  addressed  to  Congress  by  the  present  Democratic  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  illustrates  the  efficient  and  diligent  efforts  of  the  present 
administration  to  prevent  such  importations  of  pauper  labor : 

Treasury  Department, 

Office  of  the  Secretary, 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  16th,  1888. 
To  th4  Speaker  United  States  Eome  of  Eepreeentativee : 

Sir  :  The  attention  of  the  Congress  is  respectfully  invited  to  the  necessity  of  further 
legislation  for  the  better  enforcement  of  the  Alien  Contract  Labor  Law. 

The  initial  enactment  upon  this  subject  was  approved  February  36, 1885  (33  Stats,  at 
Large  333).  It  declared  that  all  contracts  to  perform  labor  or  service,  or  having  reference  to 
the  performance  of  labor  or  service,  with  a  few  unimportant  exceptions  not  necessary  to  be 
here  noticed,  made  previous  to  the  immigration  to,  or  importation  into  this  country  of  the 
laborer,  should  be  void,  and  it  should  be  unlawful  for  any  person,  firm  or  corporation  to  in 
any  manner  assist  any  foreign  laborer  into  this  country  under  a  contract  or  agreement, 
parol,  or  special,  express  or  implied,  made  previous  to  his  entry  to  perform  labor  or  service 
of  any  kind  in  the  United  States. 

The  landing  of  the  immigrant  was  not,  in  terms,  prohibited,  nor  was  there  any  provision 
for  his  return  to  the  country  from  whence  he  came,  and  the  only  measures  incorporated 
into  the  law  which  were  designed  to  secure  its  enforcement  were  the  imposition  of  a  pen- 
alty of  $1,000  for  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  section  1,  to  be  sued  for  and  recovered  in 
the  Federal  Courts.  «**•••• 

Presumably  this  law  was  not  found  to  be  sufficiently  effective  to  prevent  the  evil» 
against  which  it  was  aimed,  and  on  February  33, 1887,  it  was  amended  (34  Stats,  page  474)  by 
adding  thereto  sections  6, 7  and  8,  which  charged  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  with  the 
duty  of  executing  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and  authorized  him  to  enter  into  contracts 
with  any  State  Commission,  board  or  officers  having  charge  of  the  local  affairs  of  immij 
tion  in  the  ports  within  the  State,  and  prohibiting  the  landing  of  any  person  found  to  ha 

been  brought  here  under  contract  to  labor  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and  ]   

viding  that  all  persons  included  in  the  prohibition  of  the  act  should  be  sent  back  to  tb© 
nations  to  which  they  belonged  and  from  whence  they  came,  and  authorizing  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  designate  any  State  Board  or  any  Commission,  or  any  person  or  persons 
in  any  State  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  cause  all  such  persons  to  be  returned,  and  who 
should  be  entitled  to  reasonable  compensation  therefor  to  be  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  who  was  authorized  to  prescribe  regulations  for  the  return  of  such  persons  and 
furnish  instructions  to  the  board,  commission  or  persons  charged  with  that  work,  and  the 
expense  of  the  return  must  be  borne  by  the  owners  of  the  vessels  in  which  they  came. 


1 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  361 


^^^  vessel  refusing  to  pay  such  expense  should  not  be  permitted  to  land  at  or  dear  from 
any  port  of  the  United  States,  and  the  expenses  were  made  a  lien  upon  the  vessel, 
and  the   necessary  expenses  incurred   in  the  execution  of  the  act  for  that  fiscal  year 

Inely,  ending  June  30, 1887)  were  to  be  paid  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  other- 
B  appropriated. 


PRECAUTIONS  TAKEN  BY  THE  TRKASOTIY  DEPARTMENT. 


On  March  24, 1887,  the  Acting  Secretary,  in  a  circular  addressed  to  the  Collectors  of 
Customs  and  Commissioners  of  Emigration  and  others,  called  attention  to  these  acts  and 
instructed  the  Collectors  of  Customs  to  cause  all  vessels  arriving  from  foreign  ports  to  be 
examined  by  officers  of  the  port  who  might  be  in  the  customs  service,  in  order  to  ascertain 
whether  any  alien  immigrants  forbidden  to  land  within  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1885 
were  on  such  vessels,  and  to  use  the  utmost  vigilance  to  prevent  the  landing  of  such  immi- 
grants, and  to  secure  their  return  to  the  countries  from  whence  they  came  by  the  vessels  on 
their  arrival,  and  to  report  the  names  of  all  persons  or  firms  instrumental  in  engaging,  or 
introducing  Into  the  country,  contract  immigrants  prohibited  from  landing,  to  the  United 
States  Attorney  for  the  judicial  district  embracing  their  respective  ports,  and  also  the 
names  of  the  vessels  bringing  such  contract  immigrants,  and  of  their  masters,  in  order  that 
prosecutions  might  be  instigated  against  them  as  provided  for  in  sections  2  and  3  of  the 
original  act,  and  in  case  of  any  refusal  to  return  contract  immigrants  as  required  by  law. 
Collectors  were  instructed  to  promptly  institute  the  proceedings  authorized  by  section  8  of 
the  act  of  February  23,  1887.  Commissioners  of  Emigration  were  also  requested  to  aid 
Collectors  of  Customs  and  those  persons  designated  by  Collectors  when  the  service  required, 
BO  far  as  might  be  possible  within  the  scope  of  their  legitimate  duties. 

APPROPRIATIONS  FOR  BNFORCING  THE  liAW  EXHAUSTED. 

In  these  instructions  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  would  s«em  to  have  gone  to  the 
very  verge  of  the  powers  conferred  upon  him  by  the  acts  referred  to.  But  at  the  time  this 
circular  was  issued  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  had  expired,  the  appropriation  bills  for  the 
fiscal  year  1888  had  been  passed,  and  by  some  omission,  whether  accidental  or  intentional,  I 
am  unable  to  say,  no  appropriation  had  been  made  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  this 
law  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1888,  and  no  appropriation  has  thus  far  been  made 
or  contemplated,  that  I  am  aware  of,  to  defray  such  expenses  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30, 1889. 

Its  enforcement,  therefore,  during  this  period  by  the  Treasury  Department  has  neces- 
sarily been  made  an  incident  of  the  customs  service,  and  with  the  limited  and  inadequate 
appropriations  provided  by  Congress  for  this  service  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  means 
for  a  perfect  and  successful  execution  of  the  law  are  wanting.  *  *  •  What  is 
needed  is  a  separate  and  independent  appropriation  for  the  service  required  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  under  the  act  of  1887.  There  is  in  the  Treasury  an  "Immigrant  Fund" 
derived  from  the  head-money  tax  provided  for  in  the  Immigration  Act  of  1883(22  Stats.  214), 
and  which  is  especially  appropriated  by  the  terms  of  that  act  to  defraying  the  expenses  of 
carrying  it  Into  effect. 

After  paying  out  of  that  fund  all  expenditures  properly  chargeable  to  It  there  was  a  bal- 
ance unexpended  on  June  30, 1888,  of  nearly  $335,000.  It  is  difficult  to  perceive  any  good 
reason  why  this  fund  should  not  also  be  charged  with  the  expense  of  enforcing  the  Alien 
Contract  Labor  Law.  It  relates  to  the  same  general  subject-matter,  namely,  the  exclusion 
from  this  country  of  undesirable  foreigners,  and  the  revenues  derived  from  the  tax  on  for- 
eign immigration  can  be  properly,  and  it  Is  believed,  profitably  employed  in  this  work. 

j^^uld  also  seem  to  be  desirable.    As  it  stands,  his  jurisdiction  in  the  premises  apparently 
terminates  when  the  landing  of  the  immigrant  has  been  consummated.    From  information 
derived  from  reliable  sources,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  not  Infrequently  hap- 
pen that  the  evidence  going  to  show  that  the  immigrant  has  come  here  under  a  contract  to 
labor,  is  inaccessible  until  it  is  too  late  to  be  of  any  avail.    The  provisions  of  this  law  are 


ENLARGED  POWERS  FOR  THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY. 


I 


36»  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

now  well  known  abroad,  and  the  immigrant  who  is  actually  coming  under  a  previous  cor 
tract  to  labor,  has  the  strongest  of  motives  to  conceal  the  fact  and  avoid  his  detention  o^ 
ship-board  and  his  return  to  his  native  country. 

When  it  is  considered  that  many  of  these  immigrant  ships  entering  at  the  port  of  Ne\ 
York  bring  from  a  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  passengers  at  a  trip,  and  sometimes  entei( 
at  the  rate  of  four  or  five  a  day,  and  the  question  of  their  right  to  land  must  necessarily 
determined,  in  the  first  instance,  in  a  very  brief  period  of  time,  the  possibility  of  evadir 
the  most  rigid  examination  that  can  be  instituted  under  such  circumstances,  is  not  remote 
But  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  immigrant  and  his  employer  may  furnish  strong  proof  o{ 
the  contract  previous  to  Immigration.    It  should  likewise  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  entt 
of  these  immigrants  can  easily  be  effected  by  way  of  Canada,  and  they  may  be  brougl 
across  the  border  at  points  many  miles  distant  from  the  place  where  a  customs  officer  maj 
be  located,  and  the  first  information  which  the  Department  or  any  of  its  oificers  may  ha\ 
of  their  presence  here  would  be  received  long  after  the  importation  has  been  made,  at 
when  the  time  for  preventive  action  under  existing  laws  had  passed. 

THE  LAW  PART  OF  OUR  SETTLED  POLICY. 

Regarding  the  law,  therefore,  as  a  part  of  the  settled  policy  of  our  Government,  i 
would  seem  to  be  wise  to  provide  that  in  all  cases  where,  within  a  reasonable  time  after  th^ 
landing  or  entry  of  the  immigrant,  the  Department  become  satisfied  that  his  landing  oij 
entry  was  prohibited,  summary  proceedings  might  be  instituted  for  re- taking  the  immigrar 
and  returning  him  at  the  expense  of  the  owner  of  the  importing  vessel,  or  of  the  pei 
contracting  for  his  service,  in  case  he  enters  from  the  adjoining  provinces. 

It  would  also  prove  a  great  stimulus  to  persons  who  may  be  interested  in  the  detectioi 
and  prevention  of  violations  of  the  law,  If  it  was  provided  that  they  should  have  a  share  ol 
the  penalties  recovered,  or  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  be  authorized  to  pa| 
out  of  the  moneys  realized  upon  any  such  recovery  such  portion,  not  exceeding  50  per  cent 
as  he  may  deem  a  just  and  reasonable  compensation  for  any  information  furnished  which  he 
led  to  the  recovery.    This  course  is  pursued  with  respect  to  violations  of  the  revenue 
but  the  act  of  1885,  while  it  authorizes  any  person  to  bring  an  action  in  the  Federal  courts 
for  the  recovery  of  the  penalties  imposed,  makes  no  provision  for  his  compensation  or  fc 
the  payment  to  him  of  any  portion  of  the  recovery,  in  case  the  prosecution  is  successful. 

ASKS  THAT  THE  LAW  BE  STRENGTHENED. 

In  View  of  the  foregoing  facts  I  would  respectfully  submit  the  following  recommend 
tions: 

First.    That  the  sum  of  $50,000  be  appropriated  out  of  the  "  Immigrant  Fund  "  for  th« 
purpose  of  enabling  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  ti 
Alien  Contract  Labor  Law  of  1885,  as  amended  by  the  act  of  1887,  and  for  the  purpose 
defraying  the  expenses  which  he  is  authorized  to  incur  by  the  provisions  of  the  latter  act 
during  the  present  fiscal  year,  and  that  this  appropriation  be  made  in  the  General  Deflci-f 
ency  Bill  now  pending,  or  in  some  other  proper  appropriation  bill.  If  Congress  approves  ol 
this  recommendation  a  draft  of  a  provision  for  that  purpose  to  be  inserted  in  such  bill 
herewith  submitted. 

Second.  An  amendment  to  the  act  of  1887,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasui 
in  case  he  shall  be  satisfied  that  an  immigrant  has  been  allowed  to  land  contrary  to  the  pi 
hibition  of  that  law,  to  cause  such  immigrant  within  a  reasonable  time,  say  one  year,  to 
taken  into  custody  and  returned  to  the  country  from  whence  he  came  at  the  expense  of  thi 
owner  of  the  importing  vessel,  or  if  he  entered  from  an  adjoining  country  at  the  expei 
of  the  person  previously  contracting  for  the  services. 

Third.    An  amendment  to  the  act  of  1885,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  t^ 
pay  an  informer  who  furnishes  original  information  that  the  law  has  been  violated,  such  i 
share  of  the  penalties  recovered  as  he  may  deem  reasonable  and  just,  not  exceeding  50 
cent.,  where  it  appears  that  the  recovery  was  had  in  consequence  of  the  information  thi 
furnished.  Bespectfully  yours, 

C.  S.  FAIRCHILD,  Secretary. 


I 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 


No  complaint  has  been  made  in  any  quarter  that  the  present  Administration 
lias  not  done  everything  in  its  power  to  execute  the  law  vrilhout  fear  or  favor,  and 
the  official  letters  already  presented  sufficiently  attest  the  purpose  of  the  authorities 
to  do  what  in  them  lies  to  protect  labor  from  the  unfair  competition,  to  which  it 
was  for  more  than  twenty  years  subjected  under  Republican  rule. 


I 


"A   REPUBLICAN   SENATOR   WHO   IMPORTED   CONTRACT   LABORERS  IN   GREAT 

NUMBERS. 


There  is  now  pending  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Western 
District  of  Texas  an  action  ia  which  the  United  States  is  plaintiff  and  Gustave 
Wilke,  John  V.  Farwell,  Cliarles  B.  FariceU,  Abner  Taylor  and  Amos  Babcock  are 
•defendants. 

The  pleadings  in  the  case  show  that  the  defendants  had  a  contract  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  State-House  at  Austin,  Texas;  that  they  were  known  as  the  Capital 
Syndicate;  that  the  stonecutters  employed  to  cut  the  stone  struck  and  refused  to 
work  because  convicts  were  employed  at  the  quarries  in  getting  out  the  stone,  and 
the  defendants  then  sent  to  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  in  April,  1886,  and  brought  over 
eighty-seven  foreign  stonecutters  under  contract  to  work  upon  said  building,  who 
were  employed  and  paid  by  them,  and  after  the  completion  of  the  work  th*^y,  or  the 
most  of  them,  returned  to  Scotland. 

Suit  is  brought  to  recover  $1,000  penalty  for  each  alien  contract  laborer. 


vn. 

EIGHT-HOUR  LEGISLATION. 

REPUBLICAN  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  ENACTMENT  OP  THE  LAW  AND  THE  PERSIST- 
^^  ENT  FAILURE  TO    ENFORCE  IT. 

^"  The  first  eight-hour  bill  was  introduced  by  A.  J.  Rogers,  a  Democratic  member 
from  New  Jersey,  February  19, 1866.  The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary,  where  it  was  pigeon-holed  during  that  Congress. 

"William  E.  Niblack,  a  Democratic  member  from  Indiana,  next  introduced  a 
joint  resolution  declaring  eight-hours  a  legal  day's  work  under  the  Government, 
This  resolution  was  also  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  was 
strangled  by  that  Committee.  The  House  of  Representatives  was  strongly  Repub- 
lican during  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  James  F.  Wilson,  now  United  States 
Senator  from  Iowa,  being  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

In  the  Senate  Mr.  Brown  (Republican),  of  Missouri,  introduced  an  eight-hour 
bill,  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs.  On  March  2,  1867,  it 
was  reported  to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Grunes  (Republican),  of  Iowa,  who  moved  that 
the  committee  be  discharged  from  its  further  consideration,  which  motion  was 
agreed  to.  That  action  killed  the  bill.  The  Senate  was  then  Republican  by  a 
large  majoiity. 


I 


364  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

ITS  COURSE  IN  THE  SDCCEEDING  CONGRESS. 

On  March  14,  1867,  George  W.  Julian,  of  Indiana,  now  Democratic  Sur- 
veyor-General of  New  Mexico,  introduced  the  same  bill  offered  by  Mr,  Rogers  in 
the  previous  Congress.  Mr.  Holman,  Democrat,  of  Indiana,  moved  tliat  the  bill  be 
at  once  put  upftn  its  passage.  But  this  was  objected  to  by  Thaddeus  Stevens,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  bill  was  then  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 


FORTIETH  CONGRESS— FIRST  SESSION. 

On  March  28, 1867,  General  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  introduced  an  eight-hour 
bill,  and  the  rules  were  suspended  and  the  bill  passed.  The  bill  was  seat  to  the 
Senate  on  the  same  day,  and  after  a  warm  debate  on  its  i-eference  to  a  committee,  it 
was  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee,  of  which  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was 
chairman.  That  committee  loved  it  so  much  that  they  could  not  part  with  it,  so  it 
was  never  reported  back  to  the  Senate. 

FORTIETH  CONGRESS — SECOND  SESSION. 

On  January  6,  1868,  another  eight- hour  bill  was  introduced  by  General  Banks, 
which  was  passed  by  the  House  without  a  yea  and  nay  vote.  This  bill  was  received 
by  the  Senate  on  January  7, 1868,  the  day  after  it  passed  the  House,  and  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Conness,  of  California,  it  was  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table.  He  said  he 
made  that  motion  because  a  similar  bill  had  been  referred  to  a  committee  which 
neglected  to  report  it  back  to  the  Senate.  He  gave  notice  that  he  would  call  it  up 
at  an  early  day . 

Nothing  more  was  said  about  it  for  nearly  five  months,  when,  on  June  3, 1868, 
Mr.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  the  late  Vice-President,  moved  to  take  it  up  for  consid-  , 
eration.    He  made  an  earnest  speech  in  favor  of  his  motion,  saying  in  the  course 
of  it: 

The  bill  is  meritorious,  and  petitions  have  come  to  the  Senat"  from  all  over  the  United 
Statt'S,  and  up  to  this  time  no  attention  has  been  paid  to  thetn  by  the  Senate.  At  an  early 
period  of  this  session,  among  the  first  acts  passed  by  the  house  of  Representatives  was  this 
act.  but  it  has  laid  upon  the  table  and  has  not  even  been  referred  to  a  committee.  Now.  in 
response  and  in  respect  to  the  sentim-  nt  of  the  country  so  generally  expressed  on  this 
subject  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  call  up  the  measure  for  passage.  The  bill  is  brief  and  r  - 
be  considered  without  reference  to  a  committee. 

The  Senate  refused  to  take  the  bill  up. 

On  June  24, 1868,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Conness,  the  bill  was  taken  up,  when  Senator  Sh( 
man  offered  the  following  amendment : 

"  And  unless  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  rate  of  wages  paid  by  the  United  Stat 
shall  be  the  current  rate  for  the  same  labor,  for  the  same  time,  at  the  place  of  employment 

Mr.  Sherman  said : 

"All  I  desire  is,  if  the  United  States  Government  chooses  to  take  the  lead  In  makii 
eight  hours  a  day's  work,  that  it  shall  not  be  compelled  to  pay  for  that  eight  hours'  woi 
more  than  any  private  individual  would  pay." 

Mr.  Hendricks  (Democrat)  from  Indiana,  said : 

"I  have  supported  this  bill,  because  a  very  large  number  of  worklngmen  of  tl 
country  have  petitioned  Congress  for  it.  Its  influence  on  the  private  employments  of  tl 
country  may  be  beneficial  to  the  laboring  masses.  My  opinion  is  that  eight  hours  of  lab' 
faithfully  applied,  are  quite  svjfkient,  and  that  the  health  of  the  laborer  and  the  general  interetl 
society  will  be  promoted  by  this  reform.  I  do  not  think  the  amendment  proposed  by  the  Sel 
ator  from  Ohio  (Mr.  Sherman)  is  necessarily  connected  with  this  proposition.  There  mf 
be  reasons  why  the  wages  of  those  employed  by  the  Government  should  not  be  regula't 
by  the  wages  paid  by  private  employers  in  the  particular  locality.  Take  the  city  of  WasI 
ington  for  example.  Private  employment  here  is  very  limited;  enterprise  is  very  limitej^ 
and  if  you  would  say  that  the  laborer  for  the  Government  should  have  no  more  than  oB 
who  works  for  a  private  citizen,  perhaps  you  would  fix  an  unfortunate  standard.  I  shi 
vote  against  the  amendment  of  the  bill." 


I 


THE    DEMOCRACY   AND    LABOR.  366 


The  amendment  of  Senator  Sherman  was  rejected  and  the  bill  was  passed  by  a 
vote  of  26  to  11.    . 

After  the  passage  of  the  bill  Senator  Sherman  said  the  title  of  the  bill  ought 
to  be  changed  so  as  to  read :  "A  bill  to  pay  Government  employes  25  per  cent, 
more  wages  than  employes  in  private  establishments  receive."      ^ 

FAILURE  TO  EKPORCE  THE  LAW  IN  NAVY  YARDS. 

After  the  passage  of  this  law  it  early  became  apparent  that  officers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment were  hostile  to  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  law  and  determined  to  construe 
its  provisions  to  suit  themselves,  and  compel  or  induce  workmen,  through  fear  of 
discharge  to  labor  ten  hours  per  day  or  submit  to  a  reduction  of  wages  if  only 
eight  hours'  labor  was  given. 

To  meet  this  violation  of  the  law,  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  8th 
day  of  April,  1869,  passed  a  joint  resolution  which  provided  "that  the  joint  resolu- 
tion reducing  and  regulating  the  hours  of  labor  of  Government  laborers,  workmen 
and  mechanics,  approved  June  25, 1868,  shall  not  be  construed  as  to  authorize  a 
corresponding  reduction  of  wages." 

April  20, 1869,  fifteen  days  after  the  passage  of  this  resolution,  Senator  Wilson 

addressed  a  letter  to  the  then  Secretary  of  War,  wherein  he  said : 

"I  am  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  the  construction  put  by  officers  of  the  Government 
>n  the  act  constituting:  eight  hours  a  day's  work  for  all  laborers.workmen  and  mechanics 
employed  by  the  United  States  is  a  palpable  violation  of  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  acts 


upon  the  act  constitutingeight  hours  a  day's  work  for  all  laborers,  workmen  and  mechanics 

galpable 
^        .  e  men  who  petitioned  for  its  passage. 


"The  recent  act  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  the  complete  demonstration  that 
the  action  of  the  Government  officials  is  in  direct  violation  of  the  will  of  the  representatives 
of  the  people.  *  *  «  Congress  was  not  asked  to  reduce  the  pay  in  propor- 

tion to  the  reduction  of  the  hours,  but  to  fix  the  number  of  hours  that  should  make  a  day's 
work.       '  *  ♦  By  that  law  eight  hours  is  constitut<ed  a  day's  work,  a  day's 

Ek  that  commands  a  day's  pay." 
The  House  resolution  above  referred  to  was  sent  to  the  Senate  April  8, 1869,  but 
not  acted  upon  during  that  session.  During  the  second  session,  on  December 
15, 1869,  Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  called  the  resolution  up  and  offered  an  amend- 
ment repealing  the  original  eight- hour  law.  He  made  a  speech  covering  seven  pages 
of  the  Congressional  Globe,  in  support  of  his  amendment. 

In  the  meantime  President  Grant  had  been  appealed  to,  and  had  issued  a  proc- 
lamation, dated  May  19, 1869.  giving  ihe  Executive  construction  to  the  law,  which 
was  that  no  reduction  in  wages  should  be  made  because  of  a  reduction  in  the  hours 
of  labor.  At  that  time  workingmen  thought  that  the  proclamation  of  the  President 
would  be  respected  and  obeyed  by  the  Executive  officers  of  the  Government,  but 
they  seemed  to  care  no  more  for  the  President's  order  than  they  did  for  the  law 
itself,  and  so  flagrant  was  the  continued  violation,  that  the  President  was  again 
appealed  to,  and  a  second  proclamation  was  issued  May  11,  1872,  commanding 
officers  of  the  Government  to  obey  the  law. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  46th  Congress,  John  Goode  (Dem  )  of  Virginia, 
April  21,  1879,  offered  a  joint  resolution  to  provide  for  the  enforcement  of  the  eight 
hour  law.  Mr.  Goode,  on  May  7,  1879,  from  the  Committee  on  Education  and 
Labor,  reported  the  resolution  to  the  House  with  a  favorable  recommendation. 

Mr.  Cannon,  of  Illinois,  opposed  the  passage  of  the  resolution.  In  reply  to  a 
question  whether  the  last  proclamation  of  President  Grant  did  not  declare  that  theie 
should  be  no  reduction  in  the  wages  of  workmen  employed  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  on  account  of  the  reduction  of  hours  of  labor,  he  said  : 


366  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

T  do  not  recollect,  but  it  is  not  material ;  the  fact  is,  the  law  as  now  executed  is  this 
if  they  work  ten  hours  they  get  ten  hours'  pay,  and  if  they  only  work  eig'ht  hours  they 
only  get  eight  hours'  pay.  In  other  words,  they  only  get  pay  for  what  they  earn.  Tha 
is  the  way  the  law  is  now  being  executed,  and  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  It  will  goonii 
that  way,  proclamation  or  no  proclamation. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Cannon,  the  joint  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table.    Yes 

129,  nays  90.    Among  those  voting  yea  were  Messrs.  Bayne  of  Pennsylvania,  Bur 

TOWS  of  Michigan,  Cannon  of  Illinois,  Hiscock  of  New  York,  McKinley  of  Ohio, 

MORTON,  of  New  York,  and  Reed  of  Maine.    The  Republican  candidate  was  thus 

found  in  the  house  of  his  friends  voting  against  the  eight  hour  law. 

On  June  28, 1884,  Mr.  Hopkins,  Democrat,  of  Pennsylvania,  called  up  Hous 

l)ill  No.  6541,  providing  for  the  adjustment  of  accounts  of  laborers,  workmen  am 

mechanics  arising  under  the  eight-hour  law.     During  the-  debate  on  this  bill,  Mr 

Lovering,  of  Massachusetts,  a  Democratic  member  of  the  Committee  on  Labor,  saic 

Men,  high  inoflBeial  positions,  have  sneered  at  and  insulted  the  employes  and  laborer 
of  the  Government  when  they  have  respectfully  asked  for  their  legal  rights,  and  they  hav< 
in  turn  been  told  to  get  them  if  they  could.  It  is  time  a  halt  was  called  upon  this  sort  o 
thing.  As  long  as  this  law  remains  upon  the  statute-books,  the  people  demand  its  rigid 
enforcement,  and  without  any  of  the  equivocations  of  the  past  at  the  hands  of  those 
whose  duty  it  is  by  their  oaths  of  office  to  enforce  all  liws;  that  it  shall  no  more  be  nullified 
and  trampled  upon  by  the  rule  of  the  past,  the  rule  of  the  so-called  "administrative  discre- 
tion," which  has  singled  out  the  only  law  ever  enajted  directly  in  the  interest  of  labor, 
and  hassubjeoted  it  to  the  caprice  or  hostility  of  the  official  who  for  the  time  being  hs 
been  clothed  with  a  "little  brief  authority." 

After  considerable  debate,  Mr.  Hopkins  moved  that  the  committee  rise  for  th« 

purpose  of  closing  debate,  but  iVIr.   Browne  (Republican)  of  Indiana,  insisting  that 

the  opponents  of  the  bill  should  have  more  time  to  talk  it  to  death,  said: 

It  was  not  Intended  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  either  the  laborer  or  the  Govern- 
ment to  freely  contract  both  as  to  the  hours  of  employment  and  the  measure  of  compensa- 
tion.  The  statute  does  not  attempt  the  impossible— to  make  eight  hours  equal  to  ten— not 
does  it  require  the  Government  to  pay  for  eight  hours  a  sum  equal  to  the  market  value  o( 
ten  hours  of  service.  If  the  employer  and  employe  mutually  stipulate  for  a  day  of  ten 
hours,  no  law  is  violated.  If  the  laborer  works  two  hours  over  the  legal  limit  fixed  for  the 
day  and  is  paid  for  this  extra  time,  should  he  complaia,  and  is  it  either  reasonable  or  fair  to 
exact  double  pay  for  this  excess?  If  the  laborer,  by  contract,  either  express  or  implied^ 
undertakes  to  labor  for  an  agreed  sura,  he  is  bound  in  law  an>i  morals  by  his  contract.  Who 
dares  deny  this?    Then  why  this  bill?  *  *  «  ♦  *  *  « 

Mr.  Hopkins.  I  desire  to  ask  the  gentleman  what  the  Chicago  platform  of  his  own  part] 
•contains  as  to  the  eight-hour  law. 

Mr.  Browne,  of  Indiana.  I  do  not  remember  what  It  contains  on  that  subject ;  nor  do  '. 
know  what  the  next  Chicago  platform  will  have  in  it.  •  •  •  ♦ 

Mr.  Hiscock  (Republican)  of  New  York,  said: 

The  bill  assumes  these  claimants  have  no  valid  claim  against  the  Government,  and  pro 
poses  to  give  them  this  gratuity.  It  assumes  they  have  already  been  paid  in  full ;  but  ii 
addition,  it  will  by  favor,  give  them  for  eight  hours'  work  the  price  of  ten.  Why  not  thei 
have  this  fairly  and.  openly  stated  upon  the  face  of  the  bill  itself  ?  If  in  the  future  that  i 
exactly  what  is  intended  to  be  accomplished,  why  not  let  the  bill  so  express  it  ?  Why  no 
let  it  clearly  say  to  all  those  in  the  Government  employ,  the  Government  will  pay  ihem  fo 
eight  hours'  service  the  value  or  price  of  ten  ?  Then  you  will  have  something  definite  an( 
positive  for  your  labor.  Then  you  can  afford  to  make  these  demagogical  speeches.  Yoi 
<5an  alf  ord  to  say  that  you  propose  to  elevate  labor  in  the  Government  employ  by  paying  it 
twenty-five  per  cent,  or  upward  more  than  it  is  worth  and  more  than  labor  elsewhei 
receives.    You  will  have  paid  for  the  privilege. 

Messrs.  Hopkins,  O'Neill,  Glasscock,  Foran,  and  others  favored  the  bill,  but 
failed  to  pass. 

Among  those  voting  against  the  bill  were  the  following  Republican  members 
Bayne  of  Pennsylvania,  Burrows  of  Michigan,  Connor  of  Illinois,  Hiscock  of  Ne^ 
York,  McKinly  of  Ohio,  MORTON  of  New  York,  and  Reed  of  Maine. 

Things  remained  in  this  condition  until  the  advent  of  a  Democratic  administra 
tion,  when  Secretary  Whitney  issued  an  order,  so  different  in  language  and  con 
struction  to  its  predecessors  that  the  law  has  since  been  as  faithfully  executed  as  any 
other  on  the  statute  books. 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AKD    LABOR.  367 

VIII. 

SOME  LABOR  TENDENCIES. 

"WHAT  LABORING    MEN    THINK    OF   THE    SITUATION— PLAIN    SPOKEN    OPINIONS  ON 
THE    TARIFF  AND  ON  HARRISON. 

•Under  this  classification  will  be  given  such  miscellaneous  information  on  the 
.  r  question  as  it  has  been  found  impossible  to  classify  elsewhere.  It  will  include 
the  opinions  of  the  representatives  of  labor  in  Congress,  a  showing  of  the  effect  (?f 
imported  labor  in  some  of  the  mining  and  manufacturing  centres,  and  the  methods 
adopted  by  some  of  the  leading  protectionists  to  promote  their  own  interests  while 
grinding  the  workingman  down  to  the  lowest  limit  or  importing  cheap  laborers  to- 
take  his  place.    It  is  all  of  such  a  nature  as  to  carry  its  own  conclusions  with  it. 

^||  REPRESENTATIVE  WORKINGMEN    FAVOR  TARIFF  REFORM. 

Organized  labor  has  two  representatives  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives^ 
at  "Washington,  and  the  steady  support  which  these  men  gave  the  bill  to  reduce  tariff  taxes, 
known  as  the  Mills  bill,  convinced  many  Republican  Congressmen  that  the  attempt  to  geti 
up  a  "workingmen's  scare,"  as  they  call  it  among  themselves,  will  be  a  failure. 

These  two  labor  representatives  are  Congressman  Henry  Smith,  of  the  Fourth  "Wiscon- 
sin district,  and  Congressman  Samuel  J.  Hopkins,  of  the  Sixth  Virginia  district.  Mr.  Smith; 
Js  about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  is  a  carpenter  and  millwright  by  trade.  He  has  a  common 
school  education  and  plenty  of  common  sense,  industry  and  acquaintance  with  men  and 
facts,  worth  more  than  a  college  education.  He  is  the  Statemaster  workman  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor  of  Wisconsin,  and  as  a  representative  workingman  he  has  several  times  been 
chosen  to  responsible  public  offices,  having  been  a  member  of  the  Milwaukee  Common 
Council,  and  of  the  Wisconsin  Legislature.  He  was  elected  to  Congress  as  the  candidate  of 
the  Labor  party,  polling  13,355  votes  against  9,645  ior  the  Republican  nominee  and  8,233  for 
the  Democratic  nominee.  At  the  previous  election  the  district  had  elected  a  Republican, 
by  a  vote  of  16,783  to  15,967  for  the  Democrat.  Congressman  Smith  sits  on  the  Republican* 
side  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Congressman  Hopkins  was  a  carpenter  and  is  a  dealer  in  merchant  saddlery.  He  is^ 
forty-five  years  old,  and  for  several  years  has  been  one  of  the  most  influential  members  of 
the  Knights  of  Labor  in  Virginia.  He  is  and  always  has  been  a  Democrat,  but  was  elected 
to  Congress  as  the  candidate  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  by  a  vote  of  9,470  to  9,020  over  the 
regular  Democratic  nominee.  At  the  previous  election  the  district  gave  3,600  straight 
Democratic  majority. 

Congressman  Hopkins  is  influential,  not  only  among  the  labor  organizations  of  his  own 
State,  but  is  known  to  labor  organizations  throughout  the  country. 

■  REDUCE  THE   TAXES  ON  LABORING  MEN.      • 

"^Congressman  Smith,  when  asked  his  views  on  tariff  legislation  and  the  Mills  bill,  said  : 
y  opinions  on  this  matter  are  the  result  of  careful,  conscientious,  and  I  hope,  intelligent 
study  of  what  are  the  needs  of  the  country  and  especially  of  laboring  men,  who  make  up 
the  country's  strength.  The  tariff  is  a  tax  and  no  amount  of  talking  in  Congress  or  in  the 
newspapers  or  anywhere  else  can  make  it  seem  to  be  anything  else.  The  people  of  this 
country  cannot  be  made  happy  or  prosperous  by  taxing  them,  and  until  the  last  few  years 
anyone  who  maintained  that  this  could  be  done  would  be  laughed  at.  As  the  tariff  is  a  tax 
it  should  be  levied  on  luxuries,  and  thus  the  tax  put  on  those  who  can  best  afford  to  pay  the 
taxes.  That  is  the  true  way  to  reform  the  present  tariff.  The  Mills  bill,  as  it  is  called,  is  a 
moderate  effort  to  reduce  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life  and  I  shall  vote,  if  I  have  a  chance, 
to  go  even  further  and  shall  support  all  measures  to  lighten  the  load  of  taxes  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  labor,  which  is  both  the  producing  and  the  consuming  element  of  our  population.  I 
shall  vote  for  free  coal  and  free  sugar  as  I  have  already  voted  for  free  lumber.  Tariff  taxa- 
tion, to  my  way  of  thinking,  is  not  a  blessing,and  men  who  work  for  wages  and  have  thougth 
about  it,  as  I  have,  always  reach  this  same  conclusion. 

THE  TWIN   MONOPOLIES. 

Tariff  taxation  is  not  the  only  obstacle  the  producing  element,  by  which,  of  course,  I 
mean  labor,  has  to  contend  against  in  this  country.  I  may  say,  in  passing,  that  the  matter 
of  transportation  and  the  absorption  of  our  public  lands  by  aggregated  capital,  foreign  or 
domestic,  is  of  as  great  importance  to  labor  as  the  tariff,  and  pernaps  of  greater  importance. 
Excessive  railroad  freights  and  discriminatibns  in  charges  weigh  down  upon  American  labor 
as  heavily  as  tariff  taxation.  I  will  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  the  railroads  of  the  country 
were  put  in  the  same  condition  as  our  rivers  and  national  waterways,  if  they  were  not  con- 
trolled by  corporations,  bound  to  make  traffic  pay  every  cent  it  can  stagger  under,  Ameri-. 


868  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

can  labor  would  need  no  tarifif  at  all.  It  could  not  only  defy  the  whole  world  at  home,  but 
compete  with  the  whole  world.  This  is  an  extreme  position,  but  a  moment's  reflection  will 
show  you  that  excessive  railroad  charges  are  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  American  produc- 
tion which  do  much  to  hamper  its  development.  The  profit  ro  be  made  in  railroads  is  one 
reason  for  the  decadence  of  our  merchant  marine,  when  men  make  more  money  out  of 
transportation  companies  on  stable  American  soil  than  they  can  from  ships  on  the  uncer- 
tain ocean,  of  course,  they  will  put  their  money  in  railroads.  This  problem  is  an  important 
one  to  labor,  tiioug'h  often  overlooked. 

PUBLIC  LANDS  MUST  BE  RESBEVED. 

The  abeorption  of  public  lands  in  the  West  by  railroad  companies  and  by  foreign  cor- 
porations is  a  matter  of  great  consequence  to  all  who  have  at  heart  interests  of  labor,  not 
only  for  this  generation  but  for  the  future.  Those  lands  must  be  reserved  for  actual  set- 
tlers •  Thi«  subject  and  the  matter  of  the  currency  are  important ;  but  to  return  to  the 
tariff. 

WAGES  AND  THE  TARIFF. 

I  bell€YB  all  the  necessaries  of  life  should  be  made  as  cheap  as  possible  to  the  consumer 
by  reduced  taxation.  It  is  not  true  that  a  reduction  of  the  tariff  will  reduce  the  wages  of 
either  skilled  or  unskilled  labor.  The  cry  that  wages  will  be  reduced  is  started  by  combi- 
nations of  capital  for  their  own  selfish  purposes,  and  this  is  so  evident  that  I  am  surprised 
men  should  not  clearly  see  the  fact.  I  have  no  Blackstonian  sheepskin  as  a  certificate  to 
my  seat  in  Congress.  I  am  here  because  laboring  men  in  my  district  thought  I  would  fairly 
represent  them  and  would  care  for  their  interests. 

I  have  worked  in  the  shop,  and  when  eloquent  lawyers  tell  me  that  in  supporting  a 
reduction  of  tariff  taxes  upon  the  people  I  am  voting  to  reduce  wages.  I  say  I  know  better. 
I  know  tiat  there  are  millions  of  men  in  this  country  under  the  present  system  who  do  not 
get  six  months'  steady  employment  out  of  a  year.  I  know  that  trusts  and  combinations, 
formed  to  restrict  production  and  compel  high  prices,  shut  down  their  shops  and  throw  men 
out  of  employment,  and  that  the  tariff  as  it  exists  is  the  cause.  I  have  never  had  any  doubt 
on  this  subject,  and  the  investigation  of  trusts  by  the  committee  on  manufactures,  of  which 
I  am  a  member,  has  fortified  my  conviction.  Page  after  page  of  the  testimony  we  have 
obtained  shows  that  the  tariff  is  an  incentive  to  the  formation  of  these  trusts  and  combi- 
nations of  capital,  and  has  been  so  used  for  years.  The  combination  of  tariff  "protection," 
as  they  call  it,  and  railroad  monopoly  leads  to  trusts.  The  tariff  and  railroad  monopoly  may 
be  "wholesome"  for  trusts,  but  bv  them  labor  gets  "shelved"  every  time.  My  experience 
in  Congress  oonflrms  my  original  belief  in  thismatter  every  day. 

THE  TARIFF  BREAKS  DOWN  SMALL,  SHOPS. 

There  is  another  matter,  not  often  spoken  of  In  debate  on  this  subject,  but  well  worth 
the  study  of  our  people.  The  tariff  not  only  creates  trusts,  but  it  also  tends  to  create  big 
shops  and  factories  and  to  crowd  out  of  existence  smaller  shops.  This  tendency  Is  rapidly 
doing  away  with  good  mechanics,  especially  in  the  industries  which  they  call  "protected." 
In  the  small  shop  the  employe  becomes  familiar  with  different  branches  of  the  work  and  he 
is  daily  acquiring  that  knowledge  which  will  enable  him  in  time  by  industry  and  economy 
to  set  up  in  business  for  himself  if  he  wishes.  He  becomes  not  only  educated  in  his  trade, 
but  an  educated  man  and  a  better  and  more  independent  citizen.  Wherever  he  may  move 
to,  he  can  find  employment  because  he  knows  his  whole  business.  He  is  self-reliant,  intel- 
ligent, prudent,  the  right  kind  of  citizen  for  this  country.  But  if  the  same  man  goes  into  a 
big  factory,  the  foreman  puts  him  at  one  machine,  doing  only  one  kind  of  work,  and  he  can 
bend  over  that  roachme  until  he  Is  gray,  never  making  any  progress,  and  should  he  lose  that 
place  or  move  away,  he  Is  trained  for  no  work  and  can  do  none  until  he  finds  a  vacant 
at  the  same  machine  in  some  other  establishment.  He  is  the  slave  of  his  machine.  Yo^ 
win  realize  how  this  tariff  we  have  now  is  creating  big  establishments  at  the  expense  ( 
smaller  ones  when  you  look  at  the  figures  and  find  that  against  about  270,000  manufacturli 
establishments  in  1870  we  now  have  less  than  260,000,  although  the  number  of  employes  ' 
Increased  by  a  millloa. 

AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN  LABOR. 

I  take  up  the  gauntlet  thrown  down  by  Congressman  W.  D.  Kelley,  and  I  declare 
a  Cmnese  wall  about  this  country  is  unnatural.  That  nation  grows  richest,  happiest  at 
most  prosperous  which  has  intercourse  with  its  neighbors.  In  the  Bible  you  will  find  it  sal^ 
that  Israel  was  most  prosperous  under  King  Solomon  and  then  "it  traded  with  all  tb 
nations."  My  experience  with  workingmen  is  that  we  have  no  such  hatred  against  our  fe^ 
low  laborers  in  other  countries  as  is  now  sought  to  be  created  and  stirred  up.  We  commis 
erate  the  condition  of  workingmen  in  other  lands  and  atrribute  it  to  class  legislation  for  tl 
benefit  of  the  rich  and  against  the  poor.  We  see  the  same  tendency  in  this  country,  n( 
only  in  the  high  tariff,  but  in  railroad  monopoly  and  other  matters  I  have  spoken  of,  at 
we  should  be  the  first  and  most  active  in  preventing  such  legislation  hereafter  and  remo^ 
Ing  it  where  it  exists.  The  success  of  the  trusts  in  defeating  a  reduction  of  taxes  no^ 
would  probably  lead  them  to  make  still  further  demands  for  legislation  for  their  benef 
against  the  country's  good. 

THE  POOR  PAY  THE  TAXES. 

After  all  the  weight  of  taxation  falls  on  the  man  at  the  plow-handle  and  in  the  shoij 
The  first  duty  of  legislation  is  to  make  their  burdens  as  light  as  possible.  If  the  farm* 
fares  well,  all  the  country  prospers  and  more  especially  does  hibor  in  the  cities.  If  tl 
farmer  is  robbed,  labor  lags  and  is  stagnant  in  all  the  walks  of  life." 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  369 

C0NGKES8MAX  SAMUEL  J.   HOPKINS*  VIEWS. 

Congressman  Hopkins  said  on  the  subject  of  the  tariflf  reform  bill : 
"  My  support  of  tariflf  reduction  and  of  the  bill  before  CJongress  is  based  on  the  firm 
conviction  that  the  tariff  is  a  tax  upon  laboring  men,  who  are  the  real  wealth-producers  of 
the  country.  Under  the  present  tariff  the  wealth-producers,  the  men  whose  hard  labor 
takes  material  and  works  it  up  into  manufactured  products,  get  little  or  no  advantage,  and 
so  far  as  labor  is  concern  ed  the  word  "protection"  is  falsely  used.  Here  and  there  the  tariff 
as  it  stands  may,  perhaps,  develop  some  industries,  but  it  does  not  increase  wages  by  one 
dollar,  and  any  one  who  honestly  investigates  the  subject,  as  my  duty  as  a  member  of  Con- 
gross  has  led  me  to  do,  mutt  reach  that  conclusion. 

WAGE9  AND  TKUSTS. 

The  charge  that  the  Mills  bill  will  reduce  wages  ts  purely  political  buncombe  on  the 
Republican  side,  and  is  inspired  by  the  great  organizations  of  capital  which  we  call  trusts. 
I  am  more  moderate  In  my  belief  than  many,  and  I  do  not  charge  that  the  present  tariff, 
which  we  wish  to  reform  in  the  interest  of  labor,  was  framed  for  the  express  purpose  of 
creating  and  protecting  trusts.  Those  who  fraired  it  may  have  had  other  and  good  motives. 
But  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  present  tariff  now  and  for  several  years  past  has 
encouraged  and  protected  these  trusts.  The  trusts  and  combinations  of  capital  have  been 
quick  to  seize  the  many  opportunities  the  tariff  has  afforded  them,  and  th,'y  raise  the  false 
cry  about  lower  wages  to  drstjir  attention,  and  especially  the  attention  of  laboring  men, 
away  from  themselves  and  their  reaching  out  after  greater  gains  and  greater  power.  We 
all  realize  that  it  Is  not  the  employment,  wages  or  welfare  of  American  workingmen  which 
inspires  trusts.  The  greater  and  more  numerous  they  become,  the  less  will  be  the  oppor- 
tunities for  labor.  What  they  aim  at  Is  the  absolute  control  of  American  labor  and  of  its 
■output,  and  instances  are  abundant  whi  re  they  have  reduced  wages  in  order  to  compel 
their  men  to  strike  merely  because  they  wished  to  limit  production  for  the  timew 

^_^  DESPOTISM   OF   COMBINED   CAPITAli. 

^H  The  tariff  as  It  stands  Is  the  one  great  Incentive  In  our  legislation  to  the  establishment 
^■f  a  moneyed  despotism  In  this  country  and  that  is  to  De  feared  and  fought  against  by 
labor  more  than  any  one  thing.  Such  a  moneyed  despotism,  which  we  already  see  growing 
up  under  the  "  protection  "  of  the  present  tariff,  with  its  power  firmly  fastened  on  produc- 
tion and  distribution  (through  railroads) and  with  consumption  theservantof  its  commands 
is  not  merely  worse  than  the  military,  aristocratic  or  land  despotisms  of  the  old  world,  to 
escape  which  many  workingmen  have  sought  refuge  in  this  country ;  it  is  as  bad  as,  or 
worse  than,  chattel  slavery.  Now  I  believe  It  is  inevitable  that  if  the  Democratic  party 
shall  be  stopped  by  these  aggregations  of  capital  in  its  effort  to  reduce  taxation  and  to  cur- 
tall  the  gi'owing  power  of  these  trusts,  these  combinations  will  be  emboldened  to  come  to 
Congress  and  demand  still  greater  privileges  and  will  secure  a  still  stronger  grip  upon  the 
production  of  the  country.  When  they  tell  me  that  there  are  trusts,  like  the  Standard  Oil 
trust,  outside  the  "  protection  "  of  the  tariff,  I  acknowledge  it  and  say  that  they  are  illegit- 
imate results  of  the  system.  The  tariff  has  tended  to  bring  into  the  control  of  trusts,  pools 
and  combinations  all  production  within  its  scope.  Following  the  example  thus  furnished 
capital  in  industries  outside  the  tariff  combines  in  the  same  manner.  In  view  of  all  these 
facts,  brought  before  me  almost  daily,  the  cry  that  the  tariff  pays  me  my  wages  or  pays  the 
:es  of  any  on©  else  I  know  to  be  worse  than  nonsense. 


W^ 


OTHER  QUESTIONS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 


As  the  tariff  restricts  production  by  putting  Its  control  in  the  hands  of  combinations  of 
capital,  so  the  railroads  exert  too  strong  a  control  over  distribution.  The  railroad  problem 
is  of  equal  importance  with  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  to  laboring  men  and  of  equal 
importance,  also,  is  the  preservation  of  the  public  lands  for  actual  settlers  against  the 
encroachments  of  land  grant  railroads  and  of  foreign  capital.  These  matters  all  demand 
the  earnest  study  of  laboring  men,  and  I  regret  that  I  cannot  speak  now  more  fully  upon 
them.  I  was  elected  on  the  issue  of  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  over  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nee in  a  Democratic  district,  but  the  other  issues  to  which  I  have  barely  alluded  I  regard  of 
as  equal  importance  in  meeting  my  Congressional  duties." 


t 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  MINER'S  OPINION. 


The  following  letter,  written  by  W.  B.  Estell,  of  Freeland,  Pa.,  to  a  friend  in 

w  York,  is  an  interesting  contribution  to  this  branch  of  this  discussion: 

In  reply  to  your  question  as  to  how  I  intend  to  vote,  let  me  confess  that  I  shall  lessen 
by  one  the  80,000  majority  which  James  G.  Blaine  received  in  1884.  I  was  always  a  dyed  in 
the  wool  protectionist,  I  suppose,  because  my  father  before  me  was  one,  and  because  I 
never  heard  anything  since  my  youth  but  the  glorious  benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  work- 
ingman  from  protective  tariff".  Since  I  became  one  of  these  gloriously  protected  workingmen 
myself  my  eyes  have  been  opened  considerably ;  and  I,  by  a  series  of  practical  experiences, 
have  demonstrated  to  my  entire  satisfaction  that  something  more  than  tariffs  are  necessary 
to  high  wages.    In  fact,  I  have  lost  all  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  protective  tariffs  to,  in  the 


370  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR. 

slightest  extent,  regulate  the  wages  of  workingmen.  There  has  been  a  protective  tariff  ort- 
coal  ever  since  lean  remember,  to  protect  the  "  coal  barons"  from  the  disastrous  results 
which  competition  with  coal,  mined  by  the  "  pauper  labor  of  Europe,"  would  bring.  This 
has  been  a  fine  thing  for  the  coal  barons.  It  has  enabled  them  to  form  the  notorious  coal  pool 
and  make  every  poor  devil  in  the  United  States  pay  seventy-five  cents  a  ton  more  for  his 
coal  than  there  is  any  necessity  for.  It  has  made  every  coal  operator  a  millionaire,  but  has 
not  helped  the  miner  one  iota,  but  on  the  other  hand  has  injured  him,  because  while  the 
tariff  protected  the  operator  from  the  "pauper-mined  coal,"  it  did  not  protect  the  American 
miner  from  the  "'■pauper"  who  mined  it.  To  be  effectual,  the  coal  tariff  should  be  carried  to 
its  logical  conclusion.  If  the  operator  is  protected  against  the  coal  of  foreign  countries, 
the  miner  should  be  protected  against  the  foreign  miner,  who  comes  over  here  to  compete 
with  him  for  work. 

I  have  worked  in  and  about  the  mines  34  years  and  I  know  that  work  for  which  I 
received  618  per  week  and  steady  work  14  years  ago  I  can  only  get  $9  60  for  now  and  only 
work  about  two-thirds  of  the  time,  and  in  some  collieries  no  more  than  $7.40  per  week.  Yet 
the  tariff  on  coal  has  not  been  reduced,  but  the  competition  between  employers  for  workman  has, 
and  there. lies  the  whole  secret,  Hopkins.  It  may  seem  strange  to  you  that  I,  an  old 
hard-shell  Republican,  should  write  in  this  way,  but  I  can't  help  it.  I  am  only  doing  what 
a  candid  examination  of  the  whole  question,  and  a  desire  to  act  according  to  my  convic- 
tions, compel  me  to  do.  I  am  convinced  that  no  duty  or  tariff  can  ever  benefit  the  Ameri- 
can coal  miner  while  European  miners  are  coming  to  our  shores  by  the  thousands  and 
are  compelled  to  comp^-te  with  our  men  for  work.  "Why,  right  down  herein  Hazleton  the 
other  week  an  Italian  advertised  for  work  for  300  of  his  countrymen,  offering  them  for  00 
cents  per  day.  Of  what  avail  can  all  the  tariffs  in  the  world  be  when  men  are  thus  forced 
to  work  for  a  bare  subsistence.  I  believe  to  be  effective  a  tariff  must  be  extended  so  as  to 
prohibit  immigration,  and  1  believe  any  law  that  makes  this  grand  country  other  than  an 
asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations,  violates  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment. We  have  room  enough  for  all  if  we  would  only  compel  these  dogs  in  th^*manger, 
who  are  holding  natural  opportunities  idle,  to  put  them  to  a  productive  use. 

I  am  not  the  only  one  in  the  Anthracite  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania  who  will  leave  the 
Republican  tariff  platform,  to  stand  with  Grover  Cleveland  upon  the  Democratic  one  of 
revenue  reform.  There  are  thousands  of  them  who  have  already  determined  too o  this, 
and  there  are  thousands  of  others  who  are  wavering  and  can  be  brought  over  if  the  Demo- 
crats will  have  courage  enough  to  attack  protection  in  its  stronghold.  Even  the  Republi- 
can politicians  are  impregnated  with  free  trade.  The  Honorable  D.  M.  Evans,  who  was  a 
Republican  member  of  the  last  State  Legislature,  isa  iree  trader,  and,  much  as  the  machine 
would  like  to,  it  dare  not  oppose  his  renomination,  because  the  majority  of  the  voters  are 
miners,  and  Evans  himself  being  a  miner,  is  the  only  one  who  can  be  elected.  The  time 
has  passed  when  any  old  fossil  can  be  foistered  on  the  miners  and  elected  by  an  appeal  to 
their  predilection  for  a  protection  tariff.  I  am  not  giving  you  hearsay,  but  what  I  know 
to  be  facts.  I  am  special  organizer  for  theK.  of  L.,  and  my  conversations  with  representa- 
tive men  in  every  place  I  have  been,  is  my  authority.  I  know  that  on  every  street  corner 
you  can  hear  men  discussing  revenue  reform  and  its  bearing  upon  wages,  and  the  con- 
viction rapidly  forcing  itself  upon  them  that  the  protective  tariff  fallacy  has  only  been 
held  up  before  their  eyes  in  order  to  obscure  their  vision  and  keep  them  from  seeing  the 
true  cause  of  their  industrial  slavery.  I  am  for  Cleveland  because  he  is  going  in  the 
right  direction.  I  know  that  just  as  soon  as  men  learn  that  tariffs  will  not  raise  wages 
they  will  begin  to  ask  what  will;  that  when  they  begin  to  ask  that,  they  will  learn  that 
competition  among  men  for  work  regulates  wages;  that  this  competition  is  caused  by  the 
denying  to  men  (through  the  monopolization  ot  natural  opportunities)  of  free  access  to 
the  land  upon  which  all  must  labor,  and  that  this  can  only  be  remedied  by  raising  all  reve- 
nue from  a  tax  upon  land  values. 

W.  B.  ESTELL. 

HOW  LABOB  IS  IMPORTED  FREB. 

[From  the  Philadelphia  Record.'] 

Right  in  the  teeth  of  the  Congressional  investigation  now  in  progress.  The  Record  has 
found  almost  a  score  of  Italian  "banfeers"  who  want  to  send  from  500 to  1,000  Italian  laborers 
into  Pennsylvania  at  from  Jl  to  *1.15  per  day,  and  they  will  be  glad  to  pay  a  commission  to 
the  contractor  who  will  take  the  men  at  these  rates. 

The  "Banca  italiana"  is  the  disguise  of  the  padrone,  and  it  flourishes  like  a  green  bay 
tree,  both  in  this  city  and  New  York,  and  the  Italian  "banker"— always  sleek,  prosperous 
looking,  and  wearing  a  profusion  of  gold  watch  chain  and  other  jewelry— is  the  most 
interesting  subject  connected  with  the  contract  labor  problem  which  the  Congressional 
Committee  can  attack. 

To  a  reporter  who  appeared  in  the  character  of  a  contractor  wanting  600  men,  cheap,  a 
number  of  these  padrones  unbosomed  themselves.  The  story  of  one  of  these  bankers  is  the 
story  of  all,  the  variations  in  their  propositions  being  immaterial,  and  Guiseppe  Gallo  is  a 
fair  type.  Guiseppe  is  the  owner  of  a  "Banca  Italiana,"  at  No.  U  Marion  street.  New  York, 
and  is  now  awaiting  a  telegram  to  call  him  to  this  city  in  order  to  close  a  o<intract  to  have 
600  men  at  Lebanon  within  a  week,  at  §1.10  per  day.  He  does  not  want  any  commission, 
either— not  he.  But  he  wants  a  clause  in  the  contract  which  gives  him  absolute  cont  " 
of  the  housing  and  the  furnishing  of  supplies  to  the  men. 

SHANTIES  FOR  HOMES  AND  STRAW  FOR  BEDS. 

Board  shanties  or  barns,  with  straw  for  beds,  were  the  lodgings  which  Mr.  Gallo  propose 
to  furnish  for  these  t'WO  men,  at  Si  each  per  month.  He  did  agree  to  throw  in  light  an< 
heat,  but  as  the  latter  is  a  cheap  luxury  at  this  time  of  the  year,  and  the  former  would  cor 


THE    DEMOCKACY    AND    LABOli.  871 

about  f20,  all  told,  for  tbe  month,  this  cannot  be  considered  a  valuable  concession.  He  cal- 
culated if  he  should  be  compelled  to  build  shanties,  it  would  require  four  for  the  60(^ 
men,  and  they  would  cost  about  $165  each.  Guiseppe  would,  of  course,  own  the  lumber  at 
the  termination  of  the  contract,  so  that  the  total  net  cost  of  his  shanties  would  not  exceed 
$100,  and  if  the  contract  should  continue  four  months  he  would  capture  by  this  manaKe- 
meut,  $2,000  net  profit. 

THE  MEN  IN  THE  PADRONE'S  GRIP. 

Having  thus  consigned  his  igt  orant  countrymen  to  rough  board  shanties— 150  men  to  a 
Bhanty— and  straw  beds,  like  so  many  sheep.  "Banker"  Gallo  binds  them  to  his  sutler  lent 
with  fetters  of  Steele.  The  proposed  agreement,  which  is  only  a  sample  of  scores  of  others 
proposed  by  these  "bankers,"  compels  the  contractor  to  deduct  the  amount  of  the  bills 
maae  by  the  men  at  the  commissary  department,  f  urnisbed  by  the  "banker,"  and  to  dis- 
charge at  once  any  one  of  the  men  caught  buying  supplies  at  any  other  place.  "Banker" 
Gallo  agreed  upon  his  part  to  furnish  within  twenty-four  hours  from  10  to  200  men  to  take  the 
places  of  anyof  those  discharged  on  the  sutler's  demands.  As  an  additional  mducement  to  the 
contractor  to  agree  to  this  arrangement,  which  virtually  made  slaves  of  the  men,  and 
placed  their  wages  at  the  mercy  of  Gallo's  agent  at  the  commissary  department,  he  agreed 
to  allow  the  contractor  to  retain  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  of  the  bills  which  the 
men  run  up  at  the  sutler's  tent  during  the  month.  Some  of  the  checks  from  con'ractors 
for  supplies  furnished  by  Gallo  to  300  Italians  amounted  to  betwetsn  $6,0(X)  and  $8,000  per 
month,  which  would  indicate  that  his  monthly  check  for  supplying  600  men  wou'd  amount 
to  $10,000  or  $12,000.  In  addition  to  this  and  to  the  ffiOn  a  month  for  the  barn  and  the  straw 
and  the  store  bills,  there  would  also  be  deducted  from  the  men's  first  month's  pay  a.bi:)ut 
$2,400  for  car  fare  from  New  York  to  Lebanon,  and  this  money  would  be  paid  to  thb 
"banker." 

HOW  MORE  FAT  18  FRIED  OUT. 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  "Banker"  Gallo  is  a  sample  of  this  class.  He  is  no  better  and 
no  worse,  and  Tfie  Record  has  the  names  and  adaresses  of  many  others  found  in  a  two  days' 
trip  through  the  Italian  quarter  of  New  York,  who  wanted  to  do  about  the  same  thing. 
Dne  of  the  friends  of  Gallo  said  that  he  would  have  offered  the  supposed  contractor  ten  jier 
jent.  on  the  monthly  bills  had  he  been  pressed. 

AMERICAN  LABOR  CANNOT  STAND  THIS. 

'early  all  the  Italian  bankers  are  agents  for  the  ocean  steamship  lines,  and  they  make 
IB.  honest  penny  off  the  poor  immigrants  by  selling  theia  tickets  for  their  friends  in 
Europe.  What  money  does  not  reach  the  sutler's  till  is  often  confided  to  the  "banker," 
vho  is  not  responsible  to  the  State,  and  who  often  pays  no  interest,  and  does  not  always 
)ay  the  principal.  The  Italian  Vice-Consul,  Senor  Monaco,  yesterday  gave  the  Con- 
[ressionai  committee  some  Interesting  information  of  a  general  character  upon  this  phase 
)f  the  "bankers'  "  character.  He  said  that  they  would  send  to  their  friends  in  Italy  and 
«11  them  to  send  over  men  and  pay  their  passage— about  $24  each.  The  passengers  wou  Id 
)e  sent  to  certain  people  in  New  York,  who  placed  ttiem  at  work,  generally  at  from  $1 

0  $1.25  a  day.  They  would  be  required  to  pay  back  to  their  employers  on  this  side  the 
)riceof  their  passage  and  a  liberal  interest  therefor.  The  amount  the  immigrants  would 
lave  to  repay  would  be  as  high  sometimes  as  $50,  and  the  advance  on  the  ticket  was  nevjec 
ess  than  $5.  These  contractors  generally  kept  the  immigrants  at  their  places  on  Mul- 
>erry  street.    Those  places  were  generally  ornamented  with  a  "  banco  "  in  the  front  auji 

1  saloon  in  the  rear.  These  contractors  or  labor  bosses,  according  to  the  Vice  Consul, 
eceived  the  wages  of  the  immigrants  they  were  employing,  and  deducted  what  they  saw 
It  for  passage,  board,  etc.,  and  then  gave  the  immigrants  the  balance.  Sometimes  the 
tosses  or  contractors  "skipped"  after  receiving  the  immigrant's  wages,  and  left  them  in 
be  lurch  altogether. 

If  PENNSYLVANIA  OVERRUN  WITH  THE  CONTRACT  LABOR. 

&ang8  of  these  contract  laborers  swarm  all  over  Pennsylvania,  Whenever  there  Is 
railroad  being  constructed,  or  digging  work  of  great  magnitude  being  done,  there  the 
talian  contractor  has  sent  out  his  gang,  and  the  shanty,  the  beds  of  straw,  and  the  blood- 
ucking  sutler  leech  flourish,  while  the  helpless  immigrant  works  ten  hours  a  day  to  fill 
ae  coffers  of  the  "Banca  Italiana"  in  Mulberry  street.  As  a  result  of  this  system  also  the 
oal-mining  regions  are  filled  with  cheap  European  labor,  just  emancipated  from  the  grip 
f  the  padrone,  and  ready,  with  its  past  experience  with  the  shanty  and  the  sutler,  to 
'ork  at  rates  upon  which  the  American  miner  and  workmen  will  starve.  In  a  recent 
rip  through  the  anthracite  coal  region  a  Record  reporter  attempted  upon  many  occasions 
3  be  directed  on  the  road,  but  could  not  make  himself  understood  by  the  miners  whom  he 
let  because  they  could  not  speak  a  word  of  English.  These  men  are  crowded  In  the 
laces  of  the  old  miners  whenever  the  work  becomes  so  easy  that  men  of  little  or  no 
xperienoe  can  undertake  it. 


^Rpwc 


CROWDING  OUT  GOOD  MINERS. 


^o  weeks  ago  four  experienced  miners  threw  up  their  positions  at  one  of  the 
lines  near  Hazleton.    The  story  of  their  experience  illustrates  the  methods  by  which  the 
3al  barons  as  well  as  the  railroad  contractors— all  of  whom  get  red  in  the  face  on  tbe 
lan's  account  when  tariff  reduction  is  suggested  to  them— utilijse  the  cheap  and 

24 


373  THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    I.ABOU. 

tractable  foreign  labor  at  the  mines,  which  has  drifted  there  after  having  been  sucked 
by  the  padrone  and  the  sutler  on  a  railroad  or  other  dir>digging  contract.  These  1 
miners  had  werked  at  a  breast  in  the  mines  until  a  solid  vein  was  reached  which  did 
require  any  experience  to  work.  They  thus  had  an  opportunity,  after  having  vioi 
through  the  slate,  to  make  a  handsome  month's  wages.  They  were  not  given  a  cha 
Four  Hungarians  were  put  in  their  places  to  work  out  the  easy  coal,  and  the  old  mii 
were  given  another  breastf ul  of  stone  and  difficult  to  manage.  They  refused  to  be  1 
treated  and  left  the  mine.    The  Hungarians  are  still  there. 

THB  PROTEOTIVB  TARIFF  LEAGUE— HOW  ITS  PRESIDENT  TAKES  ADVANTAGE  OF  THE  L 
TO  IMPORT  CHEAP  LABOR. 

From  the  New  York  Herald,  July  29. 

Nothing  can  illustrate  better  the  evils  of  importing  foreign  labor  to  be  employe 
certain  stated  localities  than  the  condition  of  a  large  part  of  the  factory  help  at  Pate; 
and  Passaic,  And  the  worst  instances  of  depreciated  pay  are  to  be  found  in  the  establishc 
of  Mr.  Edward  H.  Ammidown,  the  gentleman  who  poses  as  the  champion  of  Amer 
manufactures  and  incidentally  as  the  friend  of  labor. 

Some  five  years  ago  owners  of  woolen  mills  in  Passaic  began  to  send  for  men  in  Eu: 
to  take  the  places  of  those  in  their  employ  who  refused  to  submit  to  starvation  ws 
Hungarians  were  found  to  be  most  available,  and  after  a  few  months  Castle  Gai 
swarmed  with  them. 

The  direct  importation  of  Hungarians  for  the  purpose  of  being  employed  at  Pas 
was  begun  by  Mr.  Bash  and  Mr.  Waterhouse,  proprietors  of  woolen  mills.  Mr.  Ammid 
soon  after  benefited  by  what  they  had  done  to  the  extent  of  placine-in  hisown  estab 
ment  a  number  of  the  men  whom  they  had  brought  overthrof.gh  their  agents  from  the 
country.  The  process  of  importation  continued  year  by  year  and  the  unwelcome  lej 
spread  until  now  Mr.  Ammidown  has  in  hisown  factory  about  two  hundred  imported  I 
garians  and  the  other  establishments  a  good  many  more. 

But  not  all  have  came  directly  from  Hungary,  A  considerable  percentage— and 
further  peculiarly  illustrates  the  tendency  of  that  tyranny  which  the  tarilT  barons  see 
perpetuate— a  considerable  percentage,  who  were  expected  to  do  the  rud(  stand  most  ( 
nary  work,  were  brought  to  Passaic  from  the  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania. 

Note  this  stage  of  evolution  in  the  process  of  oppressing  labor. 

It  is  notorious  that  the  Pennsylvania  coal  miners  have  been  crushed  down  to  the 
iowest  grade  of  human  misery,  and  that  it  is  Impossible  to  further  reduce  their  pay  witl 
making  them  worse  in  condition  than  the  most  despised  beasts  of  burden.  This  result 
brought  about  by  Republican  protection. 

FIVE  DOLLARS  A  WEEK  PER  FAMILY. 

The  Hungarians  from  the  coal  fields  exacted  only  the  merest  pittance  fdr  the  sup 
of  life,  and  they  got  it.  The  wages  of  the  class  to  which  they  belong  at  Ammidown's 
are  l)as  d  to-day  on  this  inexorable  standard.  Evry  American  citizen  should  shudder  \ 
he  reads  of  this.    The  average  rate  of  wages  is  $5  a  week ! 

Think  of  that  for  grown  up  men,  a  great  proportion  of  whom  are  -carried  and  1 
ehildfen  1 

And  this  is  one  of  the  beneficent  fruits  of  the  zeal  of  American  protectionists  foi 
welfare  of  labor. 

Many  of  the  American  mill  workers  who  had  the  alternative  of  submission  or  Sit 
tion  have  been  forced  down  to  the  level  of  these  imported  slaves. 

A  reporter  yesterday  drew  these  facts  from  the  lips  of  an  intelligent  employe  of 
Ammidown,  who,  while  perfectly  just  and  loyal  to  the  latter,  was  fearlebS  enough  to 
openly  that  the  truth  might  prevail  and  that  the  voters  of  the  country  might  know  hoT 
monstrous  theory  of  taxing  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  works  in  reference  t( 
helpless  poor  man  who  has  no  opportunity  to  exercise  the  grasping  right  of  the  migt 
This  man  is  not  a  Knight  of  Labor,  and,  apart  from  his  employer's  public  advocacy  o 
system  of  oppression  called  protection,  he  speaks  of  the  latter  with  a  good  deal  of  res 

A  PREMIUM  ON  POOR  STUFF. 

Said  he :  "The  employers  can  no  longer  pull  the  wool  over  the  eyes  of  their  men. 
kHow  that  protection  enables  the  master  to  rob  us  instead  of  being  the  means  of  our 
protection.  We  know  that  to  the  development  of  the  woolen  industry  in 
country  free  wool  is  absolutely  necessary.  The  Republican  tariflf  has  simply  been  a 
miam  on  the  manufacture  of  the  coarsest  and  the  worst  grades  of  woolen  cloths.  ' 
are  these  boasted  cheap  suits  which  are  made  of  ciomestic  woolens?  Why,  they  are  g 
of  a  grade  which  importers  would  never  think  of  bringing  to  this  country.  The  priot 
is  paid  for  them  here  would  on  the  other  side  buy  clothing  of  at  least  three  times  thei; 
value.  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  The  market  is  glutted  with  domestic  goc 
abominable  quality,  and  those  foreign  goods  that  are  at  all  of  a  desirable  quality  are  p 
beyond  our  reach  bv  the  rich  man's  tariff. 

"You  want  to  know  how  these  Hungarians  live  on  an  average  of  $5  a  week?  I'l 
you.  The  wives  of  the  married  men  board  their  countrymen.  As  a  rule  they  hire  a 
little  apartment  of  two  or  at  most  three  rooms.  Yes,  they  are  just  as  cramped  as  that 
©ut  her**  in  a  suburban  town,  where  space  is  supposed  to  be  cheap,  or,  if  it  is  not,  oug 
be.    About  the  lowest  rent  that  can  be  had  18  $<>  a  month,  and  that  is  what  they 


THE    DEMOCRACY   AND    LABOR.  ^ 

pay.  A  dozen  persons  may  live  in  one  of  these  plaoes.  The  boarders  buy  their  own  food 
and  the  woman  of  the  house  coo ics  It.  For  this  service  and  the  privilege  of  sleeping 
there  they  pay  her  a  dollar  each  per  week.  That  is  how  the  families  are  supported.  (Glod 
only  knows  how  they  manage,  even  then,  to  keep  soul  and  body  together  I  Added  to  thia 
nearly  all  of  these  Hungarians  drink  enormously  of  beer.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  some  of 
them,  by  living  in  the  most  abject  filth  and  misery,  contrive  to  save  a  little,  for  when  they 
get  into  trouble  with  the  police  and  are  called  upon  to  pay  a  fine  they  generallv  <ro  down 
somewhere  in  their  clothes  for  the  money,  and  it  is  forthcoming.  Much  of  tiie  fuel  and 
food  that  the  women  obtain  for  the  household  Is  picked  up  in  the  streets  and  around  the 
freight  depots  and  stores.  "" 

THB  BNOUSH  BOSS  DOBS  BBTTBR. 

"Some  of  these  Hungarians  have  been  put  at  the  finer  kinds  of  work  in  the  factories 
l)Ut  as  a  rule  they  are  not  numerous.  They  are  fit  only  for  what  is  comparatively  unskilled 
labor.  Yet  skilled  labor  cannot  be  reduced  any  lower  In  price  than  it  is  and  still  live.  It  Is 
customary  for  the  protection  people  to  prate  about  the  contrast  in  wages  as  between  this 
country  and  those  of  Europe.  The  weavers  receive  in  Ammidown's  mill  about  $9  a  week 
The  looms  average  about  eighty-five  picks  a  minute.  Thomas  Dolan,  in  Philadelphia 
payshis  weavers  an  average  of  $10  a  week.  His  looms  average  between  eighty-flve  and 
ninety  picks  a  minute.  In  the  mills  of  Patrick  T.  Martin,  at  Huddersfleld,  England,  the 
weavers  get  $7  50  a  week,  but  the  looms  only  make  sixty-flve  picks  a  minute.  Now  make 
a  comparison.  Dolan  payshis  weavers  $3.50  a  week  more  than  Martin,  but  he  gains  by 
their  produce  twenty  picks  a  minute.  This  amounts  to  about  six  yards  a  day  for  each 
loom,  or  something  like  $9  in  marketable  value.  So  much  for  the  credit  that  is  claimed  by 
the  manufacturer  for  paying  higher  wages.  On  the  other  hand,  no  one  who  knows  the  sub- 
ject can  dispute  that  $1.50  in  England,  with  the  cheaper  means  of  living,  is  worth  consider- 
ably more  than  110  in  the  United  States. 

"Yes,  sir ;  the  situation  of  labor  in  Paterson  and  Passaic  is  such  that  I  do  not  see  how 
any  laboring  man  her©  who  has  a  vote  at  the  next  election  can  fail  to  oast  It  for  the  tariff 
reform  platform. 

] 

^^K  [From  the  Indianapolis  Labor  Signal.] 

^■^  Benjamin  Harrison,  Republican  candidate  for  President,  never  showed  his  real  feellngr 
toward  the  men  who  toil  for  wages  more  fully  and  convincingly  than  in  his  attack  on  the 
street  laborers,  made  in  this  city  on  October  4, 1874.  These  are  his  words  as  given  by  his 
x)rgan,  the  Indianapolis  ^^  Journal,"  on  the  morning  of  October  5, 1874: 

"My  fellow-citizens,  a  short  time  ago  I  happened  to  be  in  a  place  where,  without  incon- 
venience, I  could  see  these  fellows  working,  and  it  was  as  good  as  a  circus  to  see  how  they 
went  about  it.  They  had  about  a  dozen  in  the  gang,  and  a  boss— they  must  have  a  boss, 
even  if  there  are  only  two  or  three  of  them.  They  were  laying  a  stone  crossing  across  a 
street,  and  I  do  believe  that  any  two  stalwart  men  could  have  done  more  in  a  day  than  that 
gang  did  in  three.  They  were  all  smoking.  Almost  every  fellow  had  a  pipe  in  his  mouth. 
Now,  it  is  usually  inconvenient  for  a  man  to  work  and  smoke  at  the  same  time ;  the  pipe  is 
in  his  way  if  he  is  in  a  dead  earnest  about  his  work.  If  you  men  have  to  smoke,  you  do  so 
when  you  are  through  work  at  noon.  But  these  fellows,  whom  the  Democratic  council  are 
paying  out  of  taxes,  had  plenty  of  time  to  smoke.  One  of  them  would  take  out  his  tobacco 
and  roll  it  in  his  hands  to  grind  it  up  flue,  and  leisurely  tuck  it  in  his  pipe.  Well,  after  strik- 
ing alight  he  would  take  his  shovel  and  start  otf  toward  the  gravel  pile.  Instead  of  bring- 
ing the  gravel  where  they  wanted  it,  they  had  it  about  a  rod  away.  If  it  had  not  been  so  far 
away  that  man  would  not  have  had  exercise  enough  that  day  to  keep  him  healthy.  He 
would  go  to  the  pile  and  get  his  shovel  about  half  full,  look  carefully  at  the  place  where  he 
was  to  put  it,  set  his  shovel  down  on  the  ground  and  look  around.  And  then  another  fellow 
would  come  and  borrow  his  shovel  to  do  something  with,  and  he  would  sit  there  until  the 

^Ulow  came  back  with  the  shovel.    Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  you  know  what  that  means. 

^Bi8  is  the  Democratic  reform  party  that  is  In  power  now." 

mm  ObfleTTe,  if  you  please,  that  he  saw  this  "without  inconvenience  "-otherwise  we 
'  ^ught  not  have  had  this  pleasing  bit  of  humor  recorded.  Observe  that  it  grieves  his  Indua- 
!  trioua  Boul  that  a  man  should  smoke  while  working.  Observe  that  these  men  are  all 
^'♦"""VB."  Observe  that  the  listening  crowd  are  convulsed  with  merriment  by  his  remarkgt 


IX. 

HARRISON  AND  IRISHMEN. 

LT  BENJAMIN,  THE  GRANDSON,  AND  THE   INDIANAPOLIS    "JOURNAL"   HAD  TO 
SAY  ABOUT  IRISH  LABORERS  IN   1874- 


874  THE    DEMOCRACY.  AND    LABOR. 

Observe  that  the  statement  that  these  events  occurred  under  Democratic  rule  is  an  intima- 
tion that  nothing  of  the  kind  will  be  allowed  when  Republicans  come  in.  Oh,  what  fine 
Blave-driving  we  shall  have  then!  Workfaster,  there,  fellow!  Ben  Harrison  is  looking 
at  you.  Drop  that  pipe,  fellow !  Ben.  Harrison  is  looking  at  you.  Don't  stop  to  rest 
for  a  moment,  fellow !    Ben.  Harrison  is  looking  at  you. 

Do  you  8 appose  that  Benjamin  Harrison  ever  dreamed  for  a  moment  that  lolling 
"  without  inconvenience "  on  the  cushions  of  his  carriage,  or  standing  in  his  luxurious 
oflBce,  and  watching  these  men  was  a  very  different  thing  from  going  out  under  the  hot  sun 
and  doing  their  work  ?  Do  you  suppose  Benjamin  Harrison  ever  shoveled  dirt  for  his 
living  for  a  single  day,  much  less  a  week,  a  month,  a  year,  a  lifetime  ?  Do  you  suppose  he 
knows  what  it  is  for  the  muscles  to  ache  or  the  nerves  to  quiver  from  the  strain  of  pro- 
tracted labor  ?  Do  you  suppose  he  could  comprehend  the  fact  that  if  a  man  should 
shovel  dirt  as  fast  as  he  was  able  the  labor  would  kill  him  within  a  year?  Oh,  shame, 
Benjamin  Harrison.  Even  with  your  life  of  professional  employment  you  might  have 
had  more  feeling  for  the  toiling  millions  than  this.  You  might  at  least  have  learned  to 
conceal  your  feelings  If  you  could  not  avoid  having  them.  You  might  have  remembered 
this: 

"  Let  not  ambition  mock  their  useful  toil ; 
Their  homely  joys,  and  destiny  obscure  ; 
Nor  grandeur  hear  with  a  disdainful  smile 
The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

The  ball  which  Mr.  Harrison  set  in  motion  did  not  stop  for  several  months.  T^e 
Indianapolis  cTowrnoZ  of  October  5, 1874,  refers  to  his  remarks  as  "graphic  and  amusiDg. 
Similar  scenes  can  be  witnessed  all  over  the  city."  The  Journal  was  then,  as  now,  the  open 
foe  of  organized  labor.  In  its  editorial  columns,  on  October  6, 1874,  in  response  to  a  question 
from  a  labor  paper  printed  here  as  to  whether  it  favored  a  law  "  requiring  the  payment  ol' 
employes  once  a  month,"  it  said :  "  It  (the  Journal)  makes  such  contracts  with  its  emplojes 
aaitdeemsbest,  and  recognizes  the  perfect  right  of  all  others  to  do  the  same."  To  the 
Journal^  Mr.  Harrison's  method  of  attacking  the  laboring  man  was  an  inspiration,  and  it 
fell  briskly  in  the  same  line.    Here  are  some  of  the  results : 

"  It  Is  notorious  that  the  lowest  class  of  men,  men  who  are  of  little  account  for  afly 
otherpurpose,  display  a  remarkable  regularity  in  the  discharge  of  their  political  duties. 
Electijnsnevercome  too  often  for  them.  The  alacrity  with  which  they  walk  up  to  the- 
ballot-box  and  exercise  the  highest  prerogative  of  an  American  citizen  would  be  surprising 
If  the  act  required  any  greater  physical  effort  than  it  does.  Probably  this  excessive 
appreciation  of  suffrage  by  all  classes  of  rascals  and  loafers  has  had  much  to  do  with 
bringing  it  into  disrepute  among  moral  and  intelligent  uiQn"— Journal,  October  12,  1874. 

"  The  amount  of  naturalization  now  going  on  is  only  exceeded  by  the  amount  of  lat>or 
put  upon  the  streets."— JiJttrnaA  October  12,  1874. 

"  "When  you  are  around  near  policemen  and  other  suspicious  characters  to-day  it 
would  be  well  to  keep  your  eyes  open,  or  you  might  get  ihem   closed."— ^owrwo^,  Oct 
13,  1874. 

"  In  connection  with  the  disreputable  Irish  police  force,  the  Irish  Catholics  of  ti 
southwestern  portion  of  the  city  will  undoubtedly  attempt,  this  year  by  bullying,  brawl 
and  intimidation,  to  repeat  the  tactics  so  successfully  used  in  the  fifth  and  twelfth  precinc ' 
last  ye&r."— Journal,  April  17, 1875. 

Now,  laboring  men,  and  particularly  Irish  laboring  men,  you  know  what  Mr.  HarrlE 
and  his  organ  thought  of  you  in  18T4-75.    To-day  they  are  posing  as  the  champions  of  th^ 
workinffiiipr  and  are  particularly  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the  Irishman.   Why  th 
change?    Dostreetgangs  work  faster  now?    They  say  that  tobacco  is  a  necessity  for  tl 
workingman  and  must  be  made  cheaper.    Does  smoking  a  pipe  Interfere  less  with  wor| 
now  than  it  did  in  1874?    Has  the  Catholic  Church  amended  its  doctrines?    Has  tt 
Irish  countenance  changed  its  features?    We  know  of  no  sueh  change.    Is  It  'possibl 
that  these  people  are  only  anxious  to  get  your  votes? 


THE    DEMOCRACY    AND    LABOR.  375 

X. 

LABOR  DENUNCIATIONS  OF  HARRISON. 

m    INDIANA    FEDERATION    OF    LABOR,  WHICH    KNOWS    HIM,    EXPOSES    HIS 

METHODS. 

[.  On  the  7th  of  August,  1888,  the  State  Federation  of  Trades  of  Indiana  held  its 
mal  convention  at  Indianapolis.    An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Republicans  to 
capture  the  convention,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  circular-letter  sent  out  by  the 

f  publican  State  Central  Committee  of  Indiana : 
Rkpublican  Statb  Cbntrai.  Committeb  of  Indiana, 
Soom  4,  Denison  House. 
Indianapolis,  Aug.  4, 1888, 
Dear  -Sir— We  have  relfable  information  that  the  State  Federation  of  Trades  meets  here 
•next  Tuesday,  and  that  the  Democrats  have  determined  to  capture  it  and  get  a  resolution 
through  against  Harrison.    "We  are  told  that  any  member  of  a  labor  organization  having 
credentials,  so  as  to  prove  his  membership  thereof,  will  be  entitled  to  admission. 

"We  urgently  request  you  to  send  here  as  many  laboring  men,  opposed  to  this  scheme,  as 
may  be  possible. 

There  will  be  reduced  railroad  ra'es  on  that  day.  I  hope  that  you  will  act  with  great 
discretion  and  promptness.    Yours  truly, 

J.  N.  Huston,  Chairman. 

This  letter  aroused  much  anger  on  the  part  of  the  representatives  of  organized 
labor,  and  there  was  general  agreement  in  the  desire  to  frustrate  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  a  political  party  to  thus  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  action  of  a  secret 
organization.  There  were  147  delegates  in  the  convention  whose  credentials  were 
pronounced  genuine.  The  convention  was  a  harmonious  and  hard-working  bodyi 
and  so  successfully  and  harmoniously  did  it  act  that  it  concluded  its  deliberations  in 
■a  single  day. 

HARRISON  AND  MORTON  DENOUNCED  AS  ENEMIES  OF  LABOR. 

Before  adjournment  it  passed  the  following  resolutions. 

Whereas  believing  that  the  policies  of  government  should  be  general  in  their  bene* 
flits  and  not  fixed  for  the  advantage  of  the  few  ;  and,  further,  that  under  laws  now  exist* 
ing  this  principle  has  not  been  followed  ;  and  believing  that  the  laboring  masses  are  now 
Interested  in  the  success  of  such  principles  and  policies  as  will  give  them  a  more  equal 
<5hance  with  the  employing  class  than  of  the  success  of  any  political  party. 

2.  That  we  condemn  the  policy  of  legislation  beginning  in  1861,  which  has  been  to 
enable  the  bankers  and  bondholders  of  the  nation  to  secure  for  government  pledges 
•obtained  with  greatly  depreciated  paper  money  (generally  about  50  cents  on  the  dollar), 
though  bearing  interest  in  gold  on  a  full  100  cents,  a  redemption  of  those  pledges  in  coin  at 
•a  fabulous  premium,  while  every  other  obligation  to  soldier,  sailor  or  Citizen  was  legally 
payable  in  the  paper  money  of  the  United  States. 

3.  That  we  are  opposed  to  all  laws  which  have  steadily  and  almost  wholly  transferred 
the  enormous  burdens  of  oppressive  taxation  from  the  money  kings  of  the  country  to 
the  great  army  of  consumers,  until  to-day  the  latter  class  is  practically  the  sole  pack- 
horses  of  this  boasted  republic  of  freedom  and  popular  rights,  while  yet  producing  all 
its  wealth  and  enjoying  all  its  comforts. 


876  THE  DEMOCRACY  AND  LABOR. 

Resolved^  That  we  cannot  support  the  candidates  of  the  Republican  party  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  because  both  of  them  are  wanting  in  sympathy  for  the  laboring 
dajBses.  This  was  shown  by  General  Harrison  In  the  memorable  strike  of  1877,  when  he  vol- 
unteered to  command  a  company  of  soldiers  to  shoot  laboring  men  down,  after  having 
refused  to  attempt  a  settlement  by  peaceable  means.  For  four  days'  service  as  captain  of 
said  company,  he  received  and  receipted  for  twenty  silver  dollars,  which  was  as  much  blood 
money  as  the  "thirty  pieces  of  silver"  for  which  Judas  Iscariot  betrayed  the  Savior  of  man- 
kind. Ithasbeen  shown  by  Morton,  in  his  career  as  a  Wall-street  money  shark,  and  as  ft 
sharerln  the  unholy  gains  of  many  greedy  corporations,  that  have  cruelly  oppressed  their 
employes.  In  trying  to  get  possession  of  the  shingle  on  which  was  inscribed  "Shoes  made 
and  repaired  by  Levi  P.  Morton,"  offering  a  large  sum  for  it  that  he  might  destroy  the  evi- 
dence of  his  former  humble  occupation,  Morton  has  shown  himself  ashamed  of  the  condi- 
tion to  which  he  was  born,  thus  sacrificing  all  claim  to  the  respect  and  support  of  the  hon- 
est laborers  of  the  land  who  have  no  blushes  for  their  employment. 

Resolved^  That  in  voting  on  fourteen  different  occasions  against  measures  that  were 
proposed  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  for  the  restriction  of  Chinese  cheap  labor,  and 
in  his  often-repeated  private  avowals  of  a  willingness  that  the  naturalization  laws  should 
be  extended  so  as  to  give  Chinamen  the  right  to  become  citizens,  Harrison  has  given  the 
strongest  possible  proofs  of  his  utter  disregard  of  the  interests  and  welfare  of  American 
workingmen. 

Resolved,  That  for  reasons  here  specified  and  for  the  further  fact  that  these  Republican 
candidates,  in  their  habits,  thoughts,  sympathies  and  associations  are  of  the  class  that 
would  inaugurate  an  aristocracy  on  the  ruins  of  free  government. 

Resolved,  That  organized  labor  in  other  States  is  cordially  invited  to  co-operate  with 
UB  In  the  enforcement  of  the  sentiments  and  objects  herein  expressed. 


DENOITNCING  MR.  HABBISOM'S  PST  NEWSPAPEB. 

Whbbeab  on  the  right  of  July  8, 1886,  John  C.  New  &  Son,  proprietors  of  the  Indianap- 
olis Journal,  summarily,  and  without  provocation,  discharged  the  entire  force  of  union 
printers  in  their  employ  who  refused  to  obey  their  arrogant  mandate  in  severing  their  con- 
nection with  the  Indianapolis  Typographical  Union  No.  1,  turned  said  employes  upon  the 
Streets  and  imported  from  distant  localities  a  large  number  of  "rat"  printers  whom  they 
bave  since  kept  at  work  in  the  Journal  office. 

Whereas  said  John  C  New  &  Son,  since  the  perpetration  of  this  cowardly  outrage 
and  Insult,  have  continued  to  conduct  the  said  Journal  in  open  hostility,  not  only  to  union 
printers,  but  to  organized  labor  of  all  kinds  by  refusing  to  accede  to  any  method  of  arbi- 
tration looking  to  an  amicable  settlement  of  differences;  by  maliciously  misrepresenting 
the  objects  of  organized  labor;  by  wantonly  distorting  the  honorable  methods  by  which 
workingmen  aim  to  attain  a  furtherance  of  their  desires;  by  dishonestly  obtaining  and 
publishing  the  laws,  secret  work  and  private  legislation  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  other 
organizations,  wherever  opportunity  enables  them  to  do  so;  by  attacking  the  private  char- 
acter and  distorting  the  purpose  of  representative  workingmen  whose  leadership  is  recog- 
nized, and  whose  character  we  reverence,  and  are  pledged  to  protect;  by  maintaining  in  the 
reportorial,  news  and  editorial  columns  of  the  "rat"  Journal  a  position  of  unreasonable 
hostility  to  fair  pay,  shorter  hours  of  labor,  and  Improved  economic  condition  of  the  labor- 
ing classes;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Indiana  Federation  of  Trades  and  Labor  Unions  in  convention 
assembled  regard  the  conduct  of  John  C.  ^  ew  &  Son  in  their  employing  rat  printers  in  the 
Indianapolis  Journal  oflBce,  and  their  persistent  warfare  upon  organized  labor,  as  both  an 
Injustice  and  an  insult  to  the  workingmen  of  Indiana. 

Resolved,  That  we  pledge  the  efforts  of  this  organization  and  all  whom  it  can  control  or 
influence,  to  antagonize,  by  every  honorable  means,  the  said  John  C.  New  &  Son  and  the 
said  Journal;  and  that  we  appeal  to  the  patriotic  workingmen  of  this  State  to  aid  us  in  this 
worthy  effort  so  long  as  the  said  New  &  Son  shall  refuse  to  conduct  a  strictly  union  office* 
and  shall  persist  In  maintaining  a  position  of  hostility  to  organized  labor. 


I 


THE    DEMOCRACY   AND    LABOR.  877 


'  Besolved,  That  to  consummate  this  purpose  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  placed  before 
crery  organization  subordinate  to  this  federation,  that  the  hostility  of  the  said  New  6l  Son 
to  organized  labor  may  be  fully  known  ;  and  that  to  carry  out  this  endeavor  a  salHoient 
number  of  copies  of  these  resolutions  be  printed  by  this  federation,  to  be  properly  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  jurisdiction  of  this  federation. 

The  labor  committee  of  the  House,  composed  in  its  democratic  majority  of  well 
wn  friends  of  the  interests  of  workingmen,  has  to  be  certain  in  promoting  the 
demands  made  by  intelligent  organizations. 

February  17,  Mr.  O'Neill,  of  Missouri,  offered  the  following  amendment  to 
appropriation  bill,  adopted  by  vote  182 ;  negative,  53,  was  concurred  in  by  the 
Senate  and  is  now  a  law : 

"  The  Public  Printer  is  hereby  directed  to  rigidly  enforce  the  provisions  of  the 
eiglit-hour  law  in  the  department  under  his  charge." 

Among  the  bil  s  of  this  kind  passed  by  the  present  Congress,  whV^h  had  their 
origin  in  the  Democratic  House,  are  the  laws  establishing  a  Department  of  Labor, 
introduced  by  Mr.  O'Neill,  of  Missouri,  Chairman  of  the  Labor  Committee ;  and  the 
law  to  limit  the  hours  that  letter  carriers  in  cities  shall  be  employed  per  day. 
known  as  the  letter  carrier's  eight  hour  law,  introduced  in  the  House  by  Mr. 
McAdoo,  a  Democratic  representative  from  New  Jersey. 

^fc  Among  those  passed  by  the  Democratic  House  and  now  pending  in  the  Senate, 

The  bill  to  prevent  the  proiuction  of  convict  labor  from  being  furniehed  to  or 
for  the  use  of  any  Department  of  the  Government,  and  to  prevent  the  product  of 
convict  labor  from  being  used  upon  public  buildings  or  other  public  works ;  the 
bill  to  prevent  the  employment  of  alien  labor  upon  public  buildings  or  other  public 
works  and  in  the  various  Departments  of  the  Government,  and  so  forth ;  the  bill 
to  pro'ect  mechanics,  laborers  and  servants  in  their  wages;  and  the  bill  to  create 
boards  of  arbitration  or  commission  for  settling  controversies  and  differences 
between  railroad  corporations  and  other  common  carriers  engaged  in  interstate  and 
Territorial  transportation  of  property  or  passengers  and  their  employes;  the  bill  to 
protect  free  l.bor  and  the  industries  m  which  it  is  employed  from  the  iuiuiious 
effects  of  convict  labor  by  confining  the  sale  of  the  goods,  wares  and  merchandise 
manufactured  by  convict  labor  to  the  Siate  in  which  they  are  produced. 


878  CLEVELA^^D  AND  COKl'OKATIONS. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 
CLEVELAND   AND   CORPORATIONS. 


INSISTING    UPON    FAIR     TREATMENT    FOR    BUSINESS     CORPORATIO! 
YET   HOLDING   THEM   TO    A   STRICT   ACCOUNTABILITY. 


The  public  duties  and  rights  of  private  corporations  wpre  the  subject  of  repeated 
consideration  by  Mr  Cleveland  when  Governor  of  New  York,  and  his  views  were 
stated  in  tenus  so  explicit  and  just  as  to  merit  and  receive  the  approval  of  fair- 
mindfd  men  who  informed  themselves  as  to  the  particular  grounds  of  his 
action. 

In  accepting  the  nomination  for  Governor,  in  October,  1882,  he  thus  defined  his 
position,  from  which  he  has  never  wavered : 

"Corporations  are  created  by  the  law  for  certain  defined  purposes,  and  are  restricted  In 
their  operations  by  specific  limitations.  Acting  within  their  legitimate  sphere  they  should 
be  protected;  but  when  by  combinaiion  or  by  the  exercise  of  unwarranted  power  they 
oppress  the  people,  the  same  authority  which  created  should  restrain  them  and  protect 
the  riRhts  of  the  citizen.  The  law  lately  passed  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting'  the  relations 
between  the  people  and  corporations,  should  be  executed  in  good  faith,  with  an  honest 
design  to  effectuate  its  objects  and  with  a  due  regard  for  the  interests  involved." 

Almost  the  first  act  performed  by  him  as  Governor  was  in  fulfillment  of  the 
law  here  referred  to,  the  Raihoad  Commission  Act,  which  authorized  the  appoint- 
ment of  three  Railroad  Commissioners,  one  from  each  of  the  tvvo  great  political 
parties,  and  one  upon  the  nomination  of  the  Anti-Monopoly  bodies.  Despite  great 
pressure  to  the  contrary,  and  without  waiting  for  a  proposed  amendment  of  the  law, 
the  Governor  promptly  nominated  three  commissioners,  in  literal  compliance  with 
the  old  law,  accepting  without  hesitation  the  Anti-Monopoly  candidate,  Mr. 
O'Donnell.  The  fact  that  the  work  of  the  Railroad  Commission  has  been  so  well 
done  as  not  only  to  justify  its  creation  to  those  even  who  were  originally  doubtful 
of  its  value,  but  also  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  Anti  Monopoly  sentiment  which  led  to 
its  formation,  is  due  to  the  conscientious  care  with  which  Governor  Cleveland, 
ignoring  every  consideration  but  the  purpose  of  the  law,  selected  the  members  who 
were  to  serve  upon  it. 

CHECKING   THE   AGGRESSIONS  OF    CORPORATIONS. 

Upon  April  2,  1883,  the  Governor,jealously  regarding  the  interests  of  the  public, 
ae  opposed  to  those  of  corporations,  vetoed  a  bill  tending  to  increase  the  power  of 
telegraph  companies  to  use  the  public  streets,  from  which  message  the  foUowmg 
extracts  are  made : 

"A  fatal  objection  to  this  bill  is  found  in  the  provision  allowing  the  corporations  therein 
named  to  enter  upon  private  property,  and  erect  and  maintain  their  structures  tnereoa 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner.  It  seems  to  rae  that  this  i.s  tHking  private  property,  or 
an  easement  therein,  with  very  little  pretext  that  it  is  for  a  public  use. 

"If  a  private  corporation  can,  under  aut  hority  of  law,  construct  its  appliances  and  struc- 
tures upon  the  lands  of  tiie  citizen  without  his  consent,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  fur- 
nishing light,  but  in  an  experimental  attempt  to  transmit  heat  and  power,  the  rights  of  the 
peopio  may  well  be  regarded  as  in  danger  from  an  undue  license  to  corporate  aggran- 
diBement. 


PUBLICITY  OP  CORPORATION  OPERATIONS  REQUIRED. 


CLEYELAND  AND  CORPORATIONS,  879 

Upon  June  14,  1884,  despite  great  opposition  from  the  parties  interested,  he 
«iffned  a  bill  requiring  such  companies  to  put  their  lines  under  ground  on  or  before 
November  1,  1885.  ^o,  upon  May  29, 1883,  he  vetoed  a  general  street  railroad  bill, 
upon  the  ground  that  its  design  was  "more  to  further  private  and  corporate  schemes 
than  to  furnish  the  citizens  of  the  State  street  railroad  facilities,  under  the  spirit  and 
letter  of  the  Constitution,  and  within  the  limits  therein  fixed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people" 

Upon  April  6.  1883,  in  further  exhibition  of  his  disposition  to  keep  corporations 
within  the  limit  of  the  laws  creating  them,  he  vetoed  a  bill  to  extend  the  time  for 
the  payment  of  the  capital  stock  of  a  corporation,  saying: 

"Our  laws  In  relation  to  the  formation  of  corporations  aro  extremely  liberal,  and  those 
who  avail  themselves  of  their  provisions  should  be  held  to  a  striot  compliance  with  their 
requirements.  ♦  *  *  This  company  and  its  stockholders  have  assumed  for  their 
own  benefit  certain  relations  to  the  State,  to  the  public  and  to  their  creditors,  and  these 
relations  should  not  be  disturbed.  If  corporations  are  to  be  relieved  from  their  defaults  for 
the  asking-,  their  liability  to  the  people  with  whom  they  deal  will  soon  become  dangerouslr 

I  certain  and  indefinite." 
In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  at  the  beginning  of  his  second  year,  the  Gov- 
lor,  in  vigorous  language,  called  attention  to  the  duty  of  railroad  corporations, 
and  of  all  others  as  well,  to  truly  inform  the  public  as  to  their  operations.  In  the 
present  season  of  distrust  and  distress,  consequent  upon  a  supposed  failure  to  dis- 
charge this  duty,  these  words  of  the  Governor  are  appropriate.  After  commending 
the  requirement  by  the  Railroad  Commissioners  of  quarterly  reports  from  the  rait 
road  companies,  he  says : 

"It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  most  valuable  protection  to  the  people  if  other  large  cor- 
porations were  obliged  to  report  to  some  department  their  transactions  and  financial  con- 
dition. 

"The  State  creates  these  corporations  upon  the  theory  that  some  proper  thing  of  benefit 
«an  be  better  done  by  them  than  by  prlvnte  enterprise,  and  that  the  aggregation  of  the 
funds  of  many  individuals  may  be  thus  profitably  employed.  They  are  launched  upon  the 
public  with  the  seal  of  the  State,  in  some  sense,  upon  them.  They  are  permitted  to  repre- 
sent the  advantages  they  possess  and  the  wealth  sure  to  follow  from  admission  to  member- 
ship. In  oue  hand  is  held  a  charter  from  the  State,  and  in  the  other  is  proffered  their 
stock. 

"It  Is  a  fact,  singular  though  well  established,  that  people  will  pay  their  money  for 
stock  in  a  corporation  engaged  in  enterprises  in  which  they  would  refuse  to  invest  if  in  pri- 
vate hands. 

"It  Is  a  grave  question  whether  the  formation  of  these  artificial  bodies  ought  not  to  be 
cbecJted  or  better  regulated  and  in  some  way  supervised. 

"At  any  rate  they  should  always  be  kept  well  in  hand,  and  the  funds  of  its  citizens  should 
be  protected  by  the  State  which  has  Invited  their  investment.  While  the  stockholders  are 
the  owners  of  the  corporate  property,  notoriously  they  are  oftentimes  comrletely  in  the 
power  of  the  directors  and  managers,  who  acquire  a  majority  of  the  stock  and  by  this  means 
perpetuate  their  control,  using  the  corporate  property  and  franchises  for  their  benefit  and 
profit.regardlessof  the  interests  and  rightsof  the  minority  of  stockholders.  Immense  salaries 
are  paid  to  officers;  transactions  are  consummated  by  which  thedirectors  make  money,  while 
the  rank  and  file  among  the  stockh  >lders  lose  it;  the  honest  investor  waits  for  dividends 
and  the  directors  grow  rich.  It  is  suppected.  too,  that  large  sums  are  spent  under  various 
disguises  in  efforts  to  influcHce  legislation. 

"It  is  not  consistent  to  claim  that  the  citizen  must  protect  himself,  by  refusing  to  pur- 
chase stock.  The  law  constantly  recognizes  the  fact  that  people  should  be  defended  from 
false  representations  and  from  their  own  folly  and  cupidity.  It  punishes  obtaining  goods 
by  false  pretenses,  gambling  and  lotteries. 

"It  Is  a  hollow  mockery  to  direct  the  owner  of  a  small  amoun*-  of  stock  in  one  of  these 
Institutions  to  the  cour  s.  Under  existing  statutes,  the  law's  delay,  perplexity  and  uncer- 
tainty leads  but  to  despair. 

"The  State  should  either  refuse  to  allow  these  corporations  to  exist  under  Its  authority 
and  patronage,  or  acknowledging  their  paternity  and  its  responsibility,  should  provide  a 
simple,  easy  way  for  its  reople,  whose  rroney  is  invested,  and  the  public  generally,  to  dis- 
cover how  the  funds  of  these  institutions  are  spent,  and  how  their  affairs  are  conducted. 
It  should  at  the  same  time  provide  away  by  which  the  squandering  or  misuse  of  corpo- 
rate funds  would  be  made  good  to  the  parties  injured  thereby. 

"This  might  well  be  accomplished  by  requiring  corporations  to  frequently  file  reports 
made  out  with  the  utmost  detail,  and  which  would  not  allow  lobby  expenses  to  be  hidden 
under  the  pretext  of  legal  services  and  counsel  fees,  accompanied  by  vouchers  and  sworn 
TO  by  the  officers  making  them,  showing  particularly  the  debts,  liabilities,  expenditures  and 
property  of  the  corporation.  Let  this  report  be  delivered  to  ome  .ppropriate  department 
or  officer,  who  shall  audit  and  examine  the  samr ;  provide  that  i  raise  oath  to  such  account 
shall  be  perjury,  and  make  the  directors  liable  to  refund  to  the  injured  stockholders  any 
expenditure  which  shall  be  determined  Improper  by  the  auditing  authority. 


CLEVELAND  AND  CORPORATIONS. 


"Such  requirements  mig-ht  not  bo  favorable  to  stock  speculation,  but  they  would  pi 
tect  the  Innocent  investors;  they  might  make  the  management  of  corporations  mo  _ 
troublesome,  but  this  ought  not  to  be  considered  when  the  protection  of  the  people  is  the 
matter  In  hand.  It  would  prevent  corporate  efforts  to  Influence  legislation;  the  honestly 
conducted  and  strong  corporations  would  have  nothing  to  lear;  the  badly  managed  and 
weak  ought  to  be  exposed." 

Thus,  it  will  appear  from  the  Governor's  own  words,  with  which  his  actions 
have  been  in  full  accord,  that  he  has  insisted  that  corporations  shall  observe  the  lim- 
itations of  the  laws  creating  them  ;  that  their  privileges  shall  be  exercised  in  subordi- 
nation to  the  rights  of  the  public ;  that  their  affairs  shall  be  open  to  public  scrutiny; 
and  that  to  their  members  and  the  public  alike  they  shall  be  honest  end  fair. 

MAINTAINING  THE  PUBLIC  FAITH. 

In  this  same  spirit  of  exact  and  equal  justice,  which  has  demanded  of  corpora-^ 
tions  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  law  binding  upon  them,  the  Governor  ht 
observed  the  express  rights  given  to  them  by  law.    His  principle  has  been  "Thi 
public  faith  must  be  scrupulously  kept."    Upon  this  principle  he  undertook  to  ac| 
m  the  matter  of  the  veto  of  what  has  come  lo  be  known  as  the  "Five  Cent  Fs 
Bill." 

The  elevated  Railroads  of  New  York  city,  under  their  charters,  charged  an  unij 
form  rate  of  fare  of  five  cents  during  certain  of  the  morning  and  evening  hours 
which  the  great  body  of  workingmen  went  to  and  from  their  homes,  and  ten  cent, 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.     In  1883  the  Legislature  passed  a  bill  to  make  the  rate  oj 
fare  five  cents  throughout  the  day     This  bill  the  Governor  vetoed,  upon  th^ 
ground  that  it  involved  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  State.    The  general  rai' 
road  law,  passed  in  1850,  and  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  declaring  the  policj 
of  the  State,  had  promised  that  the  Legislature  would  not  reduce  the  rates  of  anj 
railroad  until  its  reduced  rates  should  produce  a  profit  of  ten  per  centum  on  the  capi 
tal  actually  expended.    The  Governor  declared  that  until  the  profits  of  these  roac" 
should  have  been  ascertain*  d  to  exceed  this  limit,  the  policy  of  the  State  forbade 
their  reduction.    A  subsequent  examination  by  the  Railroad  Commission,  consis 
ing  of  one  Democrat,  one  Republican  and  one  Anti- Monopolist,  showed  that  th^ 
f  arnings  of  the  roads  were  not  such  as  to  ju>tify  the  proposed  reduction  of  fare,  tb^ 
justifying  the  action  of  tbe  G,overnor. 

Another  reason  for  his  veto  was  found  in  the  express  provisions  of  special  act 
applicable  to  these  roads.  It  was  therein  provided  that  the  company  should  unde 
bonds  pledge  itself  to  pay  a  certain  percentage  into  the  city  treasury  which  shouk 
"constitute  an  agreement  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  between  the  city  and  construct 
ing  company,  entitling  the  company  to  the  legalized  rates  of  fare,  which  shall  notl 
changed  without  the  mutual  consent  of  the  parties." 

The  railroad  company  having  made  these  payments  to  the  city,  the  Qoverno^ 
considered  that  under  those  terms  of  this  act  there  had  been  constituted  "an  agree 
ment  in  the  nature  of  a  contract"  between  the  city  and  the  company,  which  the  Stat^ 
could  not  in  good  faith  abrogate. 

It  also  appeared  that  still  another  contract  in  writing,  to  the  same  effect,"  had  beei 
made  between  the  rapid  transit  commissioners  and  the  railroad  companies,  befor^ 
the  roads  were  built  and  lo  induce  their  construction,  thus  constituting  a  thii 
promise  on  the  part  of  the  public  whith  thi?  bill  proposed  to  break.    The  Governoij 
did  not  believe  that  tlie  people  of  New  York  nor  its  Legislature,  when  brought  t< 
a  knowledge  of  these  facts,  would  desire  this  great  State  to  be  even  suspected  o^ 
trifling  with  its  obligations,  and  so  in  a  message  so  explicit  as  to  necessarily  reacl 
great  length,  he  transmitted  to  the  Assembly  the  reasons  why  he  was  unable 
approve  the  bill.    The  effect  justified  his  estimate  of  the  honor  of  the  State  and 
its  legislators.     (A  majority  voted  to  sustain  his  veto,  while  two  thirds  would  hav^ 
been  necessary  to  overrule  it.)    From  every  side  came  expressions  of  commendati( 
for  the  scrupulous  attention  that  had  been  given  to  the  maintenance  of  the  publ 
faith. 

Among  many  expressions  in  opposition  to  the  bill  was  a  most  emphatic  cor 
munication  from  the  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Mew  York,  earnestly  asking  for  the  vet 
oi  the  bill,  concerning  which,  as  a  measure  particularly  relating  to  the  City  of  Nei 
York,  the  Mayor  of  that  city  seemed  to  be  particularly  qualified  to  speak. 


4 

or«H 
theS 


I 


CLEVELAND  AND  CORPORATIONS.  381 


The  bill  having  been  vetoed,  letters  of  commendation  and  hearty  approval  were 
received  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  from  men  of  every  shade  of  political  opinion 
and  in  every  walk  of  life. 

•  THE  RAILROAD  COMMISSION'S  CONCLUSIONS, 

Subsequently  to  the  veto  of  the  bill  an  examination  of  the  cost  and  earnings  of 
the  elevated  railroads  was  undertaken  by  the  Railroad  Commissioners,  of  whom 
none  reported  a  limitation  of  a  five  cent  fare  for  the  whole  day,  though  one  recom- 
mended a  "judicious  extension  of  the  commission  hours,"  by  adding  three  hours,  in 
which  a  five  cent  fare  should  be  charged,  and  submitted  a  bill  to  that  effect,  which 
was  introduced  in  the  Republican  Legislature  of  188  i,  but  was  defeated  by  a  Repub- 
lican Senate,  and  never  reached  the  Governor  for  action. 

The  report  of  the  majority  of  the  commission  contained  the  conclusion  that  a 
reduction  to  a  five  cent  fare  throughout  the  day  would,  at  the  number  of  passengers 
carried  in  1882,  "reduce  the  gross  income  so  as  to  prevent  the  roads  from  even  pay- 
ing interest  on  their  bonded  debt  in  full.  The  laboring  classes  of  New  York  are 
carried  between  the  hours  of  5:30  and  8:30  A.  M,,  and  4:30  and  7:30  P.  M.,  at  five 
cents,  upon  trains  which  run  at  intervals  of  forty  five  seconds.  The  reduction  would 
not  so  much  benefit  them,  therefore,  as  it  would  the  class  who  are  better  able  to  pay 
ten  cents  than  the  laborers  are  to  pay  five." 

Thus  did  the  result  show  that  the  Governor  was  justified  in  his  refusal  to 
weaken  respect  for  the  promises  of  the  State,  and  that  in  this  as  in  his  whole  course 
of  action  concerning  corporations,  the  Governor  has  been  controlled  by  no  partiality 
for  favoritism,  but  only  by  a  just  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  State  and  the  public 
and  the  observance  of  public  faith 

The  suggestion  that  his  action  on  the  Five  Cent  Fare  Bill  was  taken  out  of 
deference  to  the  capitalists  controlling  those  roads  is  quite  absurd,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  all  of  those  most  prominently  named  in  connection  with  them  opposed  him 
and  supported  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

Neither  corporations  nor  corporators  had  from  him  any  favor  nor  injustice. 
The  equal  administration  of  the  laws  were  his  aim  and  practice  witli  reference  both 
W  them  -and  to  the  public 


THE  RE6TBICTI0N  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATIOK. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

THE     POSITION     OF     THE     TWO      PARTIES     ON     THIS     QUESTION     OP 

VITAL    INTEREST. 

Mr,  Thurman  and  Senator  Hoar  as  Consistent  Representa^ 

tives  of  their  Respective  Parties  on  this  Issue — 

The  Legislation  Proposed,  the  Bayard  Treaty, 

and  What  Chinese  Competition  Means  to 

American  Labor, 


I. 

THE  DIFFERENT  POINTS  OF  VIEW  PROM  WHICH  THE  QUESTION  WAS  CONSIDERED. 

On  September  10, 1870,  Allan  G.  Thurman,  who  had  then  just  concluded  his 
first  year  of  service  in  the  United  States  Senate  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  made  a 
speech  at  Cincinnati,  in  opening  the  Ohio  Democratic  campaign  of  that  year.  In 
it  he  indulged  in  the  following  reference  to  the  Chinese  question,  then  new  in 
politics. 

MR.   THURMAN's  OPINIONS  IN    1870. 

"  I  do  not  think  that  a  large  Chinese  immigration  to  this  country  is  desirable.  I  do  not 
think  it  would  be  a  valuable  acquisition.  On  the  contrary,  I  think  it  would  be  a  seriously 
•disturbing  element.  In  race,  civilization,  habits,  education,  and  religion  the  Chinese  are 
widely  ditferent  frora  our  people—so  different  as  to  form  a  very  striking  contrast.  The  Euro- 
pean immigrants  are  of  the  same  race,  religion,  and  civilization  as  ourselves,  and  while  they 
add  immensely  to  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  Republic,  they  do  not  seriously  disturb  the 
substantial  homogeneity  of  our  white  population.  Their  migration,  therefore,  benefits  the 
country  and  deserves  encouragement.  Not  so  with  the  Chinese.  They  will  never  becoc 
one  people  with  us.    Were  they  to  dwell  here  for  centuries  they  would  probably  be  as 

tinct  from  the  white  race  as  are  gypsies  In  Spain  from  the  pure-blooded  Spaniard.  

This  immigration  is  in  no  proper  sense  of  the  word  voluntary.  It  is  a  kind  of  Chinese  slave" 
trade.  Instead  of  an  Independent,  self-reliant  body  of  freemen,  it  introduces  a  horde  of 
quasi-slaves,  working  at  half  wages  by  the  command  of  a  taskmaster.  h 

"And  this  leads  me  to  notice  a  statement  I  have  seen,  that  this  country  needs  cheap  lalM^f 
In  other  words,  men  who  will  work  for  low  wages ;  that  there  is  a  scarcity  of  laborers  he^V 
and  therefore,  Chinese  laborers  should  be  imported  to  supply  the  deficiency.    I  do  not  con- 
cur in  this  view.    My  opinion  is  that  we,  or  rather  our  posterity,  are  much  more  likely  to 
suffer  from  a  redundancy  of  population  than  from  a  dearth  of  it.  In  thirty  years  from  n<\ 


oma 

i 


I 


THE  RESTRICTION  OP  CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 


Will  have  one  hundred  millions  of  people,  without  counting  a  Chinese  Immigrant,  in 
ilxty  years  two  hundred  millions,  in  one  hundred  years  probably  four  hundred  millions. 
We  are  in  no  danger  of  a  scarcity  of  laborers. 

"Nor  do  I  think  that  low  wages  are  a  blessing  to  any  country.  In  the  opinion  of  ao 
eminent  thinker,  Buckle,  low  wages  and  despotism  are  inseparable.  It  will  be  found,  I 
think,  that  the  freer  the  institutions  of  a  country  are,  the  gi-eater  will  be  the  tendency  'to 
fair  wages  for  labor.  Low  wages  are  mainly  owing  to  an  unequal  and  unfair  distribution 
Of  the  annual  production  of  wealth.  This  annual  production,  which  is  nearly  all  the 
result  of  labor,  is  being  constantly  divided  into  four  parts— rents  to  the  landlord,  interest 
to  the  money  lender,  profits  to  the  business  man,  and  wages  to  the  laborer.  Now,  if  the 
wages  be  low  it  must  be  because  the  annual  product  is  small  and  all  classes  suffer,  or 
because  that  product  is  unfairly  distributed.  In  general,  the  latter  is  the  cause,  and  when 
wages  are  very  low  the  laborer  gets  but  a  bare  subsistence,  while  the  other  classes,  or  some 
of  them,  accumulate  enormous  wealth.  And  thus  society  becomes  divided  into  the  very 
rich  and  the  very  poor.  That  this  is  an  unfortunate  condition  for  a  country  is  too  obvious, 
to  need  remark,  and  that  its  tendency  is  hostile  to  free  institutions,  as  well  as  to  the  mate- 
rial comfort  of  the  people,  is  undoubtedly  true.  I  have,  therefore,  no  sympathy  with  the 
cry  for  cheap  labor  and  low  wages.  They  may  give  rise,  it  is  true,  to  great  public  work* 
and  magnificent  structures,  but  the  benefit  is  gained  at  the  expense  of  a  suffering  people. 
The  Pyramids  are  striking  monuments  of  the  pride  and  ostentation  of  kings,  but  they  are 
more  striking  evidences  of  a  degraded  condition  of  the  laboring  class.  Tlmt  qountry  ia 
likely  to  be  most  free  and  happy  where  the  annual  production  of  wealth  beitig  Justly  dis- 
tributed labor  obtains  a  fair  reward." 

^^  MR.   HOAR   STATES  THE   REPUBLICAN  POSITION. 

^^  On  April  25, 1882,  during  the  discussion  of  the  twenty  year  Chinese  Restric- 
tion Bill  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Hoar,  of  Massachusette,  laid  down 
the  following  principle : 

I  will  not  deny  to  the  Ctalnaman  any  more  than  I  will  to  the  negro,  or  tb'Q  Irishman,  or 
Caucasian,  the  right  to  bring  his  labor,  bring  his  own  property  to  our  shores,  and  the  right 
to  fix  such  a  price  upon  it  as  according  to  his  own  judgment  and  his  own  interest  may  seem 
to  him  best.  I  denounce  this  legislation  not  only  as  a  violation  of  the  ancieKit  policy  of  the 
American  Republic,  not  only  as  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  human  nature  Itself,  but  espe- 
cially as  a  departure  from  the  doctrine  to  which  the  great  party  to  which  I  belong  Is  com- 
mitted in  its  latest  declaration  of  principles. 

Even  as  late  m  July  3, 1884,  after  a  new  treaty  had  been  made  with  the  Chinese 
and  additional  legislation  was  proposed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  it  into  execution. 
Mr.  Hoar  said  in  the  Senate  : 

"This  is  a  bill  to  execute  certain  treaty  stipulations  relating  to  the  citizens  of  other 
countries.    Itrests,  in  my  judgment,  upon  sheer  barbarism.  *  •  »        I  only 

wish  to  re-aflirm  my  disapprobation  of  this  legislation  and  the  principle  upon  which  it 
depends,  and  to  state  that  in  my  judgment,  the  American  people  will  repeii»t  in  sack-cloth 
and  ashes  one  day  the  policy  they  are  Inaugurating. 

During  the  debate  on  the  same  bill  in  the  House,  the  late  Godlove  S.  Orth,  then 
a  Republican  Representative  from  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  second  in  rank  on  the- 
Foreign  Affairs  Committee,  maintained  the  same  doctrine  in  this  language : 

He  takes  no  interest  in  our  Government  I  Do  you  mean  by  this  that  he  does  not  Imme- 
diately on  his  arrival,  repair  to  the  "sand  lots"  of  San  Francisco  and  harangue  the  boister- 
ous multitude  upon  thtir  special  duty  on  election  days?  This  objection  comes  with  a  poor 
grace  when  it  is  known  that  we  refuse  to  give  him  an  interest  in  our  Government  or  permit 
him  to  assume  the  rights  and  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  We  deny  to  him  the  rightg 
which  we  cheerfully  accord  to  every  other  immigrant,  and,  as  if  to  emphasize  this  denial 
the  fifteenth  section  of  this  bill  provides  that  hereafter  no  State  court  or  court  of  the  United 
States  shall  admit  Chinese  to  citizenship,  and  all  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby 
repealed. 


384  THE  BESTRICTION  OP  CHIMESE  IMMIGRATION. 

II. 

RESTRICTING  IMPORTATION  OF  CHINESE. 

HISTOUT  OP  THE  ATTITUDES  OP    PARTIES  ON   THE    QUESTION  SHOWN  BY  DISCUS* 

SION  AND  VOTES. 

These  different  declarations,  coming  from  representative  men  in  the  Demo- 
cratic and  Republican  parties  respectively,  are  indicative  of  the  prevailing  opinioni 
on  the  question  of  Chinese  immigration  held  by  the  majority  of  public  men  in  the, 
two  parties — one  representing  that  care  for  the  interest  of  the  American  laboring' 
man,  which  has  been  the  distinguishing  feature,  not  only  of  Mr.  Thurman  himself,' 
but  of  his  party  as  well,  and  the  others  representing  the  sentiments,  impulses  and' 
opinions  of  the  majority  of  their  party. 

CHINESE  COOLTES  TOOK  THE   PLACE  OP  SOLDIERS. 

The  immigration  of  Chinese  to  this  country  began  during  the  civil  war.  The 
number  wTio  had  come  before  the  enactment  of  the  Contract  Labor  Law,  in  18tf4, 
was  small,  but  taking  advantage  of  this  act,  and  the  absence  of  those  of  the  laboi 
ing  population  with  the  Union  armies  in  th^  field,  the  protected  manufacturers  oi 
the  country  were  swift  to  exercise  the  new-given  right  thus  given  them  to  import 
Coolie  labor  from  China.  Large  numbers  of  these  found  employment  upon 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  and  many  ofthe  large  fortunes  made  by  men  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  who  have  since  betaken  themselves  either  to  New  York  or  to  Europe,  to  live 
in  luxury,  are  the  result  of  this  employment  of  servile  labor,  and  the  displacement 
of  more  than  the  equivalent  number  of  Ameiican  working  men.  Among  these 
D.  Ogden  Mills,  owner  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  who  has  recently  becom< 
extremely  solicitous  about  American  labor. 

Af  er  the  return  ofthe  soldiers  from  service  in  the  army,  it  soon  became  mani< 
festthat  the  Chinese  would  become  a  plague  to  the  Pacific  coast.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  the  year  1872  that  any  well  defined  action  was  taken  by  the  Legislatur 
of  that  State  looking  to  a  restriction  of  immigration. 

EPPORTS  TO  RESTRICT  IMMIGRATION   KILLED  BY  REPUBLICANS. 

Beginning  in  1869,  individual  members  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  had  pre 
sented  resolutions  or  bills,  having  for  their  object  the  restriction  of  such  immigra 
tion.    Among  these  may  be  enumerated  the  following  : 

On  the  6th  of  December,  1869,  Senator  Williams,  of  Oregon,  introduced  a  bilj 
to  regulate  the  immigration  of  Chinese  and  prohibit  their  importation  under  con 
tract.  On  the  24:th  of  February,  1870,  Senator  Chandler,  of  Michigan,  a  Republican 
from  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  to  which  the  bill  had  been  referred,  asked  to  be 
discharged  from  its  further  consideration,  and  moved  that  it  be  indefinitely  post 
poned,  which  was  done. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1870,  Mr.  Johnson,  of  California,  introduced  a  joinl 
resolution  to  regulate  and  restrict  Chinese  immigration,  which  was  referred  to  th6 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  committee,  the  majority  of  whom  were  Republl 
cans,  refused  to  report  it  back  to  the  House. 


THE   RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  385 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1870,  Senator  Stewart,  of  Nevada,  introduced  in  the  Senate 
a  bill  to  prohibit  contracts  for  servile  labor,  but  even  this  measure  could  not  meet 
with  favcr  at  the  hands  of  a  Republican  Senate,  and  it  was  defeated, 

June  7, 1870,  Mr.  Sargent,  of  California,  introduced  a  bill  to  prohibit  contracts 
for  servile  labor,  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary,  but  the 
influences  were  strong  enough  to  prevent  this  measure  from  ever  being  reported 
back  to  that  body. 

July  9,  1870,  Mr.  Cake,  of  Pennsylvania,  introduced  a  resolution  against  the 
importation  of  Chinese  coolies  under  contract  and  directing Uie  Committee  on  Edu- 
cation and  Labor  to  investigate  the  subject.  The  resolution  was  referred  to  that 
committee,  but  was  never  heard  of  afterwards, 

July  7,  1870,  Mr,  Muugen,  of  Ohio,  introduced  a  joint  resolution  in  regard  to 
the  protection  of  our  laboring  classes  against  Chinese  immigration,  which  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Atfairs,  but  there  it  remained.  This  was  not 
the  way  to  protect  labor  in  the  opinion  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the  resolution 
was  pigeon-holed. 

On  the  18th  of  December,  1871,  Mr,  Coughlan,  of  California,  a  Democrat,  intro- 
duced a  bill  to  prohibit  contracts  for  servile  labor,  which  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Judiciary.  The  reference  of  this  bill  was  subsequently  changed  to 
the  Qommittee  on  Education  and  Labor,  which  reported  a  substitute,  which  was 
recommitted  to  the  same  committee,  and  that  was  the  last  of  it. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  1872,  Senator  Casserly,  of  California,  a  Democrat,  having 
previously  received  a  memorial  on  the  suigect  from  the  Legislature  of  his  State» 
introduced  a  bill  to  prohibit  contract^  for  servile  labor  and  to  amend  and  enforce 
existing  laws  against  the  coolie  trade.  This  bill,  like  all  others  of  its  kind,  was 
^^ferred  to  a  hostile  Republican  committee,  and  was  never  heard  of  again, 
^B  As  will  be  seen,  each  and  every  one  of  these  resolutions  was  referred  to  a  hostile 
committee,  where  it  slept  the  long  sleep, 

^^  MR.   THURMAN   STATES  THE   CASE. 

^»  The  agitation,  however,  continued  intermittently  until  the  year  1879,  when  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  from  California,  representing  the  aroused  sentiment 
of  the  Pacific  Coast,  presented  memorials  without  number  and  bills,  looking  to  the 
restriction  of  immigration.  The  case  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  constitutional 
right  of  the  United  States  to  thus  far  abrogate  the  treaty  then  existing  with  China, 
known  as  the  Burlingame  Treaty,  were  presented  by  Senator  Thurman  on  February 
13, 1879,  daring  the  discussion  : 

Mr.  President,  I  have  a  very  few  words  to  say  on  this  bill,  and  scarcely  anything  at  all 
upon  the  general  question  involved  in  it.  I  shall  assume  the  arguments  already  made  at 
this  session  and  at  previous  sessions  have  convinced  the  Senate  that  a  limit  ought  to  be 
placed  upon  the  emigration  of  Chinese  to  the  United  States,  If,  Indeed ,  that  migration  ought 
not  to  be  stopped  altogether.  What  I  shall  say,  therefore,  will  relate  mainly  to  the  mode 
by  which  a  stop  or  limit  is  to  be  put  to  that  migration.  It  has  been  said  that  it  can  only  be 
done  by  the  negotiation  of  a  new  treaty,  I  do  not  know  that  that  proposition  has  been  dis 
tinctly  advocated  upon  this  floor,  but  if  it  does  lurk  in  the  mind  of  any  Senator,  I  beg  him 
to  listen  to  the  very  few  observations  that  I  have  to  make  upon  it.  To  me  it  seems  perfectly 
clear  that  the  proposition  cannot  for  a  moment  be  sustained,  and  that  it  would  be  ruinous 

this  country  or  to  any  other  lo  hold  that  a  treaty  can  only  be  put  an  end  to  by  the  nego- 


386  THE   RESTRICTION  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

tiation  of  another,  for  that  would  put  you  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  party  with  whom 
you  had  negotiated  a  treaty.  Take,  for  instance,  this  very  case.  If  we  can  only  put  an  end 
to  this  treaty  by  negotiating  a  new  treaty  with  China,  then  it  is  in  the  power  of  China,  by 
refusing  to  negotiate  a  new  treaty,  or  such  a  one  as  we  desire,  to  hold  us  to  this  treaty, 
however  detrimemal  to  our  interests  it  may  be. 

Mr.  Hamlin.  Will  the  Senator  allow  me  to  ask  him  if  he  knows  of  any  one  who  holds 
that  doctrine  ? 

Mr.  Thurman.  I  said  I  did  not  know.  Treaties  are  like  partnerships.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  an  indissoluble  partnership.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  indissoluble  treaty. 
Either  party  may  declare  it  abrogated. 

I  say,  therefore,  Mr.  President,  that  the  true  way  is,  there  having  been  no  modiflcatiott 
of  this  treaty  by  the  treaty-making  power,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  attempt  having  been 
made  to  modify  it,  there  having  been  nothing  of  that  kind  done,  many,  many  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  treaty  was  made  and  the  evils  growing  every  year  greater  and  greater,  and 
the  danger  to  which  we  are  exposed  by  this  migration  becoming  every  year  more  and  mor& 
Imminent,  it  is  now  the  duty  of  Congress  without  delay  to  take  this  matter  in  hand. 

Are  we  prepared,  sir,  to  invite  the  American  laborer  to  this  competition— to  yoke  him- 
■with  this  fellow  to  plow  the  fields,  delve  in  the  mine,  or  work  in  the  shops  of  capital  seeking 
the  cheapest  labor?  Sir,  we  want  no  such  laborers,  either  foreign  or  native.  We  want  no. 
class  that  can  or  will  accept  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  only  as  the  price  of  its  labor.  We 
want  no  class  to  whose  vision  is  forever  closed  all  prospect  of  advancement,  comfort,  inde- 
pendence, and  progress.  If  there  be  such  now  anywhere  in  this  broad  land,  it  would  be  our 
first  and  highest  duty,  so  far  as  we  had  constitutional  power,  to  lift  the  dark  veil  of  despair 
which  shuts  out  the  prospect  of  elevation  and  advancement.  It  is  our  duty  to  dignify  and 
ennoble  labor,  not  to  debase  and  degrade  it. 

«  *  *  ««  r$  m  « 

It  is,  sir,  in  my  judgment,  our  duty  to  pass  this  bill.  To  reject  it  is  to  invite  to  our  shore* 
millions  of  an  inferior  and  degraded  race  to  drag  down  to  their  own  level  the  A.merica» 
laborer. 

PARTY  RECORDS  ON  THE  QUESTION. 

House  bill  No.  2423,  to  restrict  Chinese  immigration  by  limiting  the  number  of 
immigrftnls  to  be  transported  by  vessels  to  the  United  States  to  fifteen  on  each  trip, 
passed  the  House  on  January  14, 1879,  by  the  following  vote:  Yeas— Democrats,. 
104;  Republicans,  51.  Total,  155.  Nays— Republicans,  56;  Democrats,  16.  Total, 
72.  A  majorit.Y  of  the  Republican  members  thus  voted  against  the  bill,  while  more 
than  six  out  of  seven  of  the  Democi*atic  members  voted  in  its  favor.  In  the  Senate 
the  vote  was  as  follows  :  Yeas — Democrats,  22 ;  Republicans,  19 ;  Independent,  1.. . 
Total,  42.     Nays— Republicans,  20 ;  Democrats,  8.    Total,  28. 

The  bill  thus  passed,  the  first  presented  to  Congress  on  this  subject,  was  vet 
by  Mr.  Hayes,  upon  the  ground  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  enact  a  law  whicl 
contravened  the  treaty  with  China.  Upon  the  question  whether  the  bill  should] 
pass  over  the  veto,  the  result  in  the  House  was :  Yeas— Democrats,  88 ;  Republicansvj 
22.  Total,  110.  Nays— Republicans,  81;  Democrats,  :: 5.  Total,  96.  The  first' 
effort  to  overcome  this  evil  hid  failed,  with  a  large  majority  of  the  Republicai 
members  of  both  the  House  and  Senate  voting  against  it  at  every  stage,  while  anj 
equally  large  majority  of  Democrats  had  voted  in  its  favor. 

ATTITUDE  OP  PARTIES  AFTER  A  NEW  TREATY  HAD  BEEN  CONCLUDED 

On  September  17, 1880,  a  new  treaty  -with  China  was  ratified,  whereby  thi^l 
Government  acquired  the  power  of  restricting  immigration  without  giving  reason.; 
for  oflfense  to  China.    A  bill  was,  therefore,  introduced  early  in  1881  in  the  first  sea 


THE  RESTRICTION   OF  CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 


387 


^Boi 


n  of  the  Senate,  of  which  General  Harrison  was  a  member,  providing  for  the 
elusion  of  Chinese  fur  the  term  of  twenty  years.    In  this  discussion  Senator  Mor- 
,  of  Alabama,  met  the  objections  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  measure  in  the 
llowing  language : 

Has  the  power  been  denied,  or  will  any  Senator  here  rise  in  his  place  and  deny  it,  that 
le  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  the  enactment  of  a  statute  his  the  right  to  repeal  any 

ty  that  has  been  adopted  and  ratified  by  the  treaty-making  power  ? 

Will  any  Senator  undertake  to  say  that  the  treaty-making  power  of  this  country  is  not 

r  all  subordinate  to  the  legislative  power?  If  he  does  he  will  deny  the  whole  legisla- 
e  history  of  our  country,  and  he  will  set  aside  and  hold  for  naught  the  opinions  of  the 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States.    It  is  the  right  and  province  of  the  legislative  power 

his  country  to  repeal  treaties  where  they  are  found  to  contravene  the  best  Interests  or 

eral  welfare  of  the  people. 

A  vote  was  reached  on  this  measure  in  the  House  on  March  23, 1883,  which 
od  as  follows:  Yeas— Democrats,  98 ;  Greenbackers  8;  Republicans,  61.  Totals. 
7.  Nays — Republicans,  63 ;  Democrats,  4.  Total,  66.  lathe  Senate  on  April 
1882,  the  vote  stood :  Yeas— Democrats,  31;  Republicans,  6.  Total,  37.  Nays — - 
imocratB,  none;  Republicans,  28  ;  Independents,  1.    Total,  29. 

This  bill  was  vetoed  by  President  Arthur  upon  the  ground  of  the  unconetitu*- 
nality  of  the  measure  and  for  the  further  reason,  as  he  said : 

No  one  can  say  that  the  country  has  not  profited  by  their  work.  They  were  largely - 
itrumental  in  constructing  the  railways  which  connected  the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific., 
e  States  of  the  Pacific  slope  are  full  of  evidences  of  their  industry. 

When  the  bill  was  returned  to  the  Senate  the  vote  on  its  passage,  notwith- 
standing the  objeotions  of  the  President,  was  :  Yeas — Democrats,  31 ;  Republicans, . 
6.    Total,  37.    Nays— Republicans,  28 ;  Independents,  1.    Total,  29. 

A  new  bill  was  then  introduced  into  the  Senate,  reducmg  the  term  of  restriction, 
m  twenty  to  ten  years.  This  bill  passed  the  House  by  the  following  vote:  Yeas- 
Democrats,  103 ;   Republicans,  91 ;   Greenbackers,  7.     Total,  201.    Nays — Repab*- 
us,  34 ;  Democrats,  3.    Total,  37. 

The  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  the  following  vote:  Yeas — Democrats,  31;. 
publicans,  9.    Total,  40.    Nays — RepubUcans,  24 ;  Democrats,  none;  Independ- 
ts,  1.    Total,  25.    This  bill  was  signed  by  President  Arthur  and  became  a  law.* 
No  attempt  has  been  made  to  follow  the  discussion  in  the  Senate  and  House  in 
its  ramifications  upon  either  the  main  bill  or  upon  the  amendments,  but  the  fol- 
ding recapitulation  of  the  votes  on  the  passage  of  bills  to  restrict  Chinese  imrai- 
tion  and  upon  the  vetoes  of  Presidents  from  1879  to  1882,  will  give  a  correct  idea 
the  party  position  on  this  question  during  this  time : 


•The  record  of  General  Harrison  on  this  question,  including  his  assistance  in  gettla^ 
Inese  naturalized  in  Indianapolis  M  his  votes  lathe  Senate,  is  fully  treated  in  the 
ipter  succeeding  this  under  the  *itl      Harrison  and  the  Chinese." 

25 


388 


THK  RK8TEICTI0N   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 


FINAL,   V0TB8   IN   SENATE   AND    HOUSB   ON   BILLS   TO    RESTRICT   CHINESK    IMMIGRATION. 


Date. 


Democrats. 


Yeas.      Navs. 


Republicans. 


Yeaf^. 


Nay^ 


Sejiate 
February    15,  1879 

22 

30 
31 
31 

8 

1 

0 
0 

19 
8 
6 

20 

March  9    1883 

22 

April   .%  1882* 

38 

April  38    1882 

24 

Total          

114 

104 
88 
98 

103 

9 

16 

15 

4 

1        "' 

94 

House  of  Itepresentatives. 
January  28,  1879 

1  i 

!   l\ 

56 

Marcb  1,  1879t ,. 

81 

March  23  1882 

63 

April   17,  1883 

34 

893 
^l07 

38 
47    ' 

1      235 

333 

Total  votes  in  Senate  and  House 

"W 

327 

position  op  the  democratic  candidates. 

The  Democratic  position  on  this  question  so  far  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-Pres- 
ident on  the  ticket  for  this  contest  la  concerned  has  already  been  set  forth  not  only 
in  the  quotations  made  from  his  speeches  at  different  times,  both  in  the  Senate  and 
out,  but  in  his  vote  at  every  turn  in  favor  of  the  restriction  of  this  dangerous  and 
threatening  immigration. 

President  Cleveland  was  not  in  public  life  during  any  of  this  period,  but  in  his 
letter  of  August  17, 1884,  accepting  the  Democratic  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  he 
said: 

Belated  to  this  subject,  while  we  should  not  discourage  the  immigration  of  those  who 
come  to  acknowledge  allegiance  to  our  government  and  add  to  our  citizen  population,  yet 
as  a  means  of  protection  to  our  worltingmen  a  different  rule  should  prevail  concerning  those 
who,  if  they  come  or  are  brought  to  our  land,  do  not  intend  to  become  Americans,  but  will 
kijuriously  compete  with  those  justly  entitled  to  our  field  of  labor.  *  j. 

In  his  inaugural,  delivered  on  March  4, 1885,  he  emphasized  this  declarationj| 
saying:  9 

The  laws  should  be  rigidly  enforced  which  prohibit  the  immigration  of  a  servile  class  to 
oompete  with  American  labor,  with  no  intention  of  acquiring  citizenship,  and  bringing  wit 
them  and  retaining  habits  and  customs  repugnant  to  our  civilization. 

In  his  first  annual  message  sent  to  Congress  December  8, 1885,  he  again  i 
the  right  of  Government  to  restrict  such  immigration  in  the  following  language ; 

The  admitted  right  of  a  government  to  prevent  the  Influx  of  elements  hostile  to ' 
internal  peace  and  security  may  not  be  questioned,  ev  n  where  there  Is  no  treaty  stipulation 
on  the  subject.    That  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  labor  is  demanded  in  other  countries  where 

*Vote  to  pass  Senate  bill  No.  71  over  President  Arthur's  veto. 
tVote  to  pa»8  House  hill  No  3433  over  President  Hayes'  veto. 


iSStO 

with 

I 

tonP 


m. 

A  NEW  TREATY  NEGOTIATED. 

ER  PRESIDENT   CLEVELAND'S  CONVENTION  WITH  CHINA  CHINESE    ARE  TO  BK; 
EXCLUDED  FOR  TWENTY   YEARS. 


THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  3$(| 

like  conditions  prevail  is  strongly  evidenced  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  where  Chinefa 
Immigration  is  now  regulated  by  laws  more  exclusive  than  our  own.  If  existing  laws  ara 
inadequate  to  compass  the  end  in  view,  I  shall  be  prepared  to  give  earnest  consideration  to 
any  further  remedial  measures,  within  the  treaty  limits,  which  the  wisdom  of  Congresf 
may  devise. 

In  his  second  annual  message  sent  to  Congress,  December  6, 1886,  he  still  furt 
ther  adverted  to  the  question  in  connection  with  the  new  Chinese  Treaty  then 
pending  in  the  State  Department,  and  said : 

I  am  not  without  assurance  that  the  government  of  China,  whose  friendly  disposition 
towards  us  I  am  most  happy  to  recognize,  will  meet  us  half  way  in  devising  a  oompreheDi 
give  remedy,  by  which  an  effective  limitation  of  Chinese  emigration,  joined  to  proteotiOQ 
at  those  Chinese  subjects  who  remain  in  this  country,  may  be  secured. 

^B  On  March  16, 1888,  the  President  transmitted  to  the  Senate  a  new  Treaty  justi 
^Included  with  China,  under  which  the  immigration  of  Chinese  to  this  country  was 
absolutely  prohibited  for  a  term  of  twenty  years.    In  his  brief  message  accompa- 
nying the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  he  said : 

In  view  of  the  public  interest  which  has  for  a  long  time  been  manifested  in  relation  t<j 
the  question  of  Chinese  immigration,  it  would  seem  advisable  that  the  full  text  of  this 
Treaty  should  be  made  public,  and  I  respectfully  recommend  that  an  order  to  that  effect  be 
tnade  by  your  honorable  body. 

I 

^P  In  his  letter  to  the  President,  notifying  him  oflBlcially  of  the  conclusion  of  the 
^Seaty,  Secretary  Bayard  said : 

Shortly  after  the  advent  of  your  administration  it  was  considered  advisable,  in  view  of 
the  manifest  popular  discontent  in  the  States  bordering  upon  the  Pacific,  growing  out 
of  the  presence  there  of  Chinese  laborers  and  their  obvious  lack  of  assimilation  with  the 
sympathies,  habits,  and  interests  of  our  own  citizens,  and  the  demonstrated  inefficiency  of 
the  statutes  intended  to  restrict  their  coming  among  us,  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to 
procure  the  desired  relief  by  obtaining  the  consent  and  co-operative  action  of  China  by 
means  of  an  amended  treaty,  and  thus  avoid  the  necessity  of  a  resort  to  separate  legisla- 
tion, which,  without  the  co-operative  assistance  of  the  Chinese  Government,  would  be  less 
effectual,  and  might  also  be  open  to  exception  aa  being  in  conflict  with  or  in  derogation  of 
the  stipulations  of  existing  conventions,  and  possibly  as  impairing  our  good  understanding 
with  a  friendly  power. 

The  temporary  absence  from  the  United  States  in  1885,  and  the  subsequent  illness  of  the 
then  Chinese  minister,  unavoidably  delayed  negotiations,  but  upon  the  arrival  of  his  suc- 
cessor, the  present  minister,  Chang  Yen  rtoon,  propositions  were  speedily  submitted  to  him 
for  a  convention  absolutely  prohibiting  the  immigration  of  Chinese  laborers,  and  after  some 
further  delay,  arising  from  a  visit  made  by  him  to  Europe  last  summer,  the  treaty  herewith 
transmitted  has  been  concluded. 

By  this  arrangement  we  have  secured  the  co-operation  of  China  in  the  main  purpose 
and  object  of  the  treaty,  which  is  plainly  stated  in  the  first  article  of  the  convention  to  be 
the  absolute  prohibition  of  Chinese  lab  orers  Irom  coming  into  the  United  States  for  twenty 
years,  and  its  renewal  thereafter  for  a  similar  period,  unless  notice  shall  have  been  given  aa 

r 


MR.  BAYARD  TO  THE  PRESIDENT. 


890  THE  RESTRICTION   OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

This  preclu'les  the  return  of  any  Chinese  laborers  who  are  not  now  in  this  country,  and 
forbids  the  coming  into  the  United  States  of  Chinese  laborers  from  any  quarter  wtiat- 
soever. 

From  this  inhibition  are  excepted  any  Chinese  laborer  who  has  a  lawful  wife,  child,  or 
parent  in  the  United  States,  or  property  therein  of  the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars  ($1,000) 
or  debts  of  like  amount  due  him  and  pending  settlement. 

Considerations  of  humanity  and  justice  require  these  exceptions  to  be  made,  for 
no  law  should  overlook  the  ties  of  familyi  and  the  wages  of  labor  are  entitled  to  just 
protection. 

Judging  also  by  the  statistics  of  the  class  in  question  and  from  general  experience,, 
such  excepted  cases  will  be  practically  few  in  number,  infrequent,  and  easily  capable  of 
such  regulations  as  will  prevent  abuse. 

The  regulation  and  control  of  the  issue  of  such  certificates  of  return  will  be  wholly  in 
the  hands  of  United  States  officials,  and  power  to  prescribe  other  laws  at  discretion  may  be 
exercised  by  the  United  States. 

Such  right  to  return  is  for  a  limited  period,  and  the  certificates  are  invalidated  by  the 
perpetration  of  fraud  in  connection  with  their  procurement  or  use,  and  the  United 
States  are  free  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  become  advisable  to  check  or  punish  any 

In  the  course  of  late  litigation  in  the  United  States  courts  in  California,  arising  out  of 
the  contested  claims  of  cenain  Chinese  laborers  to  return  to  the  United  States  under  the- 
certificates  now  provided  by  law,  it  has  been  pertinently  suggested  by  the  learned  judges 
before  whom  the  cases  were  tried  that  the  derailed  information  contained  in  the  certificates, 
themselves,  as  now  issued  to  the  Chinese,  furnishes  the  means  of  fraudulent  entry  of 
Chinese  laborers,  to  whom  such  certificates  have  been  fraudulently  transferred  and  who- 
are  not  entitled  to  come  to  the  United  States.  And  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  if  all  the 
facts  requisite  for  complete  identification  of  the  departing  Chinaman  were  retained  in  the 
United  States  ofiicial  custody,  and  a  paper  containing  only  a  simple  number,  and  properly- 
marked,  signed  and  countersigned  by  the  officers,  were  furnished,  the  means  of  detecting 
and  preventing  fraud  in  the  transfer  of  the  certificate  would  be  given,  and  the  present 
abuses  made  almost  impossible  of  recurrence. 


PULL  TEXT  OP  THE  TREATY  OP  EXCLUSION. 

The  full  text  of  the  Treaty,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  from 
the  United  States,  is  as  follows : 

Whereas  on  the  17th  day  of  November,  A.  D.  1880,  a  Treaty  was  concluded  between 
the  United  States  and  China  for  the  purpose  of  regulating,  limiting  or  suspending  the 
coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to,  and  their  residence  in,  the  United  States; 

And  whereas  the  Government  of  China,  In  view  of  the  antagonism  and  much  dep- 
recated and  serious  disorders  to  which  the  presence  of  Chinese  laborers  has  given  rise  in 
certain  parts  of  the  United  States,  desires  to  prohibit  the  emigration  of  such  laborers  from 
China  to  the  United  States; 

And  whereas  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Government  of  China 
desire  to  co-operate  in  prohibiting  such  emigration,  and  to  strengthen  in  other  ways  the 
bonds  of  frieudsnip  between  the  two  countries; 

Now^  ther^ore.  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  aDX)0inted  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Sec- 
retary of  State  of  the  United  States,  as  his  Plenipotentiary;  and  His  Imperial  Majesty  the 
Emperor  of  China  has  appointed  Chang  Yen  Hoon,  Minister  of  the  Third  Kank  of  the  Im- 
perial Court,  Civil  President  of  the  Board  of  Imperial  Cavalry  and  Envoy  Extraordinaryj 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  as  his  Plenipotentiary;  and  the  said  Plenipotentiaries  havit 
exhibited  their  respective  Full  Powers  found  to  be  in  due  and  good  form,  have  agre 
upon  the  following  articles: 

Article.  I. 

The  High  Contracting  parties  agree  that  for  a  pei*iod  of  twenty  years,  beginning  wll 

the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  Convention,  the  coming,  except  under  i ' 
conditions  hereinafter  specified,  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  United  States  shall  be  ab 
lutely  prohibited;  and  this  prohibition  shall  extend  to  the  return  of  Chinese  laborers  who  are 
now  in  the  United  States,  whether  holding  return  certificates  under  existing  laws  or  not. 

Article  II. 

The  preceding  article  shall  not  applv  to  the  return  to  the  United  States  of 
Chinese  laborer  who  has  a  lawful  wife,  child  or  parent  in  the  United  States,  or  proper 
therein  of  the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars,  or  debts  of  like  amount  due  him  and  pendii 
settlement.  Nevertheless,  every  such  Chinese  laborer  shall,  before  leaving  the  Unit< 
States,  deposit,  as  a  condition  of  his  return,  with  the  collector  of  customs  of  the  distri 
from  which  he  departs,  a  full  description  in  writing  of  his  family,  or  property,  or  debf 
as  aforesaid,  and  shall  be  furnished  by  said  collector  with  such  certificate  of  his  right 


CL 


THE  EESTRTCTION  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  891 


Article  III. 


Article  IV. 


Tetum  under  this  Treaty  as  the  laws  of  the  United  States  may  now  or  hereafter  prescribe, 
and  not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this  Treaty;  and  should  the  written  description 
aforesaid  be  proved  to  be  false,  the  right  of  return  thereunder,  or  of  continued  residence 
after  return,  shall  in  each  ca»e  be  forfeited.  And  such  ri<?ht  of  return  to  the  United 
States  shall  be  exercised  within  one  year  from  the  date  of  feavinsr  the  United  States; 
but  such  right  of  return  to  the  United  States  may  be  extended  for  an  additional  period, 
not  to  exceed  one  year,  in  cases  where  by  reason  of  sickness  or  other  cause  of  disability 
beyond  his  control,  such  Chinese  laborer  shall  be  rendered  unable  sooner  to  return— which 
facts  shall  be  fully  reported  to  the  Chinese  consul  at  the  port  of  departure,  and  by  him 
certified,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  collector  of  the  port  at  which  such  Chinese  subject  shall 
land  in  the  United  States.  And  no  such  Cfiineie  laborer  shall  be  permitted  to  enter  the  United 
States  by  land  or  sea  without  producing  to  the  projjer  officer  of  the  customs  the  return  certijicatt 

I 'ein  required. 
The  provisions  of  this  Convention  shall  not  affect  the  right  at  present  enjoyed  of 
Inese  subjects,  being  officials,  teachers,  students,  merchants,  or  travelers  for  curiosity 
;  or  pleasure,  but  not  laborers,  of  coming  to  the  United  States  and  residing  therein.  To 
entitle  such  Chinese  subjects  as  are  above  described,  to  admission  into  the  United  States 
they  may  produce  a  certificate  from  their  Government  or  the  Government  where  they 
last  resided,  vised  by  the  diplomatic  or  consular  representative  of  the  United  States  la 
the  country  or  port  whence  they  depart. 

It  is  also  agreed  that  Chinese  laborers  shall  continue  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  transit 
across  the  territory  of  the  United  States  in  the  course  of  their  journey  to  or  from  other 
countries,  subject  to  such  regulations  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  may 
be  necessary  to  prevent  said  privilege  of  transit  from  being  abused. 

^*^  *■'♦  •  *  «  «  «  w  «  *« 

^B  In  pursuance  of  Article  III,  of  the  Immigration  Treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
^^Riina,  signed  at  Peking  on  the  17th  day  of  November,  1880,  it  is  hereby  understood  and  agreed 
that  Chinese  laborers,  or  Chinese  of  any  other  class,  either  permanently  or  temporarily 
residing  in  the  United  Stales,  shall  have  for  the  protection  of  their  persons  and  property 
all  rights  that  are  given  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  citizens  of  the  most  favored 
nation,  excepting  the  right  to  become  naturalized  citizens.  And  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  reaffirms  its  obligation,  as  stated  in  said  Article  III,  to  exert  all  its  power  to 
secure  protection  to  the  persons  and  property  of  all  Chinese  subjects  In  the  United 
States. 
»«  «  *  •  «  «  »v  «  *« 

H|t  Article  VI. 

^V  This  Convention  shall  remain  In  f  orc^  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  beginning  with  the 
date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  :  and  if,  six  months  betore  the  expiration  of  the  said 
period  of  twenty  years,  neither  Government  shall  formally  have  given  notice  of  Its  termi- 
nation to  the  other,  it  shall  remain  in  full  force  for  another  like  period  of   twenty 

W" 

^K     The  trivial  amendments  inserted  by  the  Senate  are  printed  in  italics.    They  add 

Hfto  substantial  safeguard  to  those  already  assured  by  the  treaty  itself,  and  only 

served  to  delay  the  final  ratification.    The  eflTectofthis  was  very  well  described 

by  Representative  Bynum,  of  Indiana,  in  a  speech  made  in  the  House  on  August  14, 

when  the  legislation  to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect  was  under  discussion  : 

The  treaty  as  first  negotiated  was  certainly  strong  enough  in  Its  provisions.  It  was 
satisfactory  to  everybody  who  for  twenty  years  had  been  contending  for  a  prohibition  of 
this  immigration,  but  It  seems  that  Its  terms  were  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  Republican 
members  of  the  Senate,  who  had  up  to  that  time  opposed  every  measure  of  restriction. 
That  this  amendment  has  had  a  reverse  effect  to  its  provisions  is  perfectly  evident.  By  Its 
adoption  the  treaty  had  to  be  again  sent  to  the  Chinese  Government  for  ratification  In  Its 
amended  form.  That  Government  can  withhold  Its  ratification  until  every  Chinaman  hold- 
ing a  return  certificate  gets  back.  The  complaints  are  numerous  that  our  present  laws  are 
not  effective,  and  that  Chinese  laborers  are  coming  in  daily  in  violation  of  them.  The  delay, 
therefore,  occasioned  by  the  Senate  amendment,  will  not  only  let  all  those  that  hold  certi- 
ficates have  time  to  return,  but  will  also  allow  all  those  that  may  be  able  to  get  in  In 
violation  of  law.  Its  adoption  has  therefore  resulted  In  increasing  Instead  of  restricting 
the  number  of  immigrants. 


I 


d9S  THB  RBSTRICTION  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

IV. 

REPUBLICAN  EVASION  OF  THIS  LAW. 

SOW  THE  FEDERAL  JUDGES  HAVE  PERMITTED    THOUSANDS  OP  CHINAMEN  TO  LANI> 

ILLEGALLY. 

For  some  months,  indeed  ever  since  the  enactment  of  the  Chinese  Restriction 
Law,  complaints  have  continually  come  from  the  Pacific  coast  that  the  laws  were 
not  thoroughly  executed.  No  fault  has  been  found  with  the  customs  authorities  to 
Whom  this  task  is  given  primarily.  But  it  has  been  charged  that  the  Republican 
Federal  Judges,  at  San  Francisco — Sabin  and  Sawyer — have  permitted  a  large  number 
of  Chinese  immigrants  to  land  under  the  operation  of  the  habeas  corpus. 

The  method  of  procedure  has  been  simple,  yet  effective,  so  far  as  the  inu*oduc- 
tion  of  these  aliens  was  concerned.  Under  the  Uw,  each  Chinaman  leaving  the 
port  of  San  Francisco,  or  any  other  on  the  Pacific  coast,  was  entitled  to  a  certificate 
giving  a  thorough  description  of  him,  by  means  of  which  he  could  re  enter  the 
tJnited  States.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  thousands  of  Chinamen  who  had  never 
been  in  this  country,  were  seeking  to  enter  by  means  of  forged  certificates.  They 
had  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  topography  oi  San  Francisco,  evidently  by 
careful  coaching  on  the  part  of  the  companies  importing  them. 

HOW   THE  THING   IS  DONE  IN  SPITE   OP  THE  LAW. 

When  the  customs  authorities  would  refuse  to  admit  these  people,  the  master  of 
&.  vessel  would  become  tired,  after  a  few  days  of  delay,  of  feeding  and  caring  for 
this  large  number  of  Chinamen.  He  would,  therefore,  make  application  to  the 
Judges  of  the  United  States  courts  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  would  permit 
him  to  land  these  forbidden  immigrants.  By  this  means  large  numbers  of  them, 
Amounting,  it  is  asserted  in  California,  to  something  like  25,000  since  the  passage  of 
the  Restriction  Law,  have  been  landed  at  the  port  of  San  Francisco. 

This  has  induced  such  serious  complaints  upon  the  part  of  citizens  of  California, 
that  on  July  25,  1888,  an  immense  mass  meeting  was  held  to  protest  against  thia 
policy.  This  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Cigarmakers  Union,  all  the  labor 
organizations  of  the  city  joining  in  it. 

THE  VIGOROUS  PROTEST  OF  THE  REPRESENTATIVES  OP  LABOR. 

Herman  Gutstadt  spoke  as  follows : 

As  thinflrs  sre  at  present  we  are  impotent.  Talk  as  we  please,  tbe  Judg-ea  go  on  rakli  _ 
In  13  a  case.  Think  of  it,  $3  for  three  minutes !  Why  should  a  few  pesky  shysters  b« 
allowed  to  go  on  practicing'  this  nefarious  business?  Sabin.  Sawyer  and  Houghton  run  the 
entire  machinery  of  the  law  to  suit  themselves.  Thouerh  we  be  impotent,  we  can  let  tber 
know  our  eyes  are  upon  them,  and  if  they  do  not  modify  their  career  of-  the  past  they  ha 
better  look  to  the  future.  And  we  can  have  President  Cleveland  and  Congress  find  oul 
Whether  they  are  doing  things  right  or  wrong.  We  can  have  the  finger  of  scorn  pointed 
them.  Mor-*,  we  can  hire  an  attorney  who  is  not  afraid  of  Judsre  Sawyer  and  Judge  Sabii 
andpreventtheflowof  fraudulent  coolies  into  this  country.  More  at  least  than  is  beins 
done  now.  In  my  trade  of  cigarmaker  there  Is  not  one  of  the  4.000  Chinese  iu  it  out  o< 
employment,  while  a  large  per  cent,  of  white  cigarmakers  are. 

There  is  no  trade  more  important  than  this,  and  none  which  has  received  less  suppoi 
from  the  people.  If  the  people  were  to  assist  ti  e  cigarmakers  in  their  struggle  there  i 
no  question  that  a  thousand  white  ones  would  be  employed  instead  of  the  few  hundred  whi 
are  eking  out  a  living.  The  action  of  Sawyer  and  Sabin  is  helping  to  crush  the  cigarmaker 


THE  BBSTRICTION  OF  OHINESB  IMMIGKATION. 


METHODS  SUGGESTED  FOR    PREVENTING   THIS  IMPORTATION. 

was  followed  by  James  H.  Barry,  who  made  the  following  remarks : 


L^ 

dishonest.  If  a  Judge  lets  a  Chinaman  loose  hi  San  Francisco  for  five  or  six  months, 
although  his  right  to  land  is  yet  in  doubt,  and  then  asks  him  whether  there  are  cars  on 
Kearny  street,  or  whether  there  is  a  Chinatown  in  San  Francisco,  or  whether  it  snowa  in 
Oakland,  can  you  think  that  he  is  competent  when  he  accepts  his  statements  and  lands  him  ? 
There  must  be  an  ulterior  object  to  all  this,  and  I  have  the  ritrht  to  think  there  is.  White 
men  are  sacrificed  daily  and  hourly  to  the  Mongolian  god.  What  are  we  going  to  do  about 
it  ?  This  is  not  only  a  question  of  principle ;  it  is  a  question  of  something  more  substantial. 
There  is  to  be  a  committee  appointed  to-night,  I  understand,  to  collect  funds,  the  expendi- 
ture of  which  is  to  be  regularly  published.  This  committee  will  consist  of  well-^  nown  olti- 
Ks,  and  will  endeavor,  if  it  cannot  stop,  to  check  the  work  of  these  Federal  Judges, 
lam  tired  making  antiChinfse  speeches  and  tired  listening  to  them.  The  time  for 
ech-making  has  passed.  The  hour  for  action  has  come.  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood, 
nan  upholder  of  the  law,  as  you  are.  We  have  the  right  to  demand  that  our  public 
Bervants  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  the  lawshall  faithfully  fulfill  that  trusts  It 
Is  our  right  to  insist  on  it,  and,  by  the  great  Jehovah,  we  shall  insist  on  the  right.  For 
years  the  Federal  Judges  have  been  landing  Chinese  on  no  other  pretext  except  that  It  Is 
their  right.  They  take  them  from  the  ships,  bring  them  into  court  and  release  them  so 
that  they  may  go  into  Chinatown  and  hunt  up  perjured  evidence.  Then  thev^  are  discharged 
as  prior  residents.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  law  permits  them  to  do  this,  but  If  it  does 
the  law  shonid  be  chaoRed.  No  matter  how  good  the  Bayard  treaty  may  be,  the  Federal 
Judges,  looking  through  their  spectacles,  will  nullify  it.  I  believe  they  would  render  a 
total  Exclusion  Act  useless.  If  the  Federal  Judges  don't  know  it  we  do,  that  two-thirds 
of  the  Chinese  witnesses  who  go  into  the  Federal  Courts  perjure  themselves.  Shall  the 
Federal  Judge  be  permitted  to  admit  these  coolies  in  defiance  of  law,  or  if  they  are  not 
doing  it  in  such  defiance  shall  Congress  not  repeal  the  law  ?    Let  us  elect  Congressmpn  who 

111  either  better  this  law  or  haye  these  Judges  impeached  if  they  are  doing  wrong.  If  Con- 
9SS  fails  to  act  then  "we  will  meet  again  in  Philippi." 
0] 


A  STRONG  MEMORIAL  TO  CONGRESS. 

As  a  result  of  this  meeting  the  following  memorial  to  Congress  was  nnanimoosly 
lopted. 

MKMORIAL. 

the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Sepresentatives : 

The  people  of  San  Francisco,  in  mass  mooting  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  devising- 
gome  means  to  save  our  State  from  the  incomicg  of  Chinese  coolies,  whose  immigration  is 
expressly  prohibited  by  the  laws  passed  by  you,  do  represent  as  follows : 

Werecognize  that  Congress  has  responded  to  the  wishes^of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  by  adopting  such  legislation  as  we  all  deemed  neceseary  t^^,  and  adequate  for,  that 
end.  That  such  legislation  would  have  been  suflicient  to  accomplish  thst  end  for  which  it 
was  intended  had  it  been  accomplished  in  good  faith,  according  to  the  spirit  in  which  it  was 
devised,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

Although  that  law  has  been  upon  the  statute  books  since  18P2  and  was  amended  four 
years  ago  with  the  intent  to  strengthen  its  provisions  inonler  to  il  eet  the  technical  objec- 
tions raised  by  the  judiciary  on  the  Federal  bench  of  this  Coast,  the  fact  remains  that  a 
larger  number  of  Chinese  are  entering  the  port  of  S-in  Francisco  to-day  than  have  entered 
at  any  other  time  in  our  history.  There  are  practically  no  greater  restrictions  upon  the 
entry  of  Mongolians  than  upon  that  of  Europeans,  the  only  difference  being  that  a  head 
tax  is  imposed  upon  Mongolians  for  the  benefit  of  the  courts  instead  of  the  treasury. 

Thus  have  the  efforts  of  Congress  to  protect  American  labor  from  ruinous  and  degrad- 
ing competition  with  aB^srvile  race  been  defeated.  The  situation  is  so  alarming  as  to  endan- 
ger the  peace  of  this  State,  because  the  j  ad  urea  whose  duty  it  is  to  uphold  the  law  have 
brought  the  administration  of  the  law  into  cuntempt. 

If  not  to  the  law,  where  can  the  people  look  lor  protection  ?  If  the  efforts  of  Con- 
gress heretofore  to  protect  the  people  shall  continue  to  be  thwarted,  the  people  must  and 
will  protect  themselves. 

By  your  Act  of  1883,  as  amended,  it  was  provided  that  certain  certificates  would  be  the 
sole  evidence  of  the  right  of  any  Chinaman  to  land.  The  administration  of  this  law  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Collector  of  Customs.  In  the  attempt  to  carry  out  the  provisions 
of  this  law  the  customs  oflBoials  have  been  thwarted  at  every  step  by  the  mandates  of  the 
Federal  Courts.  By  the  abuse  of  the  right  of  habeas  corpus  the  administration  of  the  Act 
has  been  taken  from  the  hands  of  the  Collector  of  Customs  and  usurped  by  the  courts.  The 
examination  of  Chinese  on  board  ships  by  the  customs  authorities  provided  for  in  your  Act 
—which  was  the  greatest  safeguard  against  the  fraudulent  landing  of  coolies— has  been 
vetoed  by  the  Federal  Court?,  although  it  was  approved  by  the  President.  So  determined 
have  been  the  judges  to  defeat  the  plain  and  only  purpose  of  the  law  that  they  have  gone 
the  length  of  threatening  with  imprisonment  the  customs  officials  who  have  sought  to  p  er- 
form  the  sworn  duty  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Congress  and  President  of  the  United 
States. 


I 


S94  THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

Since  you  ordained  in  1884  that  no  Chinaman  should  enter  this  country  without  pos- 
gessing  a  certain  certiflcate  showing  his  right  to  land,  9,000  have  been  landed  by  habeas 
corpus.  This  violation  of  law  has  been  accomplished  throagh  the  agency  of  the  Federal 
judges  who  have  set  up  a  standard  of  their  own  abov  )  and  in  daflance  of  the  law.  Clothed 
with  that  discretion  which  is  inseparable  from  a  proper  exorcise  of  the  judicial  office,  they 
have,  in  every  instance,  used  it  in  behalf  of  the  Chinese  and  against  the  spirit  of  the  law. 
Every  doubt  has  been  resolved  aa-ainst  the  intorests  of  the  people.  Had  they  been  paid 
attorneys  of  the  Chinese  while  sitting  on  ihe  beach,  they  could  not  have  worked  more  per- 
sistently and  eagerly  at  throwing  down  the  guards  which  you  set  up  against  this  immigra- 
tion. Each  cooliv  landed  by  habeas  corpus  represents  legal  fees  amounting  to  $30.  The 
OJrouit  Court,  which  is  the  conduit  through  which  this  Asiatic  filth  flows,  has  for  its  fee- 
receiving  clerk  a  near  relative  of  the  Judge.  So  great  has  been  the  inpour  of  this  profit- 
able, though  forbidden  Immigration,  that  the  regular  machinery  of  the  court  has  proved 
iaadequat©  to  the  demand. 

A  subsidiary  court  not  contemplated  by  statute  has  bsen  created  for  the  admission  of 
Chinese,  and  no  lee  now  goes  to  waste.  This  subsidy  court  receives  a  fee  of  $3  for  each 
Chinaman  landed,  and  does  its  work  at  the  rate  of  one  Chinaman  every  ten  minu.es  dur- 
ing business  hours.  At  the  present  time  there  are  in  San  Francisco's  Chinatown  no  less 
than  4,000  certificateless  coolies  landed  upon  habeas  corpus,  turned  loose  on  bail  and  await- 
ing examination.  Many  of  them  have  been  on  shore  as  long  as  six  months.  The  only  proof 
•f  prior  residence  required  by  the  Circuit  Court  and  its  annex  from  these  men  is  an  ability 
to  answer  certain  questions  tending  to  show  a  slight  familiarity  with  the  geographical  fea- 
tures of  San  Francisco,  and  the  entry  of  their  names  in  the  books  of  the  Chinese  Six  Com- 
panies or  in  the  accounts  of  a  Chinese  merchant.  Every  one  of  this  army  of  coolies  can 
secure  his  final  discharge  at  the  expense  of  a  false  oath  and  the  payment  of  the  required 
fees.  Meantime,  this  bwarra  of  Asiatics  who  are  supposed  by  law  not  to  be  in  thf»  country, 
are  actively  competing  with  American  labor  in  all  branches  of  Industry  and  aiding  in  the 
reduction  of  the  scale  of  wages  to  the  Chinese  level.  The  amount  represented  on  the  bonds 
for  which  Chinese  residents  are  surety  is  already  In  excess  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  all 
the  property  owned  in  San  Francisco  by  the  Chinese  population. 

That  the  interpretation  placed  upon  the  law  by  Judges  Sawyer  and  Sabin  and  Commis- 
sioner Houghton  Is  not  a  necessary,  but  an  arbitrary  interpretation,  is  shown  by  the  brief 
sitting  of  Judge  Ross  of  the  Southern  District  of  California.  This  jurist  was  recently 
Invited  to  sit  upon  the  Circuit  bench  In  this  city.  His  rulings  were  such  as  to  exclude  the 
Chinese,  and  such  as  t  o  spread  dismay  and  panic  among  the  whole  colony  of  fee-receiving 
•fflcials,  coolie  brokers,  attorneys,  straw-bondsmen,  and  all  other  parasites  who  are  living 
and  fattening  upon  the  decaying  r<  mains  of  the  Restriction  Act.  Judge  Ross'  sitting  was 
brief.  He  has  not  been  invited  to  sit  on  the  Circuit  bench  again.  He  has  been  dropped 
from  Judge  Sawyer's  visiting  list. 

We,  the  people  of  San  Francisco,  appeal  to  Congress  to  end  this  monstrous  conspiracy, 
to  save  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  country  from  the  consequtneesof  an  abuse  of  judicial 
power  unparalleled  sin  e  the  time  (f  Jetfrits.  The  House  of  Representatives  has  created 
a  committee  to  investigate  the  subject  of  contract  labor.  We  invite  that  committee  to 
visit  this  city.  We  promise  to  place  before  it  facts  which  will  demonstrate  the  truth  of 
every  allegation  made  in  this  memorial.  When  this  proof  has  been  made  and  submitted  to 
Congress  we  demand  remedial  action.  What  that  action  should  be  is  self-evident.  No  law 
which  you  have  placed  upon  the  statute  books  has  been  able  to  withstand  the  hostile  and 
destructive  assaults  of  the  Federal  Judges  of  this  Coast. 

You  have  given  us  a  new  treaty  and  contemplate  the  passage  of  a  still  more  stringent 
Exclusion  Act.  We  are  grateful  tor  these  honest  efforts  to  save  us  from  Chin*  se  association 
and  competition,  but  in  the  light  of  experience  what  confidence  can  be  felt  that  any  law  or 
any  treaty  will  be  carried  into  effect  while  its  administration  rests  in  the  hands  of  Judges 
who  have  annulled  every  existing  statute.  While  they  remain  upon  the  bench  Chinese 
exclusion  is  impossible. 

We  demand  the  impeachment  and  removal  of  Lorenzo  Sawyer,  Judge  of  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  of  the  Ninth  Circuit,  and  of  George  M.  Sabin,  District  Judge  for  the 
District  of  Nevada. 

EFFORTS  OF   THE   DEPARTMENT    OF   JUSTICE. 

While  no  complaint  has  been  made  against  the  efficiency  of  the  Department  o^ 
Justice  as  represented  by  the  District  Attorney  at  San  Francisco,  the  Solicitor-Gei 
eral,  Geo.  A.  Jenks,  when  his  attention  was  called  to  the  matter,  addressed  the  fol 
lowing  letter  to  the  District  Attorney: 

Department  op  Justice, 

Washington,  A  ugust  9, 1888, 
John  T.  Carkv,  Esq.,  U.  8.  Attorney^ 

San  Francisco,  California. 
/Sir— There  is  much  complaint  concerning  the  negligent  enforcement  of  the  Chines. 
Restriction  Act  in  California.  As  representing  the  Government  in  the  enforcement  of  th« 
law  In  your  district,  you  are  instructed  to  use  the  utmost  energy,  intelligence  and  care  t 
see  that  it  is  strictly  enforced,  so  far  as  lies  in  your  power.  Leave  nothing  undone  ths 
win  prevent  a  violation  of  the  law.   Very  respectfully, 

G.  A.  Jenks, 

Acting  Atiomey-OenercU, 


THE  BESTRICTION  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGBATION. 


395 


^B  It  will  be  of  interest  to  a  large  number  of  people  to  know  what  Chinese  labor 
means,  not  only  in  China  itself,  but  in  California  as  well.  In  volume  3  of  the  "Con- 
sular Reports  on  Labor  in  America,  Asia,  «&c  ,"  published  by  the  Department  of 
State  in  January,  1885,  transmitted  to  Congress  by  Frederick  T.  Prelinghuysen, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  the  following  is  given  as  the  rate  of  wages  in  Amoy,  one  of 
)rincipal  departments  of  China : 

GENERAL  TRADES. 
ss  PAID  PER  MONTH  of  ten  hours  per  day  in  the  province  of  amot,  china. 


V. 

WHAT  LABOR  GETS  IN  CHINA. 

WAGES  PAID  IN    DIFFERENT    PROVINCES  OP    CHINA    FOR    SKILLED    AND 
UNSKILLED  LABOR,  REPORTED  BY  REPUBLICAN   CONSULS. 


Occupations 


Lowest.     Highest. 


Occupations. 


Lowest.     Highest. 


iilding  Tradi* 


Bricklayers 

Masons 

Plasterers  ., 

Roofers 

Plumbers . . , 
Carpenters. , 


OtTm-  Trade*. 


Bakers 

Blacksmiths  . . . . 

Strikers 

Book-binders.. . . 
Brickmakers. ... 

Brewers 

Butchero 

Brass-founders . . 
Cabinet -makerfl 
Confectioiicr6..f 

Coopers ,. 

Cutlers 

Distillers 


«7  00 

$9  00 

9  00 

18  00 

7  00 

9  00 

7  00 

9  00 

5  00 

6  00  • 

8  00 

10  00 

8  00 

9  00 

4  00 

6  00 

3  00 

3  00 

4  00 

6  00 

6  00 

8  00 

7  00 

8  00 

8  00 

10  00 

6  00 

8  00 

6  00 

8  00 

3  00 

1  50 

1  70 

4  00 

8  00 

7  00 

8  00 

Other  Trades— ConVd. 


Dyers 

Engravers 

Gardeners 

Hatters 

Jewelers 

Laborers,  Porters,&c 
Nail-makers  (hand).. 

Potters 

Printers 

Sail-makers 

Tanners 

Tailors 

Tinsmiths 

Weavers  (out  side  of 
mills)  of  cloth. . , 
of  silk 


«16  00 

8  00 

5  00 

5  00 

14  00 

5  00 
4  00 
4  00 
.5  00 

8  00 

9  00 

6  00 
9  00 

7  00 
22  00 


$20  00 
10  00 

7  00 
6  00 

16  00 
6  00 
6  00 

5  00 

6  00 
10  00 
10  00 

9  00 
10  00 

8  00 
24  00 


Household  wages  in  Towns  omd  Cities. 
Wages  paid  per  mon.  to  household  servant*. 
(  Taums  and  Cities)  in  Amoy. 
Household   servants    (in    native    employ- 
ment)  $100         $3  00 


WAGES  AND  LIVIN'J  IN    OTHER  PROVINCES. 


flRhanics  differs  little  in  the  various  trades,  thirteen  or  fourteen  cents  per  day 
being  a  fair  average,  with  food  furnished  by  employers." 

Consul  Seymour  reported  that  the  average  rate  of  wages  at  Canton,  in  Southern 
China,  for  bakers,  bookbinders,  brickmakers,  winemakers,  butchers,  confectioners, 
cigarmakers,  distillers  of  essences,  boatmen,  dyers,  gardeners,  hatters,  shoemakers, 
nailmakers.  potters,  printers,  leather  ware  makers,  saddle  and  harness  makers, 
tailors,  tinsmiths  and  porters  ranged  from  $450  to  $5.50  per  month.    Among  those 


I 


0»6  THE   BKSTRICTION   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 

known  as  skilled  trades,  such  as  bricklayers,  masons,  plasterers,  roofers,  pluml 
carpenters,  blacksmiths,  weavers,  coopers,  engravers,  jewelers,  clockmakers 
ship  carpenters,  the  rate  ranged  from  $4  50  to  S8  per  month. 

These  wages,  it  must  be  remembered,  represent  those  of  the  larger  cities 
China,  and  are,  no  doubt,  as  in  all  other  countries  of  the  world,  larger  than  in 
smaller  towns  and  in  the  rural  localities. 

The  average  cost  of  living  for  these  different  cities  and  provinces  is  given  i 
about  $3.00  per  month. 

"  The  clothing  of  male  laborers,"  the  report  continues,  "  is  very  simple 
inexpensive.  Two  garments,  generally,  are  only  worn,  trousers  and  a  sort  of  loose 
blouse,  both  of  ordinary  cotton  cloth,  either  white  or  blue.  In  cold  weather  these 
are  padded  with  cotton  batting.  The  better  classes  vary  the  upper  garment  by 
elongation,  when  the  blouse  becomes  a  robe,  which  is  often  covered  by  a  third  gar- 
ment, a  sleeveless  tunic  of  cloth.  Materials  are  varied  as  means  allow,  and  silks 
and  satins  supplant  the  cotton  cloth.  The  cost,  of  course,  depends  on  material,  but 
the  essential  cotton  garments  of  laborers  cost  about  $3.00,  and  two  suits  last  at  least 
a  year." 

As  to  political  rights,  the  common  people  have  none  and  seem  not  to  care  for 
them.  They  seem  to  live  in  abject  fear  of  rulers,  but  appear  not  to  discuss  the  pos- 
sibility of  change.  One  would  judge  they  never  thought,  and  were  contented  with 
their  abject  condition.  No  em'gration  has  ever  occurred  from  this  region.  Educa- 
tion, even  in  the  Chinese  sense,  is  very  limited,  but  most  men  can  read  a  few  char- 
acters and  write  them  as  well,  and  can  keep  accounts. 

Thid  is  the  kind  of  laborers  of  whom  China  can  furnish  perhaps  one  hundred 
millions  without  in  any  way  affecting  its  own  industries  or  its  own  resources.  This 
is  the  kind  of  labor  which  Mr.  Harrison  and  his  Republican  friends  have  sought  to 
bring  into  this  country  without  restriction,  to  take  the  food  from  the  mouths  of  our 
own  worklngmen,  and  then  to  raise  the  cry  of  high  wages  and  protection.  It  cer- 
tainly lies  very  little  in  their  mouths  to  make  such  a  cry  after  their  own  actions  in 
the  matter  have  been  thoroughly  exposed. 


THE   RESTRICTION   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATIOlf. 


397 


VI. 
CHINESE  COMPETITION  IN  THIS  COUNTRY. 

it  IT  MEANS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO— WAGES  AND   COST  OP  LIVING  AND  THE  DEGRA- 
DATION  OP   THE   INHABITANTS. 

IS  showing  the  rate  at  which  the  Chinese  live  in  San  Francisco,  it  has  beea 
rtained  from  the  most  reliable  sources  that  the  average  is  about  as  follows : 

Rent  per  month $3  OO 

Food .5  00 

Clothing — Average  per  month 1  oo 


Total $;8  00 

►tal  per  annum $%  00 

'It  has  also  been  ascertained  that  only  one-fourth  of  the  clothing,  which  is  cer- 
tainly not  extravagant  in  amount,  was  made  of  goods  produced  in  this  country ; 
wMle  of  the  food  consumed  75  per  cent,  was  imported  from  China. 
^bof  the  earnings  of  these  laborers  fully  75  per  cent,  is  sent  each  year  to  China. 
^TThe  rate  of  wages  for  which  these  people  are  willing  to  work  in  San  Francisco 
is  shown  in  the  following  table  : 

RATES  OF   WAGES  PAID  TO   CHINESE. 


(Class  of  Labor. 


Maximum. 


Minimum. 


Average. 


$25  00  per  month. . . 
30  00  per  month... 
12  00  per  month... 
30  00  per  mouth... 
25  00  per  month. . , 
35  00  per  month... 


Domestic  servants. . . 

Cooks 

Laundrymeu 

Cultivators  of  soil... 

Farm  laborers 

Brickmakers 

Slippermakers j    5  00  per  week 

Bagmakers ;    6  CO  per  week 

Miners ?.  00  per  day 

In  canneries I    1  25  per  day 

Boot  and  shoemakers '    1  75  per  day 

Cigarmakers $4  to  §12  per  lOOO. . . 

Cigar  strippers Paid  by  the  piece . . . 

Fishermen Nearly  all  on  their 

I    own  account 


'$18  00  per 

10  00  per 

6  00  per 

25  00  per 

20  00  per 

25  00  per 

4  00  per 

4  .50  per 

1  50  per 

75  per 

75  per 


month, 
month, 
month . 
month, 
month, 
month, 
week  . . 
week  . . 

day 

day.... 
day.... 


$31  50 
20  00 
10  00 
27  .50 
23  50 
30  00 

4  .50 

5  25 
1  75 
1  00 
1  25 


per  month, 
per  month, 
per  month, 
per  month, 
per  month, 
per  month, 
per  week: 
per  week, 
per  day. 
per  day. 
per  day. 


^gt  ALMOST   ABSOLUTE   LACK   OP   CHINESE    HOMES. 

As  showing  the  domestic  condition  of  these  people,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  say 
that  out  of  96  733  Chinese  residents  of  the  Pacific  Coast  States  and  Territories  in 
1880,  only  4,513  were  women,  a  disproportion  absolutely  unknown  in  any  com- 
munity which  ever  existed  since  the  creation  of  Eve,  and  one  which  shows  that 
these  people  when  migrating  here  have  no  idea  of  becoming  part  and  parcel  of  our 
American  citizenship,  so  that  the  "little  brown  man,"  of  whom  Senator  Hoar  spoke 
80  lovingly  a  few  years  ago  in  the  Senate,  has  come  to  this  country  for  the  purposes 
of  revenue  only,  and  has  no  idea  of  remaining  longer  than  it  is  necessary  to  acquire 
the  small  sum  which  will  enable  him  to  set  up  as  a  rich  man  and  capitalist  at  home. 


I 


J»8  THE   RESTRICTION   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 

THE   TERRIBLE   CONDITION  OP  THE   CHINESE   QUARTER. 

In  July  1885,  there  was  published  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco  a  report  made  by 
the  special  committee  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  that  county,  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Chinese  Quarter.  The  section  of  the  city  known  as  the  Chinese  Quarter 
is  included  in  twelve  blocks.  In  these  twelve  blocks  were  found  bunks  to  the 
number  of  15,180,  each  bunk  being  occupied  on  an  average  by  two  persons.  The 
further  results  of  this  system  are  set  forth  in  the  following ; 

All  great  cities  have  their  slums  and  localities  where  filth,  disease,  crime,  and  misery 
abound ;  but  in  the  very  best  aspect  which  "  Chinatown  "  can  be  made  to  present,  it 
must  stand  apart,  conspicuous  and  beyond  them  all  in  the  extreme  degree  of  all  these 
horrible  attributes,  the  rankest  outgrowth  of  human  degradation  that  can  be  found  upon 
this  continent. 

Here  it  may  be  truly  said  that  human  beings  exist  under  conditions  (as  regards  their 
mode  of  life  and  the  air  they  breathe)  scarcely  one  degree  above  those  under  which  the 
rats  of  our  water-front  and  other  vermin  live,  breathe,  and  have  their  being-  And  this 
order  of  things  seems  inseparable  from  the  very  nature  of  the  race,  and  probably  must  be 
ac.cepted  and  borne  with— must  be  endured,  if  it  cannot  be  cured— restricted  and  1  cooked 
after,  so  far  as  possible,  with  unceasing  vigilance,  so  that,  whatever  of  benefit,  "  of 
degree"  even,  that  may  be  derived  from  such  modification  of  the  evil  of  their  presence 
among  us,  may,  at  least,  be  attained,  not  daring  to  hope  that  there  can  be  any  radical 
remedy  for  the  great,  overshadowing  evil  which  Chinese  immigration  has  inflicted  upon 
this  people. 

Your  committee  have  found,  both  from  their  own  and  individual  observations  and 
from  the  reports  of  their  surveyors,  that  it  is  almost  the  universal  custom  among  the 
Chinese  to  herd  together  as  compactly  as  possible,  both  as  regards  living  and  sleeping 
rooms  and  sleeping  accommodations.  It  is  almost  an  invariable  rule  that  every  "bunk" 
in  Chinatown  (beds  being  almost  unknown  in  that  locality)  is  occupied  by  two  persons 
Not  only  is  this  true,  but  in  very  many  instances  these  bunks  are  again  occupied  by 
"relays"  in  the  daytime,  so  that  there  is  no  hour,  night  or  day,  when  there  are  not 
thousands  of  Chinamen  sleeping  under  the  effects  of  opium,  or  otherwise,  in  the  bunks 
which  we  have  found  there. 

Besides  these  bunks,  rolls  of  bedding,  for  use  in  sleeping  on  floors  and  various  other 
sleeping  accommodations,  are  found.  All  these  bunks,  rolls,  etc.,  have  been  carefully 
noted  and  enumerated  In  their  reports  furnished  to  us  by  the  surveyors;  and  from 
them  we  reach  the  following  results  of  an  estimated  enumeration  of  the  population 
of  "Chinatown." 

HOW  THESE   HUMAN   HERDS  LIVE. 

They  describe  the  methods  of  living  in  Chinatown  with  its  filth  and  its  vile 
smells  as  follows : 

Descend  into  the  basement  of  almost  any  building  in  Chinatown  at  night;  pick  your 
way  by  the  aid  of  the  policeman's  candle  along  the  dark  and  narrow  passageway,  black  and 
grimy  with  a  quarter  of  a  century's  accumulation  of  filth;  step  with  care  lest  you  fall 
'into  a  cesspool  of  sewage  abominations  with  which  these  subterranean  depths  abound. 
Now  follow  your  guide  through  a  door,  which  he  forces,  into  a  sleeping  room.  The  air 
Is  thick  with  smoke  and  fetid  with  an  Indescribable  odor  of  reeking  vapors.  Theatmo8j;_ 
phere  is  tangible.  Tangible— if  we  may  be  licensed  to  use  the  word  in  this  Instanc 
four  out  of  the  five  human  senses.  Tangible  to  the  sight,  tangible  to  the  touch,  tangil 
to  the  taste,  and,  oh,  how  tangible  to  the  smell.  You  may  even  hear  it  as  the  opiui; 
smoker  sucks  it  through  his  pipe- bowl  into  his  tainted  lungs,  and  you  breathe  it  youi 
as  if  it  were  of  the  substance  and  tenacity  of  tar. 

It  is  a  sense  of  a  horror  you  have  never  before  experienced.revoltingto  the  last  deg 
sickening  and  stupefying.    Through  this  semi-opaque  atmosphere  you  discover  perhe 
eight  or  ten— never  less  than  two  or  three— bunks,  the  greater  part  or  all  of  which  are  occ 
pied  by  two  persons,  some  in  a  state  of  stupefaction  from  opium,  some  rapidly  smokii 


HOW   "PROTECTION"   IS  PREVENTED   BY   THESE   PEOPLE. 


^K  THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CfltNESE   IMMIGRATION.  3w 

themselves  into  that  condition,  and  all  in  dirt  and  filth.  Before  the  door  was  opened  for 
your  entrance  every  aperture  was  closed,  and  here,  had  they  not  been  thus  rudely  dis- 
turbed, they  would  have  slept  in  the  dense  and  poisonous  atmosphere  until  morning,  proof 
against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  carbonic  acid  gas  generated  by  this  human  defiance  of 
chemical  laws,  and  proof  against  all  the  zymotic  poisons  that  would  be  fatal  to  a  people  of 
any  other  race  in  an  hour  of  such  surroundings  and  such  conditions. 

tThey  also  advert  at  some  length  and  with  considerable  bitterness  to  the  men 
I  would  cry  for  the  protection  of  American  labor,  and  yet  would  permit  the 
influx  of  this  element  to  come  into  competition  with  our  own,  as  follows : 

The  essentially  American  policy  of  a  tariff  for  protection  to  home  Industry  is  not 
alone  on  trial  as  against  the  opposing  doctrine  of  free  trade.  Protection  against  the  "pauper 
labor  of  Europe"  as  a  system  of  public  policy  may  be  advocated,  upheld  and  practiced  as 
we  will,  but  it  is  clear  that  the  doctrine  is  absolutely  nullified,  and  the  laws  that  are 
enacted  to  support  it  are  successfully  and  effectually  evaded  by  the  importation,  not  of  the 
products  of  pauper  labor,  but  of  pauper  labor  itself,  of  afar  lower  grade  than  that  of  Europe, 
viz:  the  Asiatic. 

The  political  party  which  claims  to  be  the  party  of  protection  to  home  industry  by 
means  of  a  high  tariff  necessarily  stultifies  itself  if  it  fails  to  set  itself  against  the  greater 
of  these  dangers,  the  importation  of  Asiatic  pauper  labor,  as  well  as  against  the  free  im- 
portation of  the  products  of  European  pauper  labor. 

Fc  r  it  is  clear  that  Asiatic  labor  here  upon  our  own  soil,  which  can  exist  here  at  a  less 
cost  for  living  than  can  even  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe  exist  upon  European  soil,  not 
only  posseseses  a  dominant  advantage  over  home  labor,  but  also  over  the  "pauper  labor  of 
Europe"  itself,  about  which  we  declaim  so  earnestly.  If  this  "Asiatic  pauper  labor,"  toler 
ated  upon  our  own  soil,  can  produce  here  any  article  of  manufacture  cheaper  than  the 
same  article  can  be  produced  in  Europe,  the  advantage  is  not  alone  the  difference  in  the 
cheapness  of  the  product,  but  [in  the  tariff  which  i  s  imposed  on  the  article  thus  manufac- 
tured in  Europe  and  imported  here.  Therefore  the  Asiatic  laborer  residing  here  literally 
oommunda  the  situation. 

The  result  of  such  a  competition  is  indisputable.  Either  the  American  laborer  must 
come  down  to  a  level  with  the  imported  "little  brown  man"  in  habits  of  life  and  desires,  or 
he  must  become  a  helpless  pauper  himself* 

This  is  not  the  gospel  of  the  "Sand  Lot ;"  it  is  the  gospel  of  political  truth,  upon  which 
all  parties  should  agree  who  have  the  welfare  of  society  at  heart,  and  to  whom  humanity 
itself  ought  not  to  plead  in  vain. 

Cool  and  dispassionate  consideration  of  this  great  overshadowing  question  is  now  the 
necessityof  the  hour,  uninfluenced  by  tbe  senseless  jargon  of  "The  Chinese  must  go,"  or 
any  shibboleth  cf  the  demagogue.  Planted  here  in  this  young  but  already  great  metropolis 
Is  a  Mongolian  population,  forming  about  one-eighth  of  the  entire  community,  and  probably 
one-fourth  of  the  laboring  classes,  equal  to  the  task  of  competition  in  any  line  of  skilJed 
or  unskilled  manufacture.  Their  habits  and  mode  of  life  render  the  cost  of  support  less- 
than  one-fifth  of  that  of  the  ordinary  American  laborer,  who  exercises  what  is  commonly 
recc»gnized  as  the  strictest  rules  of  economy  and  thrift.  This  first  coming  of  the  wave  of 
Chinese  labor  is  to-day  in  more  than  successful  competition  with  the  home  workman  here 
In  the  production  of  every  article  of  clothing,  cigars,  and  other  like  necessities  and  luxuries 
of  life,  to  the  extent  that,  practically,  [the  occupation  of  the  skilled  home  laborer  is  gone. 
Indeed,  even  atjthis  early  stage  of  the  contact. 

HOW  THE  INFLUX  OP  THIS  SERVILE  CLASS  CONTINUES. 

It  is  within  the  province  and  scope  of  this  report  to  supply  this  "  missing  link  " 
through  the  facts  which  have  been  collated  in  this  investigation,  and  about  which 
there  can  surely  be  no  dispute,  if  human  evidence  is  of  value  at  all  in  the  search  for 
trutn,  hidden  where  it  may  be : 


400  THE  RESTRICTION  OP  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

Tour  committee,  then,  apart  from  theorizing',  invite  the  attention  of  the  Board  and  of 
the  American  people  to  their  exhibits  of  facts  relating  to  this  subject  of  Chinese  labor  here 
in  San  Francisco  alone,  and  the  inevitable  result  which  must  sooner  or  later  be  reached  all 
over  the  land  as  the  Chinese  tide  advances  and  sweeps  competition  to  the  winds. 

It  need  not  be  Laid  that  the  discussion  of  this  phase  of  the  question  is  useless  now 
because  of  the  treaty  and  the  legislation  which  is  supposed  to  prohibit  Chinese  immigra- 
tion ;  for  the  fact  is  but  too  apparent  to  every  resident  of  San  Francisco  that  Chinese  immi- 
Srration  is  still  flowing  in  in  appalling  numbers,  and  the  treaty  and  the  prohibitory  legislation 
scarcely  modifies  the  strength  of  the  tide,  much  less  prohibits.  Therefore  it  is  more  than 
In  order  at  this  time  to  analyze  and  discuss  the  dfifect  of  Chinese  pauper  labor  upon  the 
welfare  of  the  American  laborer  and  the  American  people. 

HOW  THE  CHINESE  ARE  DRIVING  OUT  WOMEN  AS  WELL  AS  MEN. 

In  setting  forth  the  kind  of  work  done  by  these  men— how  it  has  taken  the 
bread  from  the  mouths  of  men,  women  and  children  in  San  Francisco— they  say : 

There  are  employed  in  Chinatown  to-day  not  less  than  3,328  Chinese  workmen  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  clothing  of  various  descriptions,  boots  and  shoes,  leather,  cigars, 
etc.,  all  of  which  are  produced  for  consumption  here  in  competition  with  the  American 
workmen  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  manufacture.  Most  of  this  labor  is  carried  on 
through  the  use  of  the  best  modern  machinery,  in  the  operation  of  which  the  Chinese  work- 
man becomes  an  adept  in  a  short  space  of  time.  Machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  boots 
and  shoes  in  the  largo  establishments  operated  by  Chinese  labor  supplies  a  large  share  of  the 
demand  for  the  whole  Pacific  coast.  The  Hop  Kee  Company,  on  Dupont  street,  an  estab- 
lishment employing  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  three  hundred  men,  finds  a  market  for  its 
goods  as  far  east  as  Salt  Lake  City  at  present,  and  will  at  no  distant  day  invade  the  country 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  giving  manufacturers  there  an  opportunity  to  become  pratically 
aoquainted  with  the  effects  of  "  Chinese  cheap  labor"  and  the  results  which  follow  in  its 
train. 

In  the  manufacture  of  clothing,  ladies'  undeiwear,  shirts,  etc.,  1,345  sewing  machines 
are  kept  actively  at  work,  all  operated  by  male  laborers  with  a  skill  that  is  equal  to  the  best 
efforts  of  the  American  woman,  as  well  as  the  American  man,  in  this  direction,  and  all  run 
with  such  quick-handed,  untiring  energy,  that  it  suggests  one  of  the  most  curious  physio- 
logical problems  of  the  day  to  understand  how  a  people,  nurtured  and  fed  as  they  are,  can 
possess  the  vitality  and  physical  force  necessary  to  the  results  which  they  achieve  in  this 
direction. 

Most  of  this  labor  is  carried  on  by  "  piece  work  "  and  to  fill  orders  for  large  "  down-town 
commercial  houses  "  engaged  in  the  sale  of  the  class  of  goods  thus  produced.  The  heavy, 
strong-stitched  jean  overalls  which  find  so  large  a  market  on  the  coast  are  made  by  the 
Chinese  workmen  at  the  rate  of  about  55  cents  per  dozen  pairs.  The  work  thus  produced— 
at  a  price  which  would  reduce  the  American  worker,  male  and  female,  to  a  lower  level  than 
the  "  woman  "  in  "  The  Song  of  the  Shirt  "—the  Chinaman  thrives  upon  and  is  prosperous 
and  happy.  But  it  is  a  prosperity  and  happiness  that  is  based  upon  a  mode  of  life  that  a  home- 
less cur  upon  the  streets  might  not  envy,  upon  which  the  American  laborer  could  not  exist 
until  a  succession  of  generations  had  so  brutalized  and  blunted  his  race  proclivities  that  be 
had  degenerated  into  a  condition  worse  than  barbarism  and  become  a  curse  to  civilization, 
instead  of  what  he  is  to-day,  the  vital  strength  of  a  nation. 


1 


THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIORATTON.  401 

Vll. 

HOW  TO  PROTECT  LABOR  IN  EARNEST. 

)uring  the  discussion  of  the  Chinese  Restriction  Act  in  the  Senate  in  1882. 

iter  Jones,  of  Nevada,  told  his  Republican  colleagues  an  amount  of  truth  not 
often  heard  by  them  from  one  of  their  own  party.  In  speaking  of  protection,  he 
said : 

I  have  noticed,  Mr.  President,  that  most  of  those  who  are  in  favor  of  the  largest  liberty 
being  extended  to  the  Chinese  immigrant  to  this  country  are  also  in  favor  of  a  tariff— a 
tariff  which  has  been  urged  as  necessary  to  protect  the  American  laborer  from  the  degra. 
dation  of  competition  with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  as  it  is  usually  termed.  In  reality 
if  we  may  judge  of  their  motives  by  the  action  of  the  men  who  are  now  advocating  a  tariff] 
it  was  not  the  American  laborer  they  wished  to  protect  against  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe, 
bHt  it  was  the  American  capitalist,  the  lordly  manufacturer,  that  they  wished  to  protect 
against  the  free  competition  of  the  capitalist  of  Europe.  Our  capitalist  manufacturer 
wanted  a  larger  interest  on  his  money  than  the  capitalist  of  Europe  was  willing  to  accept, 
and  he  was  given  the  benefit  of  a  tariff. 

Let  us  see  how  that  tariff  worlds.  It  works  in  this  wise,  that  everything  that  the  capi- 
talist manufacturer  has  to  sell  he  sells  In  a  protected  market;  he  sells  in  a  market  In  which 
foreign  capitalists  cannot  compete  with  him. 

How  is  it  with  what  he  has  to  buy  ?  For  the  principal  article  he  has  to  buy,  to  wit,  the 
labor  of  men,  he  demands  free  trade  in  the  broadest  sense,  not  only  free  trade  in  bringing 
in  laborers  of  our  own  race  wbo  can  soon  accommodate  themselves  to  our  conditions  of 
life,  but  the  bringing  in  a  class  cf  laborers  who  have  been  Inured  to  poverty  by  thousands 
of  years  of  training.  The  capitalist  asks  the  broadest  free  trade  for  that,  his  own  market 
in  any  event  being  protected. 

Now,  how  is  this  with  the  laborer  ?  Everything  he  wants  to  buy  he  has  to  buy  from  his 
capitalist  master  in  a  protected  market:  everything  he  has  to  sell,  to  wit,  his  labor  (and, 
unlike  the  capitalist,  he  can  not  hold  it  away  from  sale ;  unlike  the  capitalist,  he  can  not 
wait  for  better  times,  or  travel  here  and  there  where  he  pleases  to  sell  It,  but  he 
must  sell  it  every  day),  he  must  sell  in  the  openest  market  in  the  world. 
This  is  the  theory  in  favor  of  the  laborer  that  the  gentleman  (Mr.  Dawes,  of  Massa< 
chusetts)  propounds  to  us.  We  reject  it,  and  by  this  bill  propose  to  bar  out  this  degrading 
this  shocking  competition  with  our  people.  And  yet  he  tells  us  we  are  striking  a  blow  at 
labor,  that  we  are  proposing  to  inflict  injury  on  the  laborers  of  our  country. 

Ah  I  sir,  when  tke  artisans  and  laborers  of  this  country  shall  be  made  to  understand 
that  they  are  subjected  to  free  trade  in  labor  they  will  demand  as  one  of  the  conditions 
of  their  existence  that  they  shall  have  an  open  market  in  which  to  buy  that  which  they 
want  if  iti3  an  open  market  in  which  they  must  sell  their  labor,  the  only  thing  they  have 
to  sell.  They  will  never  consent  to  a  tariff  on  bales  and  boxes  and  hampers  of  goods  coupled 
with  free  trade  in  human  brain  and  muscle. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Dawes)  told  us  that  he  wanted  the  American 
people  to  know  that  this  bill  was  a  blow  struck  at  labor.  Yes,  sir,  it  is  a  blow  struck  at 
degraded,  underpaid,  underclothed,  underfed  labor,  and  it  is  a  blow  In  favor  of  that  fair 
remuneration  which  the  forces  of  our  civilization  up  to  this  hour  have  decreed  that  the 
laborer  should  get. 

Wk  WHAT  HARRISON'S  PERSONAL  ORGAN   THOUGHT. 

^"  The  Indianapolis  Journal  was  in  March,  1882,  when  the  Miller  anti- 
Chinese  bill  was  pending  in  Congress,  the  personal  organ  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  as 
it  is  to-day.  Its  editorial  columns  were  filled  with  praises  of  the  Chinese,  and  with 
denunciations  of  those  who  were  trying  to  keep  them  out  of  the  country.  On 
March  2, 1882,  in  a  leading  editorial,  the  Journal  said : 


402  THE  RESTRICTION  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

They  who  shout  "The  Chinese  must  go"  are  as  mistaken  as  the  dweller  on  the  Tazoo,  who 
stands  upon  its  banks  and  curses  the  Father  ofWaters.  Repulsed  from  our  shores,  the  Chi- 
nese will  pour  into  Peru,  into  the  South  Sea  Islands,  into  Spain,  into  Cuba,  into  Mexico,  to 
him  the  lower  levels.  But  finally  he  will  overspread  districts  whose  inhabitants  have  mis* 
calculated  the  extent  and  might  of  the  flood.    His  virtues  are  sobriety,   modesty, 

PATIENCE  AND  ECONOMY,  AND  HE  IS  A  TEACHER  TO  THE  LABOR  OF  ALL  LANDS.  WHATEVER 
HIS  FAULT,  HIS  LESSON  MUST  BE  LEARNED  BY  THE  STRIKERS  AND  GRUMBLERS  EVERY- 
WHERE, for  none  has  so  successfully  met  and  triumphed  over  the  harder  conditions  of  life. 
He  is  a  marvel,  an  astonishment,  and  a  surprise,  but  a  warning  and  an  admonition  as  well. 

REPUBLICAN  OfiNlOK  IN  CALIFORNIA  IN  1882. 

The  position  assumed  by  the  Republican  newspapers  of  the  Coast,  and  particu- 
larly of  San  Francisco,  on  the  Chinese  question,  was  outspoken  in  denunciation  of 
those  Republican  members  of  Congress  and  particularly  Senators  Harrison,  Edmunds, 
Ingalls,  Sherman,  Hoar  and  Dawes,  who  so  bitterly  opposed  the  anti-Chinese  legisla- 
tion of  the  Forty- seventh  session. 

The  opinions  of  the  Republican  papers  of  this  city  at  that  time  on  the  attitude 
of  the  Republican  leaders,  is  best  shown  by  extracts  from  them. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  REPRESENTATIVES  DEFENDED. 

ISan  Francisco  Call,  April  10, 1882] 

Notwithstanding  that  most  of  .the  Republican  Senators,  except  those  who  represent  the 
States  of  the  Pacific,  opposed  the  passage  of  the  anti-Chinese  bill,  which  President  Arthur 
vetoed,  there  is  a  studied  effort  to  deceive  our  people  by  saying  that  Democratic  Congressmen 
are  trying  to  defeat  the  passage  of  another  anti-Chinese  bill.  We  have  reason  to  believe 
there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it,  for  did  not  nearly  all  of  the  Democratic  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  do  their  utmost  to  pass  the  bill  which  the  President,  instigated  by  hit 
stalwart  friends,  vetoed  f 

A  REPUBLICAN  PRESIDENT  REPUDIATES  HIS  PLATFORM. 

[San  Francisco  Call  April,  5, 1882.] 

The  recent  exercise  of  the  veto  power  by  President  Arthur  in  reference  to  the  Chinese 
bill  is  perhaps  the  most  arbitrary  act  an  American  President  has  ever  performed.  *  *  • 
The  message  is  worse  for  the  President  and  for  his  party  than  if  he  had  based  it  on  an  exces- 
sive term  of  prohibition.  It  is  aflat  contradiction  of  the  piatform  on  which  he  was  elected,  and 
raises  the  question  whether  the  anti-Chinese  plank  in  the  Republican  platform  was  not  a 
deliberate  deceit  practiced  on  the  people  of  this  Coast. 

HARRISON  CANNOT  CONTINUE  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

[San  Francisco  Bulletin,  April  3, 1882.] 

The  opposition  to  the  Chinese  exhibited  by  these  facts  has  been  extending  instead  of 
decreasing.  It  is,  in  short,  the  development  of  a  great  labor  question,  vfhxcii  no  public  man 
can  face  and  continue  in  or  enter  public  life.  It  has  already  been  formulated  as  protection  to 
American  labor,  which  is  just  as  necessary  as  protection  to  American  manufactures. 

HARBISON'S  HOSTILITY  TO  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  ^H 

[SanFrancisco  Bulletin,  March  30, 1882.]  ^H 

This  State  is  to  be  saved  by  wise  limits  to  Chinese  immigration,  or  it  is  to  be  hopelessly 
cursed  by  an  immigration  which  is  irredeemable  and  outside  of  all  future  improvement. 
The  journals  and  the  politicians  who  prefer  the  latter  alternative  are  not  the  friends  of  tliig 
country,  and  no  argument  of  their  assumed  philanthropy  can  make  them  such.  The  forces 
and  the  influences  which  are  at  work  to-day  in  favor  of  unrestricted  Chmese  immigra- 
tion are  hostile  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  to  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  country.  Be  whs 
it  not  with  us  is  against  us.  Hostility  to  the  proposed  measure  is  hostility  to  the  prospei 
©f  the  Pacific  States. 

HARRISON  PROVED  HIMSELF  AN  ENEMY  TO  LABOR. 

[San  Francisco  Chronicle,  April  12, 1882.] 

We  call  the  attention  of  the  honest  and  sincere  Senators  and  Representatives  f  l 

California,  Oregon  and  Nevada  to  this  situation,  and  in  the  name  of  the  laboring  classes  of 
the  coast  ask  them  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  for  the  passage  of  the  ten-year  exclusion 
bill.    Half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread.     »      ♦     *     What  the  American   laborers    " 
the  Pacific  Coast  want  is  immediate  relief,  and  whoever  opposes  that,  in  whatever 
it  tkei'  enemy. 


I 


HARRISON   NAILED   FAST  ON  THE  RECORD. 

[San  Francisco  Bullet'm,  Aprils,  1882.] 


THE  RESTRICTION   OP   CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  408 

THE  DEMOCRACY  THE  FRIEND  OF  LABOR. 
[Sati  Froncuco  Call,  February  9, 1882.1 

We  fear  that  it  is  not  quite  so  certain  that  a  bill  restricting  ChineBe  immisrration  will 
be  passed  during  the  present  session  (  f  Couvress,  as  somt:  of  our  conteaiporarits  stem  to 
aniicipate.  Certain  it  is  that  Republicans  alone  cannot  pass  it,  for  th(  y  have  not  a  majority 
in  boih  houses  of  Congress,  and  it  is  also  known  that  some  Republicans  will  oppoi^t;  any 
and  all  bills.  No  bill  can  possibly  pass  Congress  unless  it  be  approved  by  a  u.ajori'y  of  the 
Democratic  members  of  the  iStimteand  House  of  Representatives.  Of  this  our  citizens 
may  be  assured  ;  but  as  t/u  Democratic  party  is  provei bially  the  friend  of  labor,  there  cannot 
be  any  doubt  that  they  wi-1  generally  favor  the  passage  of  fcucli  a  till  Uo  will  relievo  this. 

K)f  Its  prtseui  troubles. 
..,„„.„.-.,...™^...„._„„.„.,„..,„. 
(fifteen  twenty- two  Dv,mocrals,  nine  Republicans,  and  David  Davis,  President  pro 
•em.,  voting  for  it.  *  *  *  All  the  Democratic  Senators  from  the  West  and  those  from  the 
South  voted  for  the  bill.  Ingalls,  of  Kansas,  was  iuclined  to  assist  us,  but  the  missionary 
sniveling  was  probably  too  much  for  bun,  and  he  voted  against  the  bill.  Of  the  fifteen  votes 
In  the  negative  eleven  were  furnished  by  New  England -all  its  Senators  but  oue.  This 
Indicates  that  the  area  of  Chiuamunia  is  conQued  principally  to  that  section,  with  a  queer 
extension  in  the  direction  of  Georgia.  This  area  is  also  thai  which  is  devoted  lo  ihe  manu- 
facture of  cottons  for  the  Chinese  trade.    The  other  four  negatives  were ; 

Hakkison,  OF  Indiana  ; 

[ngalls,  OF  Kansas; 

ILapuah,  of  New  York; 

Sherman,  of  Ohio. 

The  bill  which  went  through  the  Senate  was  passed  by  the  House  by  the  enormous 
vote  of  two  hundred  and  one  to  thirty-seven,  six  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  whole  body. 
Of  the  two  hundred  and  one,  one  hundred  and  seven  were  Democrats  and  ninety-four 
Eepublicans.  *  *  *  We  will  have  the  law  on  our  side  to  s  op  the  yellow  tide,  and 
tne  people  of  California  will  see  that  the  law  is  executed.  No  tectmicaliues,  evasions  or 
loop- holes  will  be  tolerated  on  this  Coast. 

tariff  PROTBCnONISTS  BNEMIES  OF  LABOR. 

^ft  {San  Framisco  C/irmicle,  April  28, 1882.] 

^*^A  close  analysis  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  on  the  two  Chinese  bills  demonstrates 
that  the  opposition  came  fioin  the  railway  corpoi  ations,  the  bu,nkiug  monopolists.  Che  tariff' 
pTotictimmts  and  the  manufacturing  interests  of  New  England,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and 
other  States.  All  monopuli-.  s  are  the  natural  tuemies  of  independence  in  the  labanng  cla^s 
the  natvi  al  friends  of  chatp  and  servile  labor.  It  ii  gool  and  wise  policy  for  us  of  the  Paciflo 
States,  who  are  demanding  the  exclusion  of  the  myriads  of  Cbiaese  threatenin^i  uj  with 
invusion,  to  treat  this  Eastern  comijiuatioa  as  enemies,  and  to  o^^/^iAe  back  ai  them'wheuever 
it  is  possible  to  deliver  a  blow  without  iigury  to  ourselves. 

»THE  REPUBLICANS  FAVORED    CHINESE  IMMIGRATION 
[San  Francisco  Bulletin,  March  10, 1882.1 

The  bill  suspending  Chinese  immigration  passed  the  Senat a  yesterday.  *  ♦  ♦ 
The  great  body  of  the  negatives  were  tiepublicaas.  It  iS  proper  tostate  that  twoof  them— 
Edmunds  and  Ingalls— would  have  voted  fur  the  bill  if  the  term  of  suspension  ha  1  been 
reduced  to  ten  years.  The  only  real  Dernocraiic  vote  in  the  negative— for  Davis,  of  IllmoiSt 
Is  an  unknov\rn  political  quantity— was  Brown,  of  Georgia,  ♦  *  «  It  is  quite 
apparent  from  the  above  vote  that  if  the  Republicans  in  the  Houseoannot  be  rallied  to 
the  support  of  the  measure  moie  generally  than  in  the  higher  chamber,  there  is  some  dan 
ger  of  the  failure  of  the  bill.  Only  a  fifth  of  the  Republican  Senators  voted  againsv  .t.  If 
these  proportions  are  maintained  in  the  House,  the  shave  by  which  the  bill  is  likeiy  to  paat 
Will  be  a  very  light  one.,  unless,  indeed,  broader  views  are  more  generally  accepted  ttiere 

•  HARRISON  WAS  ONE  OF  THEM. 

[San  Francisco  Call,  March  10. 1883.1 

The  anti-Chinese  bill  has  passed  the  Senate  by  a  ma.1orlty  of  nearly  two  to  one  oi  the 
Senators  voting— 29  to  15.  It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  but  fifteen  Senators  were 
willing  to  place  themselves  on  record  in  opposition  to  the  right  of  a  yovemment  to  legiUate 
Immigration.  The  position  taken  by  the  opponents  of  the  bill  would  have  required  us  to 
git  quietly  down  and  let  foreign  hordes  crowd  into  our  country  without  regard  to  their 
atness  to  share  with  us  the  responsibilities  of  government. 


404  THE   BESTllICTION   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATION. 

DBMOCRATIC  ACTIVITV  ASSURED  SUCCESS. 

[-Sara  Francisco  Chronicle,  March  5,  1883.] 

The  Senate  will  pass  the  bill  by  an  overwhelming:  majority.  It  is  so  far  openly  antagonized 
by  but  one  Senator,  and  meets  with  but  a  half-hearted  opocsition  from  only  a  few  others.  The 
activity  of  leading  Democrats  in  the  Senate  indicates  tbat  it  may  receive  the  united  support 
of  that  party,  and  we  think  it  will  get  the  votes  of  nearly  all  the  Republican  Senators. 
•  •  *  It  reminds  both  of  the  great  national  political  parties  that  they  solemnly 

pledged  themselves  to  the  principles  of  this  bill,  aad  demands  that  they  shall  each  abide  by 
that  pledge  or  accept  the  consequences  of  a  false  and  fraudulent  promise. 

ARTHUR  FAILED  TO  SIGN   IT  -JUST  THE  SAHB. 

{San  Francisco  Bulletin,  March  2.5,  1883.] 

The  approval  of  the  Chinese  bill  by  President  Arthur  will  have  the  effect  of  restoring 
the  political  equilibrium  on  that  subject,  somewhat  disturbed  by  the  Democratic  prepon- 
derance in  its  favor.  In  that  case  the  Republicans  will  have  furnished  the  bill,  the  man- 
agement of  the  same  in  both  Houses,  and  tae  votes,  though  awaW  i/i  number,  necessary  to 
carry  it.  The  biJJ  coald  no'  have  gone  through  either  House  if  the  Republicans  had  stood 
in  the  way.  It,  in  addition,  the  endorsement  of  a  Republican  administration  is  given,  it  wUL 
bedifflcult  to  make  any  special  party  capital  out  of  the  measure.    *  *  ♦  Two 

vetoes  on  this  subject  from  Republican  Presidents  would  me  up  the  Republican  party  for  a 
generation  or  more  on  the.  Pacific  coa-^t.  The  immediate  and  most  deplorable  effect  would  be 
TO  increase  largely  the  Mongolian  deluge  that  is  pouring  in  upon  us.  So  great  and  alarming 
is  that  deluge  that  it  is  important  that  the  billshcildbe  signed  as  soon  as  the  necessary 
forms  can  be  gone  through. 


I 


HABBI30K    AND    THE   CHINESB. 


409 


&ct  from  Letter  of  John  J.  Ingalls :] 

Vice-President's  Chamber, 

Washington,  June  16,  1888. 
Sherman,  Allison,  Harrison,  etc.,  Have  Records  that  Would  be  Awk- 
*       *        *        ON  THE  Chinese  Question." 


NO  USE  TO  MAKE  THE  FIGHT. 


t.  DE  YOUNG,  MEMBER  NATIONAL  REPUBLICAN  COMMITTEE  FROM  CALIFORNIA, 
GIVES  IT   UP  WHEN  HARRISON'S  NAME  IS  MENTIONED. 


(AtlarUa  Constitution,  Chicago  Dispatch,  June  33 :) 
had  a  talk  with  M.  H.  De  Young-,  the  well-known  California  editor,  on  Saturday,  Just 
before  he  had  been  called  into  conference,  representing  Blaine's  interest,  with  a  few 
leaders  representing  the  other  candidates.  Harrison  had  made  a  heavy  gain  that  morning, 
receiving  317  votes  against  93  on  the  third  ballot  Friday  evening,  and  his  friends  hoped  to 
have  the  conference  agree  upon  him.    De  Young  said  : 

"  It  is  absurd  to  talk  of  agreeing  on  Harrison ,-  he  cannot  carry  the  Pacific  Coast,  nor  can  he 
carry  several  other  States,  which  would  be  Republican,  on  account  of  his  record  on  the  Chinese  qtui» 
tion.  The  labor  vote  will  be  against  him,  and  California  will  never  support  a  man  who  voted  againit 
the  Chinese  bUl  and  every  phase  of  the  Chinese  treaty.  Further  than  this,  he  voted  to  naturalize 
Chinamen  and  give  them  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  Allison  did  the  same  thing.    If  either  of  then 

)  it  nominated  we  might  as  well  give  vp  the  fight  in  California," ' 


406  HARBISON    AND   THE    CHINESE. 


CHAPTEE  XXXII. 
HARRISON  AND  THE  CHINESE. 


I 
FOR  THE  CHINESE  WHEN  AT  HOME. 

HOW  HARRISON   TROFITED  BY   THE  NATURALIZATION    OF    CHINAMEN  IN   INDIANi 
DURING   THE    DORSET  CAMPAIGN  IN   1880. 

In  October,  1880,  while  the  contest  preliminary  to  the  presidential  electioa  of 
that  year  was  being  waged  in  Indiana,  the  Republicans  concluded  that  it  would  be 
a  stroke  of  business  to  naturalize  a  lot  of  Chinese  in  the  city  of  Indianapolis  and  vote 
them  for  their  candidates  for  State  offices.  Accordingly,  five  such  Chinese  applied 
for  naturalization  papers  to  Daniel  M.  Ransdell,  the  clerk  of  the  courts  in  Marion 
county,  in  which  Indianapolis  is  situated. 

The  question  thus  raised  was  new,  from  the  legal  point  of  view,  as  no  Chinaman 
had  previously  been  naturalized,  and  Ransdell  was  in  some  doubt  as  to  the  tenability 
of  his  position.  His  regular  legal  adviser  was  "William  A  Ketcham,  of  the  Indianap- 
olis bar,  who  also  expressed  some  doubt  on  the  question. 

Ransdell,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in  Harriton's  Indiana  regiment  during  the 
late  war,  had  been  accustomed  to  rely  upon  his  friend  for  advice  on  those  more 
knotty  points  of  the  law  with  which  his  regular  counsel  did  not  feel  thoroughly 
familiar.  Among  them  was  this  question  of  issuing  certificates  of  naturalization  to 
the  Chinese  who  had  applied  for  them.  The  doubt  was  resolved  by  Harrison  in 
favor  of  giving  papers  to  the  applicants,  which  was  done.  It  was  generally  asserted 
that  a  written  opinion  affirming  that  the  clerk  of  the  courts  had  this  power,  was 
given  by  John  B.  Elam,  then  Republican  district  attorney,  and  now  the  law  partner 
of  General  Harrison. 

WHERE  THEY  WERE  VOTED. 

Three  of  the  Chinamen  were  located  in  the  eleventh  ward  of  the  city  and  two  in 
the  seventeenth  ward — each  ward  at  that  time  constituting  a  voting  precinct.  On 
the  day  of  the  State  election,  October  5, 1880,  one  of  the  newly  made  citizens  (?)  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  polling  place  in  the  eleventh  ward,  and  his  vote  was  challenged 
by  Joseph  W.  Nichol,  a  Democratic  lawyer  in  good  standing  before  the  courts  of 
Marion  county,  upon  the  ground  that  no  court  or  court  officer  had  a  right,  under 
the  constitution  or  the  laws,  to  issue  certificates  of  naturalization  to  Chinese. 

In  spite  of  this  challenge  the  vote  of  the  Chinaman  was  sworn  in  and  received 
by  the  election  officers,  a  majority  of  whom  were  Republicans.  It  was  known  that 
the  Chinaman  had  presented  a  Republican  ticket,  as  he  had  been  brought  to  the 
polls  and  vouched  for  by  a  Republican  lawyer,  George  Carter  by  name. 


I 


HARRISON    AND    THE    CHINESE.  407 


In  the  seventeenth  ward  one  of  the  Chinamen  presented  himself  at  the  voting 
place  under  the  patronage  of  one  of  the  leading  Republican  workers  of  the  precinct, 
who  offered  the  Mongolian's  ballot  to  the  election  oflBcers.  His  right  to  vote  was 
challenged  by  Austin  H.  Brown,  who  for  many  years  had  been  the  representative  of 
Indiana  on  the  Democratic  National  Committee.  As  in  the  eleventh  precinct,  the 
vote  was  sworn  in  and  accepted  by  the  election  ofBcers,  a  majority  of  whom  were 
Republicans,  as  in  the  other  case,  and  the  vote  went  to  swell  the  Republican  major- 
ity which  the  State  gave  as  the  result  of  the  free  use,  by  Mr.  Dorsey,  of  the  commod* 
ity  since  known  as  "soap." 

ONLY  SENATOR  SENT  BY  CHINESE  VOTES. 

Thus  it  was  that  Benjamin  Harrison  advised  and  consented  to  the  naturaliza- 
tion of  Chinese  who  voted  the  Republican  ticket,  and  it  was  a  legislature  chosen  at 
the  election  in  question  which  sent  him  to  the  United  States  Senate  where,  both  by 
votes  and  dodging  of  votes,  he  did  all  he  could  to  admit  Chinese  without  restriction. 
He  is  the  only  Senator  of  the  United  States,  for  any  State,  who  during  the  entire 
history  of  this  country  ever  represented  a  Chinese  constituency,  and  that,  too,  acoE' 
stituency  which  he  himself  had  by  his  own  advice  made  into  voters. 


II. 
FOR  THE  CHINESE  IN  THE  SENATE. 

HOW    HARRISON    VOTED    FOURTEEN    TIMES    IN     FAVOR    OF    IMPORTING    CHINESE 

II'  INTO  THIS  COUNTRY  WITHOUT  LET  OR  HINDRANCE. 


I. 


On  March  8. 1882,  Senator  Hoar  introduced  the  following  amendment  to  the 
Chinese  exclusion  bill  then  under  consideration : 

"Provided,  That  this  bill  shall  not  apply  to  any  skilled  laborer  who  shall  eetabUsh  that 
he  comes  to  this  country  without  any  contract  by  which  his  labor  is  the  property  of  any 
person  other  than  himself." 

On  this  17  Republican  Senators  voted  "aye,"  including  Benjamin  Harrison, 

tdiana. 
n. 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Hoar  picked  his  flint  and  tried  again  with  the  following 
amendment : 

'■'Provided  further,  That  any  laborer  who  shall  receive  a  certificate  from  the  U.  S.  Con- 
sul at  the  port  where  he  shall  embark  that  he  is  an  artisan  coming  to  this  country  at  his  own 
expense  and  of  his  own  free  will,  and  has  established  such  fact  to  the  satisfaction  of  such 
Consul,  shall  not  be  affected  by  this  bill." 

On  this  amendment  19  Republicans  voUd  aye,  among  whom  was  found  Ben- 
[IN  Harrison,  of  Indiana. 


408  HABRISON    AND    THE    CHINESB. 

DODGED  TWICE  IN  ONE  DAY. 

On  March  9, 1882,  upon  an  amendment  offered  by  Senator  Farley,  of  Califor 
to  prohibit  the  naturalization  of  Chinese,  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Indiana, 
recorded  as  dodging,  although  on  April  25th  following  he  voted  against  this  amend-i 
ment. 

The  same  policy  was  pursued  on  the  same  day  on  a  proposition  submitted 
Senator  Grover,  of  Oregon,  to  make  theterm"Chineee  Laborers"  include  all  Chine 
whether  skilled  or  unskilled. 

III. 

On  the  same  day,  March  9,  1882,  Senator  Ingalls,  of  Kansas,  offered  an  amenoS 
ment  changing  the  term  of  exclusion  from  twenty  to  ten  years.  Mr.  Harrison  was 
absent,  but  paired  with  Mr.  Maxey,  of  Texas  (Democrat),  who,  before  the  vote  was 
taken,  rose  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  and  said  : 

Mr.  MAXEY— On  this  particular  amendment  I  am  paired  with  the  Senator  from 
Indiana  (Mr.  Harrison),  who  is  necessarily  absent.  I  would  vote  "nay"  if  he  were  here» 
and  the  Senator  from  Indiana  would  vote  "aye." 

This  is  of  course  equivalent  to  a  vote  in  favor  of  this  amendment.  Twenty 
Senators,  all  Republicans,  voted  for  the  amendment,  and  twenty  one,  all  Democrats 
except  four,  voted  against  it. 

IV. 

Again,  on  the  same  day,  March  9,  1882,  when  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  fina) 
passage  of  the  twenty  years  exclusion  act,  Senator  Harrison  was  still  absent. 
When  his  name  was  called,  Senator  Maxey,  of  Texas,  again  rose  and  said  : 

Mr.  MAXEY— I  was  paired  with  the  Senator  from  Indiana  (Mr.  Harrison)  on  the  ten 
years'  amendment.  In  the  note  which  he  wrote  me  he  said  if  that  amendment  should  be 
voted  down  he  would  vote  against  the  bill.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  under  that  state- 
ment  he  would  regard  it  as  a  pair  upon  the  bill,  because  the  amendment  was  voted  down, 
and  therefore  I  shall  decline  to  vote.  I  should  vote  for  the  bill,  and  he,  from  the  statement 
made  to  me,  would  vote  against  it. 

Thus  did  Benjamin  Harrison,  even  during  a  temporary  absence  from  the  Sen* 
ate,  still  insist  upon  carrying  out  his  scheme  to  promote  the  unrestricted  importa- 
tion of  servile  labor.  This  was  his  way  of  "protecting"  American  labor  even  when 
it  would  have  been  possible  for  him  to  have  dodged. 

The  bill  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  thirty-five  ayes,  all  but  eight  of  which  were 
cast  by  Democratic  Senators,  to  fifteen  nays,  only  one  of  which,  that  of  Senator 
Brown,  of  Georgia,  was  cast  by  a  man  who  had  been  chosen  as  a  Democrat. 

V. 

On  April  5, 1882,  when  Senator  Farley  proposed  to  take  up  President  Arthur's 
veto  of  the  Chinese  Restriction  Bill,  twenty-five  Republican  Senators  voted  against 
it,  among  them  appearing  the  name  of  Benjamin  Harbison,  of  Indiana. 

VI. 

At  the  same  session  Senator  Sherman  moved  that  the  bill  be  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  there  to  be  smothered.  Only  eighteen  Repub- 
lican Senators  voted  for  this,  but  amoDg  them  appears  the  name  of  Benjamin 
Harrison,  of  Indiana. 


HARRISON    AND    THE    CIITNESK. 


409 


VII. 

On  the  same  day,  again,  the  motion  to  refer  the  President's  veto  message,  "with 
)mpanjing  papers,  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign   Relations,  in  order  to  kill  it, 
18  voted  for  by  nineteen  Republican  Senators.     As  usual,  the  name  of  Ben.jamin 
[arrison  is  found  with  them. 

VIII. 

On  the  same  day,  on  the  question  of  passing  the  bill,  notwithstanding  the  objec- 
>ns  of  the  President,  twenty  one  Republican  Senators  voted  "nay."   Among  them, 
bnsistent  to  the  last  in  favor  of  the  free  and  unrestricted  importation  of  the  Chinese 
rdes,  stands  the  name  of  Benjamin  Harkison,  op  Indiana. 

IX. 

On  April  25, 1882,  a  new  bill  to  prohibit  Chinese  immigration  for  ten  years, 
introduced  in  the  Senate,  and  on  the  motion  to  strike  out  section  14,  which  pro- 
led  that 

"Hereafter  no  State  court  or  court  of  the  United  States  shall  admit  Chinese  to  citiaen- 
jp,  and  all  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed," 
vote  was  26  ayes,  32  nays  and  18  absent. 

Benjamin  Harrison  voted  aye,  and  thus  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  policy 
ie  had  promoted  in  his  own  city  in  1880,  when  five  Chinamen  were  naturalized 
upon  his  recommendation  and  advice,  in  order  that  they  might  vote  for  the  Repub- 
m  candidates  for  State  offices  and  thus  save  some  of  Doi-sey's  "soap.'' 

X. 

In  the  new  restriction  bill,  as  in  the  old  one,  the  following  amendment  was  pro- 
sed : 
Sec.  15.    That  the  words  Chinese  laborers,  wherever  used   in  this  act,  shall  be  oon- 
led  to  mean  both  skilled  and  unskilled  laborers  and  Chinese  employed  in  mining." 

Twenty- nine  Republican  Senators  voted,  on  April  25, 1882,  in  favor  of  striking 
jt  this  amendment,  which  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  one. 

As  usual,  Benjamin  Harrison  was  found  among  the  advocates  of  the  unre- 
ricted  importation  of  cheap  labor  by  the  creation  of  a  condition  whereby  it  might 
brought  in. 

XI. 

When  this  provision  was  reported  to  the  Senate  from  the  Committee  of  the 
'hole  on  April  28,  Mr.  Harrison  again  voted  with  nineteen  of  his  Republican 
)lleague8  in  favor  of  this  loophole  for  the  introduction  of  cheap  labor. 


XII. 

On  April  28,  Senator  Edmunds  moved  the  following  amendment : 
"  The  words  Chinese  laborers,  wherever  used  in  this  act,  shall  be  construed  to  mean 
jreong  usually  engaged  in  manual  labor." 

Seventeen  Republican  Senators  voted  in  favor  of  this  construction  of  the  bill, 
lOBg  whom  appears  the  name  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Indiana. 


410  HARRISON    AND    THE    CHINESE. 

XIII. 

On  the  same  day  Senator  Edmunds  moved  to  strike  out  the  section  prohlbitin| 
absolutely  the  naturalization  of  Chinese  and  to  insert  the  following  in  lieu  thereof) 

"  Nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  change  the  existing  naturalization  laws 
as  to  admit  Chinese  persons  to  citizenship." 

On  this  proposition  sixteen  Republican  Senators  voted  "aye,"  and  Benjamii 
Harrison's  name  is  found  among  the  rest. 

XIV. 

The  bill  came  up  for  final  passage  on  the  same  day,  April  28, 1882,  when,  afte 
having-  voted  thirteen  times  in  favor  of  unrestricted  immigration  of  Chinese  an< 
dodging  twice,  Benjamin  Harrison  agaiu  cast  his  vote  against  the  enactment  ot  i 
law  which  had  for  its  purpose  the  protection  of  American  labor  from  unnatura 
competition  with  the  unnumbered  hordes  of  Asiatics. 

SENATOR   HARRISON   DODGES   AGAIN. 

On  July  3, 1884,  the  bill  introduced  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Page,  of  Californi 
entitled  "An  act  to  execute  certain  treaty  stipulations  relating  to  the  Chinea 
approved  May  6, 1882,"  passed. 

Under  the  interpretation  of  the  Exclusion  Act  by  the  Republican  FederalJudge 
of  California,  it  had  been  found  th«t  Chinese  were  coming  in  almost  without  restric 
tion.  These  judges  held  that  Chinese  on  the  island  of  Hong  Kong,  after  its  cessi( 
to  Great  Britain,  did  not  come  within  the  provisions  of  the  Exclusion  Act  of  1883* 

The  new  bill  consequently  sought  to  so  amend  the  act  that  the  spirit  as  well  a 
the  letter  of  the  law  would  be  obeyed  by  the  courts  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  so  thi 
Chinese,  wherever  born,  would  be  excluded.  This  had  been  the  interpretatior 
given  to  the  law  by  Judge  Stephen  J.  Field,  who  was  then  the  only  Democrat  on  tl 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

But  the  action  of  the  Republican  Judges,  Sawyer  and  Sabin,  had  been  such  as  1 
let  everybody  in.  The  bill  was  passed  in  the  House  by  a  large  majority,  and  in  th< 
Senate  only  twelve  Republicans  could  be  found  to  vote  against  it.  Senator  Harrison 
returned  to  his  old  tactics  and  dodged  the  vote,  even  with  his  scru^^les  against 
violating  a  treaty— which  had  served  him  so  well  in  the  long  discussion  two  years 
before. 

Whatever  eke  may  be  said  of  it,  nobody  will  ever  question  the  consistency  of 
Benjamin  Harrison's  record  on  the  Chinese  question.  From  first  to  last  he  voted 
in  the  Senate  against  every  proposition  to  exclude  Chinese  imported  labor — labor 
imported  under  contract  in  the  interest  of  "manufacturers"  who,  another  Senator 
has  recently  said,  "are  most  benefited  by  our  tariff  laws."  He  voted  in  favor  of  every 
scheme  by  which  they  should  be  permitted  to  come  here,  and  declared,  in  an  address 
before  a  literary  society,  that  *'the  Government  had  no  more  right  to  exclude  the 
Chinese  than  it  had  to  forbid  the  coming  of  Irish  and  Germans." 

From  the  day  when,  in  1880,  he  advised  and  profited  by  the  naturalization  and 
votes  of  Chinamen  in  his  own  city  of  Indianapolis,  down  to  his  last  utterance,  his 
last  vote  or  his  latest  "dodge"  of  a  vote  in  the  Senate,  he  has  shown  himself  the 
same  consistent  advocate  of  the  free  and  unrestricted  importation  of  Chinese  labor, 
and  the  consequent  degradation  of  American  labor,  in  whose  behalf  he  is  now  show- 
ing such  a  lively  interest 


MR.   HARRISON'S   UGLY  WORD  "  SUBSIDY  " 


411 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 
MR.  HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD  '^SUBSIDY." 


IGNORANCE     EXPOSED  —  THE    PLAN     OF     THIS     COUNTRY     FOR 
EXPEDITING   OCEAN   MAILS   COMMENDS    ITSELF   TO   OTHERS. 


In  all  the  addresses  which  have  been  made  to  me,  there  has  been  ?ome  reference  to  the 
?reat  question  of  protection  of  our  American  industries.  I  see  it  upon  the  banners  which 
you  carry.  Our  party  stands  unequivocally,  without  evasion  or  qualification,  for  the  doc- 
trine that  the  American  market  shall  be  preserved  for  our  American  producers.  We  are 
not  attracted  by  the  8Ugget<tion  that  we  should  surrender  to  foreign  producers  th^^  best 
market  in  the  world.  Our  sixty  nDillions  of  people  are  the  best  buyers  in  the  world,  and 
they  are  such  because  our  working  classes  rec  ive  the  best  wag  s. 

But  we  do  not  mean  to  Decontenr  with  our  own  market.  We  should  seek  to  promote 
closer  and  more  friendly  commercial  relations  with  the  Central  and  South  American  S'  ate?. 
And  what  is  essential  to  that  f-nd  ?  Regular  mails  are  the  first  condition  of  commerce.  The 
merchant  must  know  when  his  order  will  b  3  received,  and  when  his  consignment  will  be 
returned,  or  there  can  be  no  trade  between  distant  communities. 

What  we  need,  therefore,  is  the  establishment  of  American  steamship  lines  between 
aur  porta  and  the  ports  of  Central  and  South  America.  Then  it  will  be  no  longer  necessary 
that  an  American  Minister,  commissioned  to  an  American  State,  shall  take  an  English  ship 
to  Liverpool  to  find  another  English  ship  to  carry  him  to  his  destination.    Wb  ake  not  to 

BE    FRIGHTENED    BY    THE    USE    OF    THAT    UGLY  WORD  "SUBSIDY."        We    f^hould    pay    tO 

American  steamship  lines  a  liberal  compensation  for  carrying  our  mails  Instead  of  turning 
them  over  to  British  tramp  steamship  >. 

We  do  not  desire  to  dominate  thes'  neighboring  Government^ ;  we  do  not  desire  to  deal 
;v^ith  them  in  any  spirit  of  aggre-sion.  We  desire  those  friendly,  political,  mental  and  com- 
nercisl  relations  which  >hall  promote  their  inte^rests  equally  with  ours.  We  should  no 
ongei  forego  those  commercial  relations  and  advantages  which  our  geographical  relations 
mggest  and  make  so  desirable.— i^row  Benjamin  Harrison's  Speech  to  a  Delegation,  July  30. 


m, 


\y  the  system  of  foreiga  mail  service  adopted  under  ibis  administration,  the 
AStest  ships  are  selected  from  week  to  week  without  regard  to  nationality.  "When 
iimerican  ships  can  be  found  complying  with  these  conditions  they  are  preferred 
ind  are  paid  four  times  the  rate  paid  t  >  foreign  ships. 

The  following  expresses  the  opinion  of  American  citizens  of  this  system,  and 

raddressed  to  the  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States  : 


UAa 

i 


WHAT  AMERICAN  MERCHANTS  SAY  OF  THE  PRESENT  POLICY. 


Weregret  that  the  postal  administrations  of  some  European  countries  appear  not  to 
aanlf  st  an  equal  Interest  in  the  prompt  and  sp  'cdy  transmission  of  mails  to  this  country. 
Jnder  the  ystem  of  mail  dispatch  s  to  the  Unitpd  States  followed  by  these  European  coun- 
rie-,  the  mails,  being  often  forwarded  by  steamers  of  a  comparatively  low  rate  of  >peed, 
requ'  ntly  arrive  at  New  York  after  the  arrival  of  faster  steamers  b  longing  to  other  lines, 
fhU;h,  although  leaving  European  ports  later  and  arriving  in  New  York  before  their  com- 
etitors,  are  exclud  d  by  some  countries  from  the  privilege  of  carrying  mails.  This  policy, 
esides  causing  delay  in  the  mail  deliveries,  results  in  many  instances  in  loss  and  annoyance 
ath' importer,  whose  good>  frequently  arrive  before  the  mails  containing  the  invoices 
ecessary  to  enter  such  goods,  thus  involving  him  in  disputes  and  difficulties  with  the  TJnl- 
3d  States  customs  authorities. 

We  therefore  take  the  liberty  of  requesting  you  to  use  your  good  offices  with  the  postal 
dministrations  of  such  countries,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent  with  international  comity,  for 
lie  general  adoption  of  the  sam  >  policy  so  successfully  inaugurat  d  by  your  Department  of 
i-patching  all  foreign  mails  within  the  territory  of  the  Postal  Union  by  the  first  and  fastest 
teamers,  without  regard  to  the  flag  under  which  they  sail. 

We  are,  dear  sir,  with  high  regard,  your  obedient  servants. 


I 


412 


MR.   HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD  **  SUBSIDY." 


This  memorial  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  signed  by  all  the 
leadiDg  merchants,  bankers  and  business  men  of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  New  Orleans  and  Charleston. 

WHAT  THE   GOVERNMENT  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN   THINKS  OF   IT. 

The  department  complied  with  the  request,  and  Great  Britain  replied  through 

her  Prime  Minister  as  follows  : 

"I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  Her  Majes'y'8  Postmaster- General  has  had  under 
his  consideration  the  representation  of  the  United  States  Postmaster- General,  copy  of 
which  was  enclosed  in  your  note  of  the  7th  ultimo,  respecting  the  postal  communication 
from  Europe  to  the  United  States. 

"In  reply  to  your  above-mentioned  note  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  the  influentially  signed 
expression  of  opinion  enclosed  therein  will  not  be  lost  sight  of  when  an  opportunity  occurs 
for  reconsidering  the  arrangements  now  in  force  for  the  conveyance  of  the  mails  from  this 
coun'ry  to  New  York,  butasyou  are  doubtless  aware,  the  efforts  which  Her  Majesty's 
Postmastf  r-General  has  from  time  to  time  made  to  adopt  the  American  transatlantic  sys- 
tem have  not  received  so  much  support  in  this  country  as  would  at  present  warrant  a  dis- 
turbance of  existing  arrangements." 


THE   LIBERAL  SYSTEM  OP  PAYMENT   UNDER  THE   SYSTEM. 

The  rates  of  compensation  for  sea-conveyance  of  mails  to  foreign  countries  paid 
by  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  the  United  States,  to  National  and  Foreign  Steam- 
ship Companies,  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 


To  National  Steamers. 

To  Foreign  Steamers. 

COUNTRIES. 

Letters 
per  pound. 

Prints,  etc. 
per  pound. 

Letters 
per  pound. 

Prints,  etc. 
per  pound. 

72  cents. 
fl.60 

6  cents. 
4.3     " 

8 

44  cents. 
44     " 
44     " 

4X  cents. 

United  States ... 

i)i      " 

The  Postal  Contract  of  Great  Britain  with  the  Cunard  Steamship  Company  is 
separate  and  distinct  from  the  contract  of  the  Company  with  the  Admiralty.  The 
Postal  Contract  is  for  a  term  of  three  years  and  provides  for  the  conveyance  of  the 
mails  as  cargo  at  ?o  much  a  pound,  as  shown  in  the  above  table.  The  admiralty 
contract  is  for  a  period  of  five  years  with  a  subvention  at  so  much  per  registered 
ton  per  annum. 

THE   BEST  RESULTS  SECURED  BY   THE   AMERICAN  SYSTEM. 

The  wonderful  advancement  being  made  in  naval  architecture,  so  far  as  speed 
of  the  vessels  is  concerned,  makes  it  questionable  to  tie  the  PostofRce  Department 
in  long  contracts  to  certain  lines  of  vessels  which  may  be  considered  fast  to-day 
but  very  slow  to  morrow  ;  and  the  policy  of  dispatching  the  mails  by  the  fastest 
steamers  tendered  has  met  with  so  much  favor  with  all  classes  of  people  that  if  at 
this  late  day  they  were  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  dispatching  their  letters  by  the 
quickest  possible  route  it  would  undoubtedly  create  much  dissatisfaction. 

As  to  the  system  of  dispatch  of  the  mails  by  the  fastest  steamers,  and  obtaining 
the  data  for  such  dispatch,  the  Department  requires  the  various  exchange  offices 
dispatching  mails  from  the  United  States  to  foreign  countries  by  sea  to  make  report 
of  the  hour  and  minute  that  the  mails  are  received  by  the  steamer,  and  requires 
the  steamer  to  report  the  day,  hour  and  minute  that  the  mails  are  delivered  at  the 
port  of  destination. 


MR.  HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD  "  SUBSIDY."  413 

INCREASED  COMPENSATION  PAID  TO  AMERICAN  VESSELS. 

The  increased  cost  to  the  Government  by  reason  of  the  payment  to  the  American 
Bteamship  companies  the  total  sea  and  inland  postage  on  the  United  States  mails 
conveyed  to  foreign  countries  as  compared  with  the  cost  of  the  service  when  only 
the  sea  postage  was  paid,  is  demonstrated  by  the  following  statement : 

1.  The  Postmaster  General's  report  for  1884  shows  that  the  Itkus  Pacific  service 
cost  in  the  year  1884  (when  the  companies  received  only  the  sea  postage  on  the 
mails  conveyed)  the  sum  of  $19,125.78. 

As  shown  by  the  P<  stmaster-General's  report  for  1887,  the  trans-Pacific 
service  cost  $38,4(55.49  The  American  steamers  plying  in  this  service  received 
both  the  sea  and  inland  postage,  and  part  of  the  steam«  rs  being  of  foreign  build 
and  register  received  the  sea  postage  only  on  one  fourth  that  paid  to  American 
ships. 

The  miscellaneous  service  paid  in  1884  was  $37,132.69,  while  for  1887  this  same 
service  cost  the  Government  $51,416  44.  Both  of  these  periods  include  foreign  as 
well  as  Amierican  built  steamers.  In  the  period  for  1884  is  included  Cuban  and 
Mexican  service,  which  cost  about  $18,000,  fully  one-half  of  the  total  cost  of  the 
Central  and  South  American  service. 

EXPEDITING  THE  SERVICE  TO  CUBA. 

The  Cuban  service  was  transferred  in  1885  from  the  Foreign  Mails  Division  to 
the  railway  mail  service,  and  since  that  date  the  mail  for  Mexico  have  been  for- 
warded almost  exclusively  overland  by  rail.  If  this  service  had  been  transferred 
prior  to  that  time  the  cost  of  the  service  would  have  been,  instead  of  $37,000,  less 
than  $18,000,  and  in  making  the  comparison,  therefore,  between  the  payment  of 
both  the  sea  and  inland  postage,  and  the  payment  of  the  sea  postage  only,  you  should 
compare  the  sum  of  $18,000  with  that  of  $.51,416.44. 

So  far  as  the  Central  and  South  American  service  is  concerned,  under  this  admin- 
istration nearly  three  times  the  total  amount  expended  in  1884  has  been  used  each 
year  in  dispatching  the  mails  to  those  countries  by  American  steamships. 

H»  GREAT  BRITAIN  ASKS  TO  USE  OUR  CENTRAL  AMERICAN  MAILS. 

And  as  to  the  condition  of  the  merchant  marine  plying  in  trade  with  those 
countries,  the  total  list  of  sailings  annually,  for  the  last  six  years,  of  the  steamers 
from  New  York,  New  Orleans  and  San  Francisco,  has  steadily  increased  from  1883  to 
1888,  In  18S3,  five  hundred  and  sixty  sailings  were  made  from  these  ports  to  vari- 
ous destinations ;  in  18^8,  eight  hundred  and  sixty  one  vessels  sailed,  an  increase  of 
thirty  sailings  over  1887  and  ao  increase  of  three  hundred  and  one  sailings  over  1883, 
an  average  of  one  sailing  for  each  business  day  in  the  year.  This  service  is  used  by 
foreign  countries  as  a  most  expeditious  route  for  the  dispatch  of  their  mails  for  these 
countries.  Great  Britain,  while  it  has  vessels  plying  direct  in  this  service  to  those 
ports,  has  rec  ntly  addressed  this  Department  a  communication  n questing  to  take 
advantage  of  the' more  expeditious  route  via  New  York  to  the  Central  American 
States. 

It  will  be  seen  that  to  tie  onr  mails  up  to  subsidized  lines  for  a  term  of  years 
would  be  to  destroy  the  system  which  now  serves  the  commercial  interests  of  our 
citizens  so  admirably,  while  discriminating  always  in  favor  of  American  ships  where 
possible. 

The  subsidy  put  upon  the  appropriation  bill  by  the  late  Senate  amendment, 
and  which  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  Republicans  and 
Democrats  together,  and  which  is  so  strongly  sustained  by  General  Harrison,  would 
have  been  mostly  paid  to  the  Pacific  Mail  Lines,  which  are  the  Gould,  Sage  and 
Huntington  property,  and  the  Brazil  Line,  of  which  Mr.  Henry  K.  Thurber  is 
President,  and  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  (who  bought  the  Roach  interest),  the  largest 
owner. 

The  following  is  the  Postmaster- General's  communication  to  Congress  con« 
demning  that  scheme  in  the  interest  of  the  public  service : 


414  MR.  HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD  "  SUBSIDY." 

POSTMASTER-OENERAL  DICKINSON  ON  SUBSIDY  SCHEMES. 

The  remaining  provision  of  the  bill  is  as  follows : 

"  To  provide  more  eflBcient  mail  service  between  the  United  States  and  Central  and' 
South  America  and  the  "West  Indies,  $800,000.  To  promote  the  purposes  of  this  appropria- 
tion the  Postmaster-General  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  contract  with  American 
built  and  registered  steam-ships  for  the  transportation  of  the  United  States  mails  to  suchj 
ports  in  said  countries  as  in  his  judgment  will  best  subserve  said  postal  service.  Said  con- 
tracts shall  be  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  ten  years,  at  a  compensation 
not  exceeding,  for  each  outward  trip,  $1  per  nautical  mile  of  the  distance  in  the  most  direct 
and  feasible  sailing  course  to  secure  the  ends  above  set  forth. 

"  The  Postmaster-General  shall  cause  schedules  to  be  furnished  by  the  contractors, 
stating  dates  of  departure  of  steam-ships  from  the  United  States  six  months  in  advance, 
and  in  case  of  unreasonable  failure  of  any  steam-ships  to  depart  with  mails  on  the  date  or 
dates  therein  stated  the  Postmaster-General  may  withhold  from  the  contractor  or  contract- 
ors, as  penalty,  one-half  the  contract  price  for  said  trip  or  trips,  and  in  the  event  of 
continued  failure  to  depart  on  dates  stated  in  the  schedule  the  Postmaster-General  may 
annul  the  contract  or  contracts,  or  the  same  may  be  terminated  by  Congress." 

It  will  hardly  be  claimed  for  this  legislation  that  it  is  either  demanded  or  required,  or 
that  it  can  be  utilized  for  the  benefit  of  the  postal  service  merely.  The  resources  and  powers 
of  the  Department  have  proved  entirely  adequate  to  afford  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  a  foreign  mail  service  equal  to,  and  in  most  cases  superior  to,  that  of  any  nation 
in  the  world.  Nine-tenths  of  our  foreign  letter  mail  crosses  the  Atlantic,  and  the  settled 
policy  of  the  Department  has  been  to  employ  the  swif tes-  vessels  from  week  to  week  for 
carrying  the  mails.  The  Department,  at  the  request  of  prominent  merchants,  importers, 
and  bankers  of  the  United  States  having  commercial  relations  with  foreign  countries,  has 
endeavored  to  induce  foreign  postal  administrations  to  adopt  a  similar  policy  to  promote 
expedition  and  security  In  correspondence. 

Under  the  present  system,  on  routes  other  than  to  European  ports,  mails  have  been 
carried  in  American  steam-ships  at  four  times  the  rates  paid  for  transatlantic  service, 
although  no  foreign  vessel  has  ever  refused  or  hesitated  to  accept  the  sea  postage,  or  one- 
fourth  the  rate  paid  to  American  bottoms.  Under  the  present  conditions  the  Central  and 
South  American  letter  mail  increases  at  the  rate  of  about  10  percent,  in  weight  a  year,  and 
the  number  of  sailings  to  West  Indian  and  Central  and  South  American  ports  from  the 
three  ports  of  New  York,  New  Orleans,  and  San  Francisco  increased  in  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30, 1887,  from  713  to  831.  In  addition  to  the  compensation  paid  in  money,  all  common 
carriers  by  water  are  greatly  benefited  by  carrying  the  mail  Provision  for  their  benefit  in 
Brazillian  ports  are  as  follows :  Mail  steamers  are  allowed  to  immediately  discharge  their 
cargoes,  preference  being  given  them  before  any  other  vessel  and  before  they  have  been 
entered  at  the  custom-house,  both  on  week  days  and  on  Sundays  or  holidays. 

They  may  sail  at  any  hour,  day  or  night,  after  they  have  received  the  mail,  and  cannot 
be  detained  under  any  pretext  whatever  beyond  the  hour  fixed  for  sailing.  Similar  benefits 
are  provided  for  mall  steamers  atother  West  Indian  and  Central  and  South  American  ports. 
While  the  Department  in  every  case  has  given  the  preference  to  American  ships  at  four 
times  the  cost  of  carriage  on  competing  foreign  ships  as  permitted  by  law,  yet  in  very  many 
cases  because  of  very  much  greater  expedition  or  because  of  the  absence  of  proi>er  facil- 
ities in  American  steamers,  or  because  of  very  great  delays,  the  other  ships  offering  have 
been  given  the  business  at  the  lower  rate  on  the  principle  that  the  first  duty  of  the  Deptrt- 
ment  to  our  citizens  under  the  law  was  to  give  them  the  best,  most  expeditious,  and  certain 
mail  facilities  within  Its  resources. 

HAMPERING  THE  DEPARTMENT  AND  THE  MAIL  SERVICE. 

If  there  shall  be  superadded  to  the  functions  of  postal  administration  that  of  admin- 
stering  a  subsidy  or  a  bounty  for  the  promotion  of  American  shipping  interests,  I  can 
readily  see  why,  in  practice,  these  two  offices  must  so  conflict  that,  so  far  from  being  of 
advantage  to  and  promoter  of  efficient  mail  service,  such  a  subsidy,  with  such  a  pur- 
pose, in  the  hands  of  the  Postmaster-General  must  antagonize  and  overbear  the  primary 
object  of  his  oflice,  which  is  to  give  to  the  correspondence  of  our  citizens  the  best  expe- 
dition and  certain  transmission.  If  the  bounty  or  bonus  system  is  to  be  revived,  it  should 
be  done  without  involving  this  Department  in  the  complications  certain  to  arise  from 
administering  it,  and  without  hampering  its  fundamental  rule  of  action,  which  is  that  the 
mails  must  go  at  all  events. 

While  we  granted  aid  to  Pacific  railroads,  with  conditions  imposed  that  the  mails 
should  be  carried  for  a  credit  on  the  debt,  yet  the  Department  was  left  free  to  employ 
better  or  more  expeditious  routes  in  its  discretion.  The  proposed  legislation  will  be  in 
effect  a  mandate  to  the  Postmaster-General  to  contract  with  American  built  as  well  as 
American-registered  steamships  for  the  transportation  of  the  mails  to  the  ports  of  Central 
and  South  America  and  the  West  Indies  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  five  years,  and  with 
a  compensation  for  each  outward  trip  of  $1  per  mile.  There  is  no  condition  for  adver- 
tisement, and,  indeed,  unlike  even  the  British  subsidy  acts,  competition  is  not  contemplated 
or  permitted,  as  the  contracts  are  to  be  limited  to  American  ships,  and  as  to  these  will  be 
practically  limited  to  those  now  in  existence,  between  whom  there  is  comparatively  no 
competition  because  of  the  number  which  can  be  employed  in  the  service. 


I 


MR.  Harrison's  ugly  word  "subsidy.'  415 

A  SCHEME  FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF  A  SMALL  NUMBER  OF  PERSONS. 

the  present  conditions  the  proposed  law  might  as  well  have  uamed  the  few  per- 
SOnB  to  whom  this  money  is  to  be  paid.  Even  the  laws  under  which  American  ships  might 
be  compelled  to  carry  the  mails  have  been  repealed,  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  the 
proposed  legislation  intends  the  Department  to  pay  the  maximum  rate  provided,  i.  «  ,  $1 
per  nautical  mile  for  five  years  to  these  few  persons,  without  troubling  them  with  any 
negotiations  as  to  terms,  and,  indeed,  as  you  will  observe,  without  even  the  lodgment  of 
discretion  in  the  Department  to  designate  from  what  ports  of  the  United  States  the  mails 
shall  sail.  It  may  be  said  in  passing  that  presumably  the  "terminal  points"  from  which 
sailings  will  be  made,  if  self-intertst,  as  is  usually  the  case,  governs,  will  be  those  from 
which  the  greatest  number  of  nautical  miles  may  be  computed,  rather  than  from  those  at 
which  the  convenience  and  needs  of  the  service  would  be  suited,  li  may  be  noted  also 
that  the  schedules  of  sailings  are  to  be  furnished  by  the  contractors,  and  not  by  the  Post- 
master-General; altogether  from  an  analysis  of  the  proposed  legislation  it  would  seem  to 
exclude  the  exercise  of  any  power  of  any  representative  of  this  Government  to  provide 
for  this  mail  service  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  except  af'er  contract,  which  must  be 
on  the  carrier's  own  terms,  and  after  the  carriers  have  fixed  the  schedule  according  to 
their  ideas  of  what  the  mail  service  should  be,  to  compel  them  to  conform  to  their  own 
expressed  views  and  decision  as  to  the  public  convenience  and  the  public  interests. 

I  beg  you  to  believe  that  in  this  criticism  of  the  bill  I  am  not  commenting  unfavorably 
at  this  place  upon  a  policy  of  granting  bounties  to  American  ships  I  do  think,  however^ 
that  the  carrying  out  of  that  policy  should  not  be  involved  in  the  postal  administration. 
Such  gifts  should  be  voted  and  given  directly,  if  the  Government  shall  determine  to  pursue 
a  policy  of  engaging  in  this  branch  of  private  business.  With  very  great  respect,  however, 
to  the  framers  of  the  bill,  T  do  seriously  object  to  that  provision  of  the  proposed  legislation 
which  places  the  mail  service  at  the  mercy  of  any  firm,  individual  or  corporation.  While, 
indeed,  the  subsidized  lines  might  be  compelled  to  carry  the  mails  if  tendered,  yet  the 
Department  should  be  independent,  and  should  at  all  timts  be  enabled  to  send  the  mails  by 
the  most  expeditious  routes  and  make  use  of  the  best  facilities  aflorded  for  that  purpose 
from  among  all  carriers  offering.  The  Department  should  be  free  to  take  advantage  of  all 
sailings,  of  increased  facilities  coming  from  increased  business,  of  changes  for  the  better 
wrought  by  time,  extension  of  commerce  and  competition,  and  should  not  be  tied  up  for  a 
decade  to  single  lines  of  communication,  unstimulated  to  improvement  and  all  progress  by 
the  existence  of  a  settled,  inordinate  and  certain  income. 

THE  BEST  SERVICE    ALWAYS  COMMENDED. 

The  malls  of  this  country  were  carried  to  Central  and  South  America  and  the  West 
Indies  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30, 1887,  by  foreign  steamers  at  a  co?t  of  $7,936.27  at  the 
single  rate,  and  by  steamers  of  American  register  at  a  cost  of  $39,381.57.  The  number  of 
miles  sailed  by  the  foreign  ships  employed  was  666,448;  the  miles  sailed  by  the  ships  of  Amer- 
ican register  employed  were  546,758.  It  will  be  seen,  on  the  plan  of  payment  proposed, which 
is  fixed  without  regard  to  the  amount  of  mail  carried,  that  the  service,  which  cost  us  in  the 
fiscal  year  1887  $47,317.84,  would  have  cost  us,  if  paid  for  as  proposed,  $1,213,206.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  weight  of  mails  will  be  for  the  next  fiscal  year  increased  20  per  cent,  over 
these  figures,  and  from  what  I  have  before  shown  it  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  sailings 
will  be  increased  in  about  the  same  ratio.  The  total  cost  of  the  sailings  under  this  bill,  pre- 
dicted upon  the  business  of  1^87,  can  be  but  an  approximate  standard  by  which  to  estimate 
the  cost  under  a  provision  of  $1  for  every  nautical  mile  for  each  outward  trip. 

But  without  regard  to  the  cost,  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  "American-built  ships"  alone, 
with  which  the  Department  can  now  contract  under  this  bill,  and  with  which  it  must  con- 
tract for  a  term  of  years,  can  not  perform  the  service  absolutely  essential.  Heretofore, 
as  1  have  said,  whenever  it  has  been  possible  and  consistent  with  the  best  interests  of  the 
public,  which  this  Department  serves,  American  ships  have  bem  employed  to  carry  the 
mails  at  four  times  the  rate  paid  to  foreign  ships;  yet  with  this  policy  steadily  maintained, 
to  give  proper  service  at  all  it  has  been  necessary  to  employ  other  carriers.  One  of  the 
most  serious  disadvantages  from  connecting  the  proposed  subsidy  with  this  Department 
will  be  that,  even  in  cases  where  service  is  not  furnished  to  certain  ports  by  American  ships 
at  all,  carriers  that  might  be  had  will  hardly  suffer  the  enormous  discrimination  in  compen- 
sation for  the  carriage  of  the  mails.  The  conditions  would  certainly  predispose  human 
nature  to  refuse  ro  perform  the  service  at  all. 

Again,  it  will  not  recommend  itself  to  our  people  If,  with  this  enormous  compensation 
avowedly  for  the  carriage  of  the  mails,  frequency  of  transmission  shall  be  largely  curtailed, 
even  to  ports  touched  by  American  ships,  as  must  be  the  case  where  we  pay  one  carrier 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  times  as  much  as  we  offer  for  the  same  service  to  another.  In 
my  opinion,  the  bill  would  not  be  advantageous  to  the  service,  but  the  disadvantages  would 
be  positive  in  so  far  as  this  Department  is  concerned:  while  if  it  shall  become  a  law,  the 
Department  will  of  course  faithfully  administer  the  fund  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  act.  I  feel  confident  that  such  administration  will  result  only  in  a  very  great  pecuniary 
benefit  to  a  dozen  individuals,  at  the  expense  and  embarrassment  of  good  service,  and  of 
inconvenience,  injustice,  and  material  injury  to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  whose  money 
will  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  those  results. 

THE  POST-OFFICE  NOT  THE  PURVEYOR  OF  SUBSIDIES. 

Considering  this  as  a  subsidy  pure  and  simple,  unconnected  with  the  postal  service,  it 
becomes  a  question  of  general  policy  with  which  this  Department  has  nothing  to  do.    The 


416  MR.  HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD  '*  SUBSIDY." 

subjec  haa  been  ably  and  exhaustively  discussed  ia  Conerress,  notably  in  the  Thirty-flftl 
Forty-flfth,  Forty-sixth  and  Forty-ninth.  You.  sir,  and  other  distingruished  members 
the  Post-Ofla^e  Committee,  as  at  present  constituted,  have  on  the  floor  of  the  House  pre- 
sented the  learning  which  the  history  of  the  subject,  political  economy,  or  the  experience 
of  legislation  can  teach.  It  has  been  frequently  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of  this  and 
other  countries,  that  to  enable  one  line  by  Government  aid  to  carry  more  cheaply  and  thus 
to  destroy  competition,  does  not  promote  commerce.  The  most  successful  ocean  steamship 
lines  of  the  Continent— those  of  Hamburg  and  Bremen— receive  no  pay  from  the  Govern- 
ment other  than  the  moderate  postage  rat^s.  The  British  precedent  is  not  in  point  and 
would  not  be  even  if  Great  Britain  did  not  offer  her  mail  service  to  the  carriers  of  the  world. 
"Her  aims  are  political  and  not  commercial.  She  must  have  constant  communication  with 
the  colonies,  and  she  has  spentlarge  sums  for  this  object.  She  must  have  an  elficient  and 
capable  transport  service  ror  the  protection  of  those  colonies."  The  views  of  that  Govern- 
ment are  stated  in  Mr.  Scudemore's  report  as  follows: 

"The  question  (mail  subsidy  service)  can  not  be  dealt  with  on  commercial  principles. 
♦  *  *  For  the  sake  of  keeping  up  such  communication  with  the  East  as  the 

nation  requires,  they  must  set  commercial  principles  at  defiance,  and  cost  what  it  may  the 
nation  must  either  pay  them  what  they  lose  thereby  or  forego  the  communication." 

WHY  ENGLAND  MAY  AFPORD  TO  PAY  A  BOUNTY. 

Of  course  England  may  subsidize  lines  of  ships  to  open  up  new  markets  for  her  sur- 
plus, because  she  freely  exchanges  commodities  with  such  markets,  and  her  policy  is  after 
establishing  the  commerce  to  steadily  decreasethe  subsidy.  If  the  policy  of  giving  bounties 
to  promote  commercial  relations  with  other  countries  be  ever  adopted  again  after  the  fail- 
ures in  our  history,  it  would  seem  that  its  adoption  should  be  deferred  until  closer  commer- 
cial relations  with  those  countries  can  be  maintained,  and  are  not  antagonized  by  an  oppos- 
ing system  of  laws.  Commerce  in  the  very  essence  of  its  meaning  is  exchange.  It  is  not  to 
sell  and  never  to  buy.  The  individual  or  nation  does  not  exist  that  will  buy  all  one  has  to 
sell  for  cash  with  no  reciprocal  return  in  profitable  exchange.  Cargoes  out  and  cargoes 
back  are  needed  for  the  creation  of  a  merchant  marine.  The  cargo  out  will  not  be  bought 
unless  we  t)uy  in  exchange,  and  it  will  be  bought  if  we  are  willing  to  trade.  Until  these 
conditions  cocae,subsidie8  may  maintain  a  line  so  long  as  the  subsidy  lasts  and  then  the  line 
will  go  down  for  want  of  legitimate  trade.  If,  however,  the  subsidy  policy  Is  to  be  pursued, 
I  venture  to  suggest  the  Mexican  method.  When  a  ship  arrives  with  a  cargo  the  tariff  tax 
is  divided  with  the  ship  owner,  the  latter  taking  50  per  cent,  of  the  duty  on  the  goods  he 
brings  in  payment  on  account  of  his  subsidy.  The  trading-ship  is  thus  enabled  to  remit  to 
the  consignor,  if  he  will  employ  his  ship,  a  portion  of  the  government  duties,  and  thus  the 
ship  owner  is  indeed  enabled  to  promote  trade  with  foreign  countries  directly.  An  improve- 
ment upon  the  Mexican  method  in  the  interest  of  the  promotion  of  trade  and  of  the  build- 
ing of  snips  to  conduct  it,  would  be  to  enable  the  owners  and  the  builders  to  receive  at  the 
port  of  consignment  in  that  country  still  a  greater  proportion  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the 
government  upon  the  cargo. 

In  this  way  the  Mexican  ship  would  be  enabled  to  get  her  cargo,  charge  a  fair  profit 
for  carriage,  and  sell  to  the  Mexican  consumer  at  a  price.at  which  he  could  convenientlv 
buy,  take  out  a  cargo  for  exchange,  and  repeat  the  process,  to  the  cultivation  of  much 
closer  commercial  relations  with  foreign  countries,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  Mexican 
shipping.  Of  course,  the  Mexican  method  is  somewhat  cumbersome,  and  the  same  end 
might  be  reached  without  indirection  and  without  the  payment  of  a  subsidy  by  the  removal 
or  reduction  of  the  Mexican  tariff  on  imports. 

OUR  BtrSINBSS  RELATIONS  WITH  SOUTH    AND  CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

While  on  the  subject  of  closer  commercial  relations  with  South  and  Central  America, 
for  the  promotion  of  which  the  bill  under  consideration  is  doubtless  Intended,  I  call 
your  attention  to  some  interesting  figures.  Our  total  trade  with  Brazil  for  the  year  ended 
June  30,  1887,  was  as  follows : 

Total  imports $53,955,591 

Our  total  exports  to  Brazil  were 8,137,794 

Of  the  Imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon 47,076.473 

We  did  impose  a  tariflC  upon = 5,876,701 

Our  total  trade  with  Central  America  for  the  same  period  was  as  follows ; 

Total  imports $7,706,978 

Total  exports 3,008,714 

Of  the  imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon 7,195,705 

We  did  impose  a  tariff  upon.... 441,916 

Our  total  trade  with  Venezuela  was  as  follows : 

Totalimports $8,444,967 

Total  exports 5,504,215 

Of  the  imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon 8,248,450 

We  did  impose  a  tariff  upon 12,786 


MR.   HARRISON'S  UGLY  WORD    *  SUBSIDY. 


417 


lOur  total  trade  with  ihe  United  States  of  Colombia  was  aa  follows : 

imports »4.771,303 

exports 7,1-58,235 

le  imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon 3,934,559 

[did  impose  a  tariff  upon 16,594 

Our  I  otal  trade  with  the  Argentine  Republic  was  as  follows : 

imports $4,104,102 

exports 6,364,545 

le  imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon 3,347,936 

llmposed  a  tariff  upon 752,256 

Our  total  trade  with  Chill  was  as  follows: 

Total  imports $2,863,233 

Total  exports 2,06'M38 

Of  the  imports  we  imposed  no  tariff  upon = 2,634,396 

"We  did  impose  a  tariff  upon 228,897 

These  illustrate  the  universal  rule  by  which  the  limitations  upon  commercial  relations 
and  the  carrying  trade  with  all  the  countries  of  Central  and  South  America  may  be 
measured.  A  comparison  of  the  amount  brought  into  the  country  free  of  tariff  with  what 
we  send  in  exchange  is  instructive.  It  should  br>  noted  that  of  the  Brazilian  imports  tree 
of  duty,  the  large  proportion  value  is  the  item  of  coffee,  after  deducting  which  the  lesson 
on  exchange  of  trade  as  bearing  on  closer  relations  with  all  these  countries  is  the  same,  and 
the  universal  one. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  sexnrant, 

DON  M.  DICKINSON, 

Postmaster-General. 
Hon.  James  H.  Blount, 

Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  (he  Pos (office  and 

Post-Boads,  Home  qf  Bepresentativea. 


418  •  THE   PKEK   WHISKK\    TOLICY. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
THE  FREE  WHISKEY   POLICYc 


A  CAREFUL  ANALYSIS    OF  THE    MORAL    EFFECT    OF   INTERNAL  TAXES    UPON    TI 
CONSUMPTION    OF    INTOXICATING    SPIRITS. 

[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post.} 

*'The  tax  on  whiskey  by  the  Federal  Government,  with  its  suppression  of 
illicit  distillation  and  consequent  enhancement  of  price,  has  been  a  powerful  agea| 
in  the  temperance  reform,  by  putting  it  beyond  the  reach  of  so  manj,"  said"M] 
Blaine  in  the  "Paris  Message."  In  this  statement  the  "uncrowned  king"  8umme( 
up  one  of  the  most  striking  features  of  our  national  development  during  the  lasl 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  subject  Is  so  important  that  it  deserves  examination,! 
and  fortunately  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  a  year  and  a  half  ago  made  an  investiga-^ 
tion  which  furnishes  all  the  facts  desired. 

For  nearly  fifty  years  before  the  war  the  manufacture  of  distilled  spirits  in  the^ 
United  States  had  been  free  from  all  specific  taxation  or  supt  rvision  by  the  Federalj 
Government,  and  being  produced  mainly  from  Indian  corn,  whiskey  was  sold  at 
very  low  price.  The  average  market  price  in  this  city  was  only  twenty-four  centj 
per  proof  gallon,  and  common  whiskey  was  sold  in  the  saloons  for  three  cents  a" 
drink.  The  consumption  was  naturally  enormous,  and  the  resulting  demoraliza- 
tion of  the  people  terrible.  All  through  the  farming  districts  the  whiskey  jug, 
which  could  be  filled  at  the  village  store  at  the  rate  of  only  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  for 
a  gallon,  was  doing  its  work,  and  delirium  tremens  was  a  common  scourge. 

The  establishment  of  the  internal  revenue  system  early  in  the  war,  with  its. 
heavy  tax  on  whiskey,  and  the  consequent  great  increase  in  the  price  of  liquor,  im- 
mediately showed  its  effect.  In  1840  the  consumption  of  distilled  spirits  had  been 
48,060,884  gallons;  in  1860,  under  the  free-whiskey  regime,  it  had  grown  to  89,968,- 
651  gallons.  The  first  tax  imposed  was  20  cents  per  gallon  in  1862,  which  was  in- 
creased to  $1  50  in  1864  and  $2  in  1865,  and  finally  settled  at  90  cents  in  1875.  The 
check  plated  upon  the  consumption  of  liquor  by  the  tax  was  at  once  visible,  the 
total  falling  from  89,963,651  gallons  in  1860  to  but  79,895,708  in  1870.  The  more 
vigorous  enforcement  of  the  law  against  illicit  distillation  after  1870  still  further  re- 
duced the  amount  of  liquor  drunk,  and  in  1886  the  consumption  was  only  72,261,614 
gallons. 

This  reduction  in  total  consumption  for  the  whole  country  by  no  means  repre- 
sents the  actual  diminution  relatively  to  the  population.  In  1840,  under  fi  ee  wliis- 
key,  the  total  had  been  43,060,884  gallons  for  a  population  of  17,069,453,  which  wati 
an  average  of  2.52  gallons  per  capita.  In  1860,  still  under  free  w^hiskey.  the  total 
had  been  89,908,651  gallons  for  a  population  of  31,443,321,  or  an  average  of  2.86 
gallons  per  capita.  In  1886  the  consumption  was  only  72,261,614  gallons,  although 
the  population  had  nearly  doubled  since  1860,  and  was  then  estimated  at  59,000,000, 
so  that  the  average  per  capita  was  only  1.24  gallon.  "The  amount  of  whiskey  con- 
Kimed  in  the  United  States  per  capita  to  day  is  not  more  than  40  per  cent,  of  that 
consumed  thirty  years  ago,"  said  Mr.  Blaine  in  the  "Paris  Message,"  and  the  figurcB 
above  cited  show  that  he  was  right. 


THE  PKEE  WHISKBT  POLICY.  419 

The  tax  on  whiskey  was  originally  levied  "  purely  as  a  matter  of  finance,"  to 
Mr.  Ernest  H  Crosby's  happy  phrase,  but  it  was  soon  appreciated  that  there 

a  mora  side  "to  the  question.  80  long  ago  as  1868  Senator  Edmunds  re- 
buked a  colleague  who  had  suggested  that  it  was  "  a  question  of  expediency,  which 
has  nothing  to  do  with  morals,"  and  insisted  that,  even  then,  it  was  "  too  late  to  ad- 
vance the  doctrine  that  when  we  are  dealing  with  subjects  of  taxation,  we  have 
not  a  right  to  consider  questions  of  morals  as  connected  with  the  operation  of  such 
taxation."  At  that  time  Mr.  Edmunds  declared  that  *'  the  true  principle  upon  which 
taxation  ought  to  be  imposed  is  to  put  the  highest  possible  rate  on  articles  of  luxury, 
and  what  can  be  more  so  than  this  ?  "  And  the  Republican  party  heartily  endorsed 
this  position. 

The  oligarchy  of  slave-holders  before  the  war  demanded  of  the  Democratic 
party  that  it  should  break  its  pledges  and  repeal  the  compromise  which  it  had  de- 
clared to  be  a  final  settlement  of  the  question  at  issue.  The  oligarchy  of  the  pro- 
tected interests  is  equally  remorseless  in  its  demands  upon  the  Republican  party  to- 
day. The  Republicans  have  always  maintained  that  the  question  of  morals  mu84 
be  kept  in  mind  when  taxation  was  under  consideration,  and  have  held  that  the  fact 
that  the  tax  on  whiskey  operated  as  a  "  powerful  agent  in  the  temperance  reform  " 
was  a  sufficient  argument  against  the  repeal  of  this  levy  on  a  luxury,  "  the  produc- 
tion of  which."  in  Mr.  Edmunds's  words,  "  it  would  be  a  great  advantage  to  this 
country  if  it  could  be  discouraged  instead  of  encouraged."  Now  the  protected 
interests  insist  that  the  tax  on  whiskey  must  go,  rather  than  the  taxes  on  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  the  Republican  party  in  national  convention  yields  to  the  de- 
mand. Whether  a  majority  of  the  yotera  are  ready  to  deluge  tte  country  with  cheap 
whiskey  remains  to  be  seen. 


11- 

now  THE  NEW  POLICY  OP  THE    REPUBLICANS  WOULD  BRING  THE  PRICE  OP' 
WHISKEY  DOWN  TO  TWO  GLASSES  FOR  FIVE  CENTS. 

[From  the  New  York  Times,'] 

The  Republican  platform  declares  for  "the  entire  repeal  of  internal  taxes^ 
rather  than  the  surrender  of  any  part  of  our  protective  system."  That  this  means 
the  removal  of  all  national  tax  on  whisky  rather  than  the  reduction  of  any  of  the 
existing  duties  on  imports  is  made  plain  by  the  context  of  this  declaration.  The- 
position  taken  is  this :  The  party  "wwuld  deal  with  the  surplus  by  reducing  internal 
taxes,  by  entering  upon  a  policy  of  extravagant  expenditures,  by  increasing  duties 
so  as  to  check  imports,  and  finally  by  sweeping  away  all  internal  taxes  rather  tnau 
reduce  duties  on  raw  materials  and  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  reduction  of  in- 
ternal taxes  would  not  suflBce  to  get  rid  of  the  surplus.  The  sentiment  of  the 
country  is  so  opposed  to  a  policy  of  extravagant  expenditures  that  Congress  will 
never  venture  upon  it.  The  tendency  of  opinion  has  been  so  long  and  so  strong  in 
favor  of  a  revision  and  a  reduction  of  the  tariff  that  there  is  no  chance  that  a  pro- 
position to  increase  duties  would  be  countenanced.  Hence,  as  the  surplus  con- 
tinued and  the  other  devices  for  reducing  it  failed,  the  Republicans  would  be  brought 
face  to  face  with  their  last  resort,  and  if  they  fulfilled  their  promise  they  would  be 
compelled  to  try  the  abolition  of  the  wliisky  tax. 

What  would  be  the  effect  of  such  a  policy  if  carried  out?  The  only  power  the 
National  Government  now  has  for  aiding  in  the  restriction  of  the  liquor  traffic  and 
thereby  promoting  the  cause  of  temperance  is  the  power  to  lay  a  tax  on  alcoholic 
beverages.  This  tax  was  oriirinally  imposed  in  time  of  war  on  the  principle  of 
taxing  luxuries  or  those  things  the  consumption  of  which  should  be  restrained 
rather  than  encouraged,  and  solely  for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue,  but  it  has 
proved  the  most  potent  agency  for  restricting  the  sale  and  consumption  of  whisky 
that  has  been  m  existence.  Fully  two-thirds  of  the  present  price  of  the  commonest 
brands  of  whisky  is  due  to  the  Government  tax,  and  the  suppression  of  illicit  dis- 
tillation and  of  a  wide  diffusion  of  pioduction  is  wholly  due  to  the  Government 
27 


4^0  THE  FREE  WHISKEY  POLICY. 

supervision  made  necessary  for  the  collection  of  the  tax.  Of  course  the  removal 
the  tax  would  greatly  cheapen  the  price  of  whisky,  and  as  Mr.  Blaine  said  in  h 
"  Paris  message  "  would  "  increase  its  consumption  enormously."  That  it  woulj 
have  that  effect  no  man  of  sense  and  veracity  can  for  a  moment  deny.  Mr.  Blain 
is  not  a  specially  trustworthy  authority  in  matters  of  statistics,  but  his  statemer 
that  the  amount  of  whisky  consumed  in  this  country  to  day  is  •'  not  more  than 
per  cent,  per  capita  of  that  consumed  thirty  years  ago  "  is  borne  out  by  other  ev| 
dence.  His  further  statement  that  the  Government  tax  and  supervision  has  bee 
•*  a  powerful  agent  in  temperance  reform  "  is  beyond  question. 

Suppose  this  tax  removed  and  this  powerful  temperance  reform  agent  abolishe 
how  would  it  affect  efforts  at  restriction  or  prohibition  by  State  legislation?  In  anj 
State,  or  in  any  county  imder  a  local  option  sjstem,  in  which  the  people  had  sue 
ceeded  in  establishing  a  prohibition  policy,  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  it  would 
increased  many  fold.  Cheap  whisky  would  make  its  way  much  more  easily  thj 
dear  whisky,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  prevent  clandestine  sales.  Where  tl 
license  system  prevails  the  present  fees  are  acknowled  to  be  very  inadequate  fd 
purposes  of  restriction,  but  with  the  tax  removed  they  would  be  much  less  effective 
than  the  tax  alone  would  be  if  there  were  no  license  laws  at  all.  High  licen8e_ 
itself  would  be  practically  useless,  for  the  highest  annual  fees  proposed,  or  likely 
be  prescribed,  bear  no  proportion  to  the  added  cost  which  the  Government  tax  nol 
imposes  upon  a  year's  sales.  State  taxation,  if  heavy  enough,  might  be  made 
operate  with  some  effect  upon  sales  in  open  bar  rooms,  but  there  would  be  no  co  op( 
atioa  in  legislation  between  neighboring  States,  and  cheap  whisky  would  make  it 
way  everywhere  with  pernicious  effect. 

The  worst  blow  to  the  cause  of  temperance  would  come  from  the  unregulat€ 
a,nd  uncontrollable  sale  of  liquor  outside  of  drinking  places.  With  whisky  at 
twenty  or  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon  from  the  distillery,  it  would  be  within  the  reach 
of  all,  and  by  the  bottle,  the  jug,  the  keg,  and  the  barrel  it  would  invade  every 
<X)mmunity  and  pervade  every  home  not  guarded  by  rigid  principles  and  carefully- 
trained  habits.  Its  evil  influencel'and  direful  consequences  would  be  multiplied  at 
■once,  and  the  liquor  power,  which  is  now  so  formidable,  might  become  irresistible. 
The  people  have  not  heretofore  realized  how  much  the  restriction  of  the  liquor 
traffic  and  the  progress  of  temperance  reform  have  owed  to  the  Government  tax 
upon  alcoholic  beverages  for  nearly  a  generation,  but  the  Republican  platform  hat* 
fiharply  reminded  them  of  it,  and  they  are  beginning  to  think  of  its  effects  and  the 
possible  consequences  ol  removing  it.  These  consequences  are  offered  for  wbai? 
As  a  means  of  preventing  a  reduction  of  duties  on  materials  that  would  increase 
our  industries  and  cheapea  production,  and  on  such  articles  of  necessity  or  comfort 
as  clothing  and  blankets. 


m. 

HOW    THIS    RESULT    WILL    CEBTAINLT    BE     EFFECTED    UNDER    THE    POLICY    PRO- 
POSED   AT    CHICAGO    BY   THE    REPUBLICAN    CONVENTION. 

[From  tfie  Chicago  TrUnme,  (Bep.)] 

Wipe  out  the  internal  revenue  altogether,  what  would  be  the  re-ult  then  ? 
Down  would  go  whiskey  to  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon,  and  by  retail  to  three  cents 
a  glass,  as  it  was  in  anti-war  days,  when  the  best  Monongahela  whiskey  could  be 
had  for  five  cents  a  swig,  and  common  whiskey  for  three  cents ;  and  all  the  evils  of 
those  days  would  be  let  loose  again  with  redoubled  force,  because  money  with  which 
to  buy  liquor  is  so  much  more  plentiful  now. 

There  are  plenty  of  men  living  who  can  remember  the  25-cents-a -gallon 
whiskey  days.  They  can  remember  how  the  farmers  came  to  the  towns,  some  with 
jugs,  some  with  kegs,  and  some  with  barrels.  Some  would  give  excuses  that  they 
were  afflicted  with  all  the  diseases  to  which  flesh  is  heir,  and  which  could  only  be 
cured  by  whiskey.  They  had  malaria,  and  might  have  snake  bites  to  cure.  Their 
drinking  water  was  so  poor  they  could  not  use  it  without  mixing  whiskey  with  it. 


I 


THE  FBEB  WHISKEY  POLICY.  431 


Never  were  farmers  in  such  an  unhealthy  and  moribund  condition  as  in  those 
days.  They  could  not  get  through  harvesting,  threshing,  ploughing,  corn -husking, 
or  log-rolling  without  it.  It  was  as  necessary  to  the  hay-mowing  and  the  harvest 
as  the  scythe  or  the  sicl^l.  The  whiskey  jug  on  such  occasions  was  as  common  in 
the  "West  as  the  rum-jug  in  New  England,  when  every  one  from  the  deacon  to  the 
farm  hand  had  his  wet  rations.  In  those  days  of  cheap  whiskey  there  were  ten 
drunkards  to  one  now.  Delirium  tremens  was  a  common  disease ;  now  it  is  rare. 
Then  every  one  filled  up  with  whiskey  or  rum.  It  was  one  of  the  staffs  of  life  in 
every  house. 

Then  came  the  high  tax  on  whiskey.  Nearly  a  dollar  was  imposed  upon  every 
gallon,  and  the  price  was  correspondingly  enhanced.  The  whiskey  which  had  sold 
for  3  cents  a  glass  went  up  to  10  or  15  cents;  the  finer  qualities  to  20  and  even  25 
cents  a  e-lass.  The  keg  and  barrel  business  among  the  farmers  ceased,  and  even  the 
jug  business  became  rare.  If  the  farmer  brought  home  his  jug,  it  lasted  five  times  as 
long  as  when  it  cost  but  two  shillings.  The  consumption  of  whiskey  fell  off.  Mr. 
Blaine  said  in  his  Paris  message  in  answer  to  Mr.  Cleveland's  tariff  message  last 
December :  "  The  amount  of  whiskey  consumed  in  the  United  States  per  capita 
to-day  is  not  more  than  40  per  cent,  of  that  consumed  thirty  years  ago."  And  the 
statistics  more  than  bear  out  his  assertion. 


m  IV. 

HE  CANNOT  RETURN  TO  A  FREE  WHISKEY  PARTY.      HOW  HE   VIEWS  THE  BELATED 

MORALITY    PLANK. 

[Prom  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fish's  Utter  of  acceptance.] 
It  was  with  great  reluctance  that  I  accepted  these  conclusions  and  came  to  admit 
the  imperative  need  of  a  new  party,  while  yet  the  party  of  my  choice,  the  national 
Republican  party,  maintains  its  organization. 

It  costs  me  the  sacrifice  of  cherished  associations,  when  four  years  ago  I  enrolled 
myself  in  the  ranks  of  party  prohibitionists  under  the  flag  of  Prohibition,  bleached 
snowy  white  by  the  tears  of  smitten  women  and  children  through  generations  of 
sorrow  and  want.  I  have  seen  no  hour  of  regret.  Every  day  since  then  has  shown 
yet  more  clearly  the  logic  of  my  course,  and  the  inevitable  truth  of  my  conclusions. 
In  Michigan,  in  Texas,  in  Tennessee,  and  Oregon,  so-called  non-partisan  efforts  to 
establish  prohibition  have  failed  through  partisan  necessity,  born  of  liquor  elements 
in  old  party  composition.  In  Iowa,  Rhode  Island  and  Maine,  the  laws  have  been 
shamelessly  defied  for  like  reasons.  The  entire  trend  of  things  these  last  four  years 
has  proven  hopeless  the  broader  range  of  prohibition  through  non-partisan  means, 
and  equally  futile  as  a  final  consummation  the  narrower  methods  of  local  option  and 
high  licenses,  while  from  the  Supreme  Court  itself  has  come,  with  startling  empha- 
sis, a  declaration  so  nationalizing  this  reform  that  it  can  never  be  made  of  local  or 
State  limitation  again. 

"The  first  concern  of  good  government,"  said  the  recent  National  Republican 
Convention  at  Chicago,  **is  the  virtue  and  sobriety  of  the  people  and  the  purity  of  > 
the  home."  Revenue,  then,  is  not  government's  chief  concern,  whether  coming  from 
internal  taxation  or  from  a  tariff  on  importations,  and  any  source  of  revenue  which 
iiscounts  "the  virtue  and  sobriety  of  the  people,"  and  begets  impurity  in  the  home, 
5hould  be  the  first  object  assailed  by  every  party  professing  to  seek  good  govern- 
ment ;  while  the  revenue  derived  from  such  a  source  should  be  the  first  to  be  for- 
3worn— -not  alternately,  for  the  sake  of  a  protective  tariff,  but  positively  for  the  sake 
3f  protection  dearer  and  more  vital  than  the  tariff  can  ever  yield.  Had  I  not  left 
;he  Republican  party  four  years  ago,  I  should  be  compelled  to  leave  it  now,  when, 
ifter  reading  the  words  I  have  quoted  from  a  resolution  supplemental  to  but  not 
ncluded  in  its  platform,  and  finding  in  these  words  my  own  idea  of  Government's 
'chief  concern"  set  forth,  I  search  the  long  platform  through  in  vain  to  find  condem- 
aation  of  the  saloon,  or  hint  of  purpose  to  assail  it,  or  any  sign  of  moral  conscious- 
aess  that  the  saloon  is  a  curse,  and  its  income  too  unholy  for  the  nation  to  share. 


I 


433  THE  FREE  WHISKEY  POLICY. 

If  the  "chief  concern"  has  noplace  in  a  party's  platform  and  a  party  has  no 
policy  as  to  that  "chief  concern,"  that  party  does  not  deserve  the  support  of  men  who 
ove  good  government  and  would  see  it  maintained.  The  Prohibition  party's  "chief 
concern"  is  for  the  purity  of  the  home  and  the  virtue  and  sobriety  of  the  people. 

That  party  is  not  labor's  truest  friend  which  would  bar  the  importation  of  pau- 
pers from  abroad  or  close  the  tariff  door  of  competition  to  pauperize  foreign  indus- 
try, and  then  by  a  liquor  system  perpetuate  the  manufacture  of  paupers  and  crimi- 
nals in  our  own  midst  with  whom  honest  labor  must  compete,  whom  largely  honest 
labor  must  support. 

V. 

THE  POET  OF  THE  NEW  CRUSADE  WHO  HAS  BEEN  FOUND  IN  THE  PERSON  OP 
ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL. 

[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  JvXy  6.] 

In  all  ages  the  crusades  have  appealed  to  the  poets  of  the  world.  The  delivery 
of  the  Holy  Land  from  the  dominion  of  the  infidel  was  a  theme  of  itself  well  calcu- 
lated to  fire  the  imagination,  and  the  struggte  abounded  in  incidents  which  readily 
lent  them  «) elves  to  verse.  Take  out  of  the  middle  ages  that  series  of  wars,  and  you 
take  out  of  poetical  literature  the  occasion  for  many  a  masterpiece. 

Modem  crusades  also  have  had  their  bards.  In  that  most  recant  one,  which 
has  but  just  passed  into  history — the  crusade  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slave — 
John  G.  Whittier  with  his  poet's  pen  did  a  work  the  importance  of  which  it  would  not 
be  easy  to  exaggerate.  The  moral  wrong  of  slavery,  the  moral  right  of  every  man 
to  freedora-rthese  cardinal  principles  gained  a  power  and  significance  that  no  prose 
orator  could  confer  when  set  forth  by  the  Quaker  poet.  Nothing  served  so  well  to 
bring  the  real  meaning  of  human  bondage  home  to  the  hearts  of  men  as  those  verses 
of  Whittier,  trembling  as  they  often  almost  seemed  to  be  with  the  indignation  which 
possessed  his  soul,  like  these  lines,  for  example : 

W  hat  hoi—  Our  countrymen  in  chains  I 

The  whip  on  wo  vr an  s  shrinking  flesh 
Our  Boil  yet  reddening- with  the  stains 

Caught  from  her  scourging,  warm  and  fresh  I 
What!  mothers  from  their  children  riven  I 

What !  God's  own  image  bought  and  sold  I 
Americans  to  market  driven. 

And  bartered  aa  the  brute  for  gold  I 

The  original  "mission"  of  the  Republican  party,  to  free  the  slave,  is  accom- 
plished, and  the  bard  of  that  era,  alas  !  grows  old.  Now  that  the  party  has  a  new 
mission,  it  must  find  a  new  poet  in  the  prime  of  life.  A  successor  to  Whittier  must 
be  sought  when  the  party  enters  upon  the  crusade  for  the  emancipation  of  whiskey 
from  that  worse  than  Russian  despotism  under  which  it  now  labors.  Happily  the 
search  need  not  be  long.  The  poet  of  the  new  crusade  is,  indeed,  already  found. 
It  was  essential  that  he  should  be  deeply  imbued  with  religious  conviction  and  pro- 
foundly animated  by  moral  purpose.  Who  so  perfectly  meets  these  demands  in  a 
successor  to  John  G.  Whittier  as  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  ? 

The  true  poet  has  something  of  the  prophet's  foresight,  and  discerns  the  future 
while  it  still  remains  hidden  in  obscurity  to  the  common  herd.  Here,  too.  Col.  Inger- 
soll shows  his  fitness  for  the  succession.  A  year  ago  it  might  almost  be  said  that 
nobody  in  this  broad  land  foresaw  that  theapproaching  Presidential  contest  was  to 
involve  a  great  issue  of  emancipation,  and  that  the  moral  sense  of  the  nation  needed 
to  be  aroused  to  the  enormity  of  the  servitude  imposed  upon  whiskey  by  the  inter- 
nal-revenue tax.  But  even  then  Col,  Ingersoll  foresaw  the  coming  issue  and  sounded 
the  alarm.  A  little  over  a  year  ago  he  sent  a  friend  a  jug  of  whiskey,  and  accom- 
panied it  with  this  impassioned  tribute,  in  tlie  outward  form  of  prose,  it  is  true,  but 
so  instinct  with  the  very  soul  of  poetry  that  it  really  must  be  ranked  as  a  poem : 

I  send  you  some  of  the  most  wonderful  whiskey  that  ever  drove  the  skeleton  from  a 
feast  or  painted  landscapes  in  the  brain  of  man.  It  is  the  mingled  souls  of  wheat  and  corn. 
In  it  you  will  find  the  sunshine  and  shadow  that  chase  each  other  over  the  billowy  fields, 
the  breath  of  June,  the  carol  of  the  lark,  the  dews  of  the  night,  the  wealth  of  summer,  and 


THE  FREE  WHISKET  POLICY. 


423 


autumn's  rich  content— all  golden  with  imprisoned  light.  Drink  it,  and  you  will  hear  the 
voice  of  men  and  maidens  singing  the  •'  Harvest  Home,"  mingled  with  the  laughter  of  chil- 
dren. Drink  it,  and  you  will  feel  within  your  blood  the  star  lit  dawns,  the  dreamy,  tawny, 
dusks  of  many  perfect  days.  For  forty  years  this  liquid  joy  has  been  within  the  happy 
staves  of  oak,  longing  to  touch  the  lips  of  man. 

It  is  true  that  the  poet  is  here  speaking  of  a  rare  brand  of  whiskey  ,but  it  is  also  true, 
in  the  words  of  the  traditional  Kentuckian,  that  "all  whiskey  is  good ;  some  whiskey 
is  better  than  other,  but  all  whiskey  is  good."  Forty  year  whiskey  may  perhaps 
fire  the  imagination  a  little  more  vividly  than  whiskey  ordinaire  of  a  reiient  crop, 
but  whiskey  ordinaire  is  also  '•  the  mingled  souls  of  wheat  and  corn,"  and  will  make 
a  man  feel  within  his  blood  "  the  star-lit  dawns,  the  dreamy,  tawny  dusks  of  many 
perfect  days."    Every  barrel  of  whiskey  that  is  made  is  full  of  "  liquid  joy." 

Here  we  see  the  great  service  of  the  poet  to  the  crusade.  When  the  prosy 
writer  on  that  good  Republican  organ  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean  tells  us  that  the 
"Whiskey  Trust"  is  a  "  powerful  aiid  baneful  combine,"  and  that  it  exercises  "a 
despotic  power  not  surpassed  in  Russia,"  the  reader's  pulse  is  not  stirred ;  but  when 
the  poetical  lugersoll  touches  the  theme  and  pictures  the  "liquid  joy"  which  the 
iniquitous  tax  on  whiskey  denies  a  large  share  of  mankind,  "  by  putting  it  beyond 
the  reach  of  so  many,"  to  quote  Mr.  Blaine's  words — then,  indeed,  is  the  moral  sense 
quickened  and  the  voter  aroused  to  action.  To  doubt  that  the  Republican  party, 
pledged  as  it  is  to  the  emancipation  of  whiskey,  can  carry  the  country  is  to  doubt 
the  enlightened  conscience  of  the  nation.  To  quote  once  more  from  Col.  IngersoU's 
predecessor  as  the  bard  of  the  Republican  party : 

Our  fathers  to  their  graves  have  gone ; 

heir  strife  is  past,  their  triumph  won. 

It  sterner  trials  wait  the  race 

hich  rises  in  their  honored  place— 
A  moral  warfare  with  the  crime 
And  folly  of  an  evil  time. 

So  let  it  be.    In  God's  own  might 

We  gird  us  for  the  coming  fight. 

And,  strong  in  Him  whose  cause  is  GUTS, 

In  conflict  with  unholy  powers, 

We  grasp  the  weapons  He  has  given— 

The  light,  and  Truth,  and  Love  of  Heaven. 

VI. 

EVEN  MR.  BLAINE  OPPOSED  TO  HIS  PARTY  PLATFORM. 


REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM. 

[•he  Republican  party  would  effect  all 
needed  reduction  of  the  national  revenue 
by  repealing  the  taxes  upon  tobacco, 
which  are  an  annoyance  and  burden  to 
agriculture,  and  the  tax  upon  spirits  used 
in  the  arts  and  for  mechanical  purposes, 
and  by  such  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as 
will  tend  to  check  imports  of  such 
articles  as  are  produced  by  our  people, 
the  production  of  which  gives  employ- 
ment to  our  laborer,  and  release  from 
import  duties  those  articles  of  foreign 
production  (except  luxuries)  the  like  of 
which  cannot  be  produced  at  home.  If 
there  shall  still  remain  a  larger  revenue 
than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  of  the 
Government,  we  favor  the  entire  repeal  of 
internal  taxs^  {t?iMt  is,  free  whiskey]  rather 
than  the  surrender  of  any  part  of  our 
protective  system  at  the  joint  behest  of 
the  whiskey  trusts  and  the  agents  of 
foreign  manufacturers. 


MR.    BLAINE'S     "PARIS    MES- 
SAGE." 

I  would  not  advise  the  repeal  of  the 
whiskey  tax.  Other  considerations  than 
those  of  financial  administration  are  to 
be  taken  into  acxx>unt  with  regard  to 
whiskey.  There  is  a  moral  side  to  it.  To 
cheapen  the  pi-ite  of  whiskey  is  to  increase 
its  consumption  enorTnously.  There  would 
he  no  sen.se^  in  urgmg  the  reform  wrought 
by  high  license  in  many  States  if  the  national^ 
Oovemment  neutralizes  the  good  erfect  by 
making  whiskey  within  reach  of  every  one 
at  twenty  cents  a  gallon.  Whiskey  would 
be  everywhere  distilled  if  the  surveil- 
lance of  the  Government  were  with- 
drawn by  the  remission  of  the  tax,  and 
illicit  sales  could  not  then  be  prevented 
even  by  a  policy  as  rigorous  and  search- 
ing as  that  with  which  Russia  pursues 
the  Nihilists.  It  wmld  destroy  high  licenM 
at  once  in  all  the  States. 


424  THE  FRBE  WHISKET  POLICY. 

VII. 

THE  PRICE  OP  WHISKEY  AND  FLOUR. 
[From  the  Providence  Jotimal^  (Sep.)] 
The  Republican  party,  as  represented  at  Chicago,  proposes  to  reduce  the  surph 
by  making  whiskey  free.  It  proposes  to  do  all  it  can  to  bring  the  bar-room  price 
of  a  drink  of  whiskey  down  to  two  cents,  and  place  a  barrel  of  whiskey  side  by 
side  with  the  flour  barrel  in  the  drunkard's  house.  It  even  proposes  to  ask  th 
country  to  support  it  mainly  because  it  will  do  this  rather  than  give  our  peopl 
cheaper  clothing  and  cheaper  food.  The  party  has  indeed  suffered  a  great  chan^ 
since  its  earlier  days,  when  it  could  proudly  and  truthfully  call  itself  the  party 
moral  ideas,  the  party  of  the  fireside  and  the  home. 


VIII. 

HOW    C0L.   IKGERSOLL    WOULD    DO    IT. 

Colonel  R  G.  Ingersoll  has  apparently  given  up  his  crusade  against  religic«i 
and  the  Bible  for  the  campaign  in  order  to  promote  the  success  of  Harrison  ant 
free  whiskey.  At  the  meeting  held  in  New  York  city  to  ratify  the  nomination 
Harrison  and  Morton  the  colonel  thus  announced  the  position  of  himself  and  hia^ 
party : 

"Mere  liquor  does  not  make  drunkenness.  The  moral  question  of  the  whole 
thing  is  to  have  the  burden  of  government  rest  as  lightly  as  poesible.  Temperance 
walks  hand  in-hand  with  liberty.  I  do  not  think  that  if  the  Mississippi  River  ran 
pure  whiskey  and  the  banks  were  loaf  sugar,  and  the  flats  grew  mint,  and  the 
bushes  were  teaspoons  and  tumblers,  there  would  be  one  more  drunken  man  than 
now.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  have  those  who  wear  foreign  velvets  and  drink 
Chateau  Yquem  pay  the  taxes,  but  I  don't  want  to  have  the  fellow  who  drinks  the 
domestic  article  taxed  one  cent." 

IX. 

THE  INTERNAL  REVENUE    TAX  AND  ITS  EFFECT  ON  SALOONS 

The  attempt  of  the  Republican  party  to  masquerade  in  the  livery  of  the  Woman'f 
Christian  Temperance  Union  is  meeting  with  ridicule  from  the  very  women  whc 
fashioned  the  garments.  The  sham  was  so  apparent  that  no  statesmanship  wt 
necessary  to  detect  it.  When,  therefore,  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  President  of  the 
Union,  found  that  the  Republican  party,  which  has  steadily  advocated  high  license 
in  local  politics,  had  endorsed  her  demand  for  the  repeal  of  the  national  liquor  tax 
her  sentiment,  instead  of  being  that  of  self-congratulation,  was  that  of  scorn.  Ii 
her  address  before  the  National  Prohibition  ratification  meeting  last  Friday,  sh< 
expressed  this  sentiment  with  all  the  emotional  earnestness  of  which  she  is  the  mis-^ 
tress.  She  summed  up  the  situation  in  the  following  words :  "The  party  stands 
arrayed  against  itself  in  its  State  and  national  policy.  The  house  is  divided  against 
itself  and  cannot  stand." 

It  is  the  obviousness  of  the  last  sentence  which  gives  to  it  its  significance.  For^ 
the  past  few  years  the  restrictive  taxation  of  the  liquor  traffic  has  been  the  one 
moral  idea  which  the  Republican  party  has  everywhere  endorsed.  Yet  the  bighesi 
possible  high  license  cannot  compare  in  importance  with  the  internal-revenue  sya 
tern.  The  Crosby  bill  as  it  passed  the  Republican  Legislature  proposed  a  tax  ol 
$300  upon  each  saloon  where  distilled  liquors  were  sold ;  the  internal-revenue  sys 
tem  imposes  a  tax  which  averages  $500  for  every  saloon,  restaurant,  drug-store,  anc 
grocery  where  liquors  of  any  description  are  sold.  The  number  of  saloons  anc 
restaurants  in  the  nation  is  but  90,000.  The  national  liquor  tax  is  $90,000,00OJ 
Were  a  high  license  fee  of  $1,000  everywhere  imposed  and  enforced,  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  traffic  would  be  such  that  the  burden  would  not  be  equal  to  that  whiclji 


I 


THE  FKEE  WHISKEY  POLICY.  425 


the  internal-revenue  system  now  imposes.  Mr.  F.  N.  Barrett,  of  the  American 
Grocer,  whose  estimates  regarding  the  consumption  of  hquor  were  published  by  the 
Internal  Revenue  Department,  calculates  thnt  half  of  the  liquor  consumed  is  bought 
not  by  the  glass,  but  by  the  gallon.  The  eflfect  of  the  internal  revenue  tax  upon  the 
price  of  this  portion  is  easily  estimated.  The  cheaper  grades  of  whiskey  can  be 
manufacture'!  for  twenty  cents  a  gallon.  The  tax  raises  this  price  450  per  cent. 
Had  the  Crosby  bill  been  made  a  la  w  the  further  increase  would  have  been  confessedly 
slight.  Yet  the  party  which  advocated  that,  in  the  interests  of  morality,  this  further 
increase  must  be  made,  is  now  willing  to  make  real  the  Irishman's  dream  of  "whiskey 
a  shilling  a  gallon,  and  no  hanging  for  stealing,"  in  order  to  preserve  to  the  protected 
classes  the  extortions  of  the  war  tariff  undiminished. 

The  argument  which  will  be  heard  time  and  again  during  the  coming  campaign 
that  the  Prohibitionists  also  are  in  favor  of  repealing  the  internal  revenue  tax,  i& 
worthy  of  consideration.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  Prohibitionists  are  the 
sincere  friends  of  temperance.  Why  then  do  they  seem  to  endorse  the  position  of 
the  Republicans? 

This  question  is  easily  answered.  In  the  first  place,  they  do  not  endorse  it. 
At  the  ratification  meeting  mentioned  above  Chairman  Dickey  violently  denounced 
this  plank  in  the  Republican  platform,  and  Miss  Willard  sharply  distingmished 
between  the  Republican  idea  of  free  trade  in  alcoholic  liquor  and  the  Prohibition  idea 
of  no  trade  at  all.  This  distinction  is  a  thoroughly  tenable  one,  and  will  be  endorsed 
by  every  Prohibitionist  in  the  country  who  has  not  crazed  his  own  intellect  by  vio- 
lent rant  about  "blood  money"  and  "compacts  with  hell." 

In  the  next  place,  the  chief  argument  of  the  Prohibitionists  against  high  license 
does  not  apply  to  the  national  liquor  tax.  They  have  found  in  their  municipal  and 
State  campaigns  that  the  revenues  derived  from  the  saloons  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
agitatioK.  Even  the  more  sober-minded  among  them  have  thus  come  to  regard  high 
hcense  as  the  liquor  traffic's  chief  bulwark.  It  was  very  natural  then  that  some  of 
them  should  have  supposed  that  the  national  liquor  taxes  would  have  a  similar 
eflect.  The  Republican  platform  demonstrates  their  mistake.  The  national  reve- 
nues derived  fr3m  the  traflBc,  instead  of  being  its  national  bulwark,  are  its  national 
menace.  If  anything  shall  ever  bring  the  Republican  party  to  endorse  national  pro- 
hibition, it  will  be  mainly  the  desire  to  get  rid  of  this  revenue.  Prohibitionists  will 
not  support  the  Republican  declaration  in  favor  of  untaxed  whiskey  until  the 
Republicans  shall  support  their  declaration  in  favor  of  no  whiskey.  The  mass  ol 
them  at  the  South  will  follow  the  lead  of  Senator  Colquitt  and  support  the  Democ- 
racy. At  the  North  they  will  vote  in  increased  numbers  for  their  own  party  ticket. 
North  and  South,  they  will  be  alike  repelled  by  the  Republican  declaration  in  favor 
of  free  whiskey. 

The  platform  adopted  at  Chicago  offends  the  common  conscience  of  the  nation 
quite  as  much  as  its  common  sense.  To  the  average  man  the  demand  that  the  war 
taxes  in  all  industries  shall  be  maintained  rather  than  diminish  the  bounties  to  the 
favored  few  is  protection  reduced  to  absurdity.  In  an  equal  degree  the  demand  that 
the  war  tariff  on  necessities  shall  be  maintained,  even  though  its  maintenance 
involves  a  whiskey  deluge,  is  protection  wedded  to  iniquity. 


'YOU  PAYS  YOTJR    MONEY  AND    TAKES  YOUR  CHOICE. 


NATIONAL  LIQUOR   DEALERS. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  unalterably  op 


NATIONAL  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

We  reaffirm  our  unswerving  devotion 


posed  to  prohibition,  general  or  local, Ito  the  personal  rights  and  liberties  of  clti- 
as  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  citizen  jzens. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  bothj  The  first  concern  of  all  good  govem- 
public  and  private  morality  and  goodlment  is  the  virtue  and  sobriety  of  the  peo- 
order  and  popular  education.  [pie  and  the  purity  of  the  home.    The  Re- 

Resolved,  That  we  most  earnestly  favor  publican  party  cordially  sympathizes  with 
temperance  and  most  strongly  condemn  all  wise  and  well-directed  efforts  for  the 
intemperance.  i  promotion  of  temperance  and  morality. 


THE  FREE    WHISKEY  POLICY. 


XI. 


HOW  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  WHISKEY  IS  TO  BE  BROUGHT  ABOUT  BY  THE   EFFORT 
OF  THE  REPUBLICAI-f  PARTY. 

[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  July  5.] 

The  Republican  party  was  formed  to  resist  the  aggressions  of  slavery,  and  wai 
led  to  free  the  slaves  as  a  war  measure.  In  the  language  of  the  average  republicai 
stump -speaker  nowadays,  "its  mission  was  to  emancipate  the  slave."  Or,  as  Genera 
Harrison  put  it  in  his  speech  accepting  the  nomination  yesterday:  "The  republicai 
party  has  wallied  in  the  light  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  has  lifted  th( 
shaft  of  patriotism  upon  the  foundation  laid  at  Bunker  Hill.  It  has  made  the  mop 
perfect  Union  secure  by  making  all  men  free." 

For  some  time  past  the  question  has  been  discussed  whether  the  "mission" 
the  Republican  party  wasended.  The  slave  had  been  emancipated,  and  the  parti 
had  done  all  which  is  possible,  under  the  Constitution  as  interpreted  by  the  Reputi 
lican  Supreme  Court,  to  assure  him  the  enjoyment  of  his  new  rights  as  a  citizen.  Il 
its  early  history  the  great  object  of  the  organization  had  been  the  restriction  o 
slavery,  and  later  its  work  came  to  be  a  crusade  for  freedom.  This  old  crusade  ha< 
ended  in  triumph,  and  of  late  the  party  has  seemed  to  be  groping  about  for  somi 
new  crusade  against  evil  which  would  arcuse  the  moral  sense  of  the  nation. 

The  Republican  platform  meets  this  "long  felt  want"  in  its  demand  lor  the  emai 
cipation  of  whiskey.  The  platform,  it  will  be  remembered,  calls  for  "the  entii 
repeal  of  internal  taxes  rather  than  the  surrender  of  any  part  of  our  protectivjl 
system,"  which,  being  interpreted,  means  the  freeing  of  whiskey  from  the  servitud 
in  which  it  is  now  held.  The  odious  nature  of  this  slavery  and  the  crying  necessit; 
for  emancipation  only  need  to  be  set  forth  to  be  appreciated  by  every  candid  mine 
To  produce  a  gallon  of  whiskey  costs  only  about  fifteen  cents,  and  if  whiskey  wer 
free  from  tax,  it  could  be  sold  at  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  a  gallon.  But  the  tax  o 
ninety  cents  a  gallon  puts  the  price  up  to  $1.15  a  gallon  and  ten  and  fifteen  cents  a 
drink,  where  under  the  emancipation  policy  it  would  be  only  two  or  three  cents. 

But  this  is  by  no  means  all  of  theinjustice  involved  in  the  present  servitude  of 
whiskey.  The  tax  enables  the  producers  to  raise  the  price  to  the  poor  consumer 
even  above  the  higher  level  required  at  best  by  the  interposition  of  the  Government. 
The  Chicago  Inter-Ocean^  one  of  the  most  prominent  Republican  newspapers  in  the 
West,  thus  exposes  the  iniquitous  performances  of  'Hhe  Whiskey  Trust,"  which,  it 
says,  was  created  and  is  fostered  by  the  internal-revenue  system :  "The  Whiskey 
Trust  is  to-day  the  most  powerful  and  baneful  combine  in  the  country,  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  alone  excepted.  It  dictates  terms  to  every  distiller,  and  fixes  the 
amount  of  product  turned  out,  and  the  price  of  it,  with  a  despotic  power  not  sur- 
passed in  Russia." 

Since  human  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  United  States  there  has  been  no  such 
despotism  as  that  under  which  whiskey  now  labors.  The  mere  statement  of  the 
case  must  carry  conviction  to  every  candid  mind.  All  over  this  great  land  are  poor 
men  who  want  whiskey  and  who  want  it  cheap.  But  the  Government  steps  in  and 
claps  a  tax  of  nearly  a  dollar  upon  every  gallon  distilled.  This  carries  up  the  price  from 
two  cents  a  glass  to  ten.  The  "Whiskey  Trust"  may  exercise  its  power  to  carry 
the  price  even  higher.  For  many  years  the  poor  drunkard  has  been  sending  up  his 
lamentations  over  this  worse  than  Russian  despotism;  but,  like  the  cries  of  the 
poor  slave  a  generation  ago,  they  have  long  fallen  upon  dull  ears.  At  last  they  have 
been  heard,  and  the  Republican  party  has  declared  for  the  emancipation  of 
whiskey. 

It  is  the  happy  fortune  of  ''the  party  of  moral  ideas"  that  its  new  "mission"  com- 
mends it  alike  to  the  drinkers  and  the  temperance  men.  On  the  one  hand,  no  more 
attractive  bid  for  the  vote  of  the  "slums"  could  be  made  than  the  promise  of  whiskey 
for  two  cents  a  glase;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  temperance  men  are  bound  to 
fight  for  the  emancipation  of  whiskey  because,  in  the  words  of  Col.  Ingersoll  at  the 
Republican  ratification  meeting  in  this  city  last  week,  "Mere  liquor  does  not  make 
drunkenness.  The  moral  question  of  the  whole  thing  is  to  have  the  burden  of  gov- 
ernment rest  as  lightly  as  possible.    Temperance  walks  hand  in  band  with  liquor." 


THE   FREE  WHISKEY  POLICY.  427 

XTI. 

THE  BLIGHT  OF  FREE  WHISKEY. 
tfie  speech  of  Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  of  Georgia,  in  t?ie  Senate  of  the  United  States,  March  12, 1888,] 

Since  the  conclugive  showin,?  by  the  President  of  the  necessity  for  getting  rid 

le  immense  and  growing  surplus,  it  has  been  discovered  that  the  internal  reve- 

taxes  are  intolerable  burdens.    It  has  also  been  discovered  by  some  unknown 
sies  of  political  clairvoyance  that  Mr.  Jefferson  is  exceedingly  angry  at  their 

tence,  and  that  all  the  other  fathers  of  the  Republic  turn  uneasily  and  unhappily 

leir  graves. 

But  what  is  there  in  all  this?  Nothing  but  a  subtle  and  inexcusable  purpose 
to  retard,  if  not  altogether  to  prevent,  a  reduction  of  the  tariff  taxes  on  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  This  is  the  purpose  and  the  end,  with  few  exceptions,  of  all  the  wild 
assertion  and  cunning  pretense  with  which  the  taxes  on  whiskey  and  tobacco  are 
arraigned  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion. 

Aroused  by  the  dangers  to  which  a  reduction  of  the  surplus  may  expose 
monopolies  and  trusts,  the  partisans  of  high-tariff  spoliation  have  suddenly  waked 
up  to  the  fact  that  the  internal  revenue  taxes  are  war  taxes  in  a  sense  which 
does  not  apply  to  contemporaneous  tariff  t«ixes  on  the  necessaries  of  life. 

At  the  bare  mention  of  taxes  on  whiskey  and  tobacco  the  cry  of  "war  taxes"  is 
raised,  and  night  and  day  are  made  hideous  with  visions  and  howls  of  war,  of 
bloodshed,  of  barbarism,  of  vandalism.  But  when  you  speak  to  them  of  other  war 
taxe--— of  taxes  on  salt,  on  sugar,  on  rice,  on  coal,  on  iron,  on  clothing,  on  wool, 
on  blankets,  on  farm  tools — they  are  as  gentle  as  sucking  doves. 

No  respectable  statesman  of  the  country,  of  any  party  whatsoever,  denies  the 
advisability  of  excise  taxes  for  meeting  the  emergencies  which  spring  out  of  war. 
Does  any  such  emergency  now  exist?  The  expenditures  for  the  tiscal  year  on 
account  of  war  pensions  and  interest  on  the  war  debt  are  estimated  at  $120,000,0©0. 
This  would  seem  to  «onstitute  a  full-grown  emergency.  The  expenditures  on 
account  of  peas'ons  and  interest  on  the  war  debt  are  obligations  growing  out  of 
the  war,  and  it  would  be  manifestly  inappropriate  to  meet  them  by  tariff  taxes  on 
the  necessaries  of  life,  which  we  are  taught  to  believe  arc  peace  taxes,  pure  and 
«imple. 

The  internal  tax  upon  spirits  in  1865  was  $2  per  gallon.  It  has  been  reduced 
to  90  cents.  When  the  war  taxes  upon  the  necessaries  of  life  have  been  reduced  a 
proportionate  n  mount  it  will  be  time  enough  to  commence  the  further  reduction  or 

rl  of  the  whiskey  tax. 
MR.  Jefferson's  opinion  on  the  question. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  it  has  been  said,  was  opposed  from  principle  to  an  excise  tax  on 
whiskey.  "Whatever  at  one  time  or  another  may  have  been  his  views  on  that  sub- 
ject, at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty  years,  in  a  letter  to  General  Samuel  Smith,  he 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  an  increase  in  the  whiskey  tax.    Said  he : 

"I  fihall  be  f?lad,  too.  If  an  additional  tax  of  ono-fourth  of  a  dollar  a  gallon  on  whiskey 
«hall  enable  us  to  meet  all  our  engagements  with  punctuality.  Viewing  that  tax  as  an 
article  in  a  system  of  excise,  I  was  once  glad  to  see  it  fall  with  the  rest  of  the  system, 
which  I  considered  as  prematurely  and  unnecessarily  intr^  duced.  It  was  evident  that  our 
existing  taxes  were  then  equal  to  our  existing  debts.  It  was  clearly  foreseen  also  that  the 
■surplus  from  excise  would  only  become  ailment  for  useless  officers,  and  would  be  swallowed 
in  idleness  by  those  whom  It  would  withdraw  from  useful  industry.  Considering  it  only  as 
a  fiscal  measure,  this  was  right.  But  the  prostration  of  body  and  mind  which  the  cheapness 
of  this  liquor  is  spreading  through  the  mass  of  our  citizens  now  calls  the  attention  of  the 
legislator  on  a  very  different  principle. 

''One  of  his  important  duties  is  as  a  guardian  of  those  who.  from  causes  susceptible  of 
precise  definition,  cannot  take  care  of  themselves.  Such  are  infants,  maniacs,  gamblers, 
drunkards.  The  last,  as  much  as  the  maniac,  requires  restrictive  measures  to  save  him 
■from  the  fatal  infatuation  under  which  he  is  destroying  his  health,  his  morals,  his  family, 
and  his  usefulness  to  society.  One  powerful  obstacle  to  his  ruinous  self-indulgence  would 
be  a  price  beyond  his  competence.  As  a  sanitary  measure,  therefore,  it  becomes  one  of 
duty  in  the  public  guardians." 

These  are  Mr.  Jefferson's  views.  He  did  not  think  they  were  undemocratic. 
He  w  juld  not  advocate  a  policy  that  would  abolish,  the  tax  on  whiskey,  dot  tke 
country  all  over  with  distilleries,  reduce  the  price  to  a  mere  trifle,  and  fill  the  land 
with  drunkenness,  crime  and  vagabondage. 


I 


428  THE  FREE  WHISKEY  POLICY. 

WHAT  FREE  WHISKEY   WILL  DO  FOR  THE   SOUTH. 

In  the  light  of  the  wise  and  sober  utterances  of  the  sage  of  Monticello,  I  declai 
that  no  greater  wrong  could  be  perpetrated  on  my  section  than  to  abolish  th^ 
whisky  tax.  It  would  flood  our  States  with  cheap  whiskey,  demoralize  and  brutal 
ize  our  laboring  class,  and  render  worse  than  nugatory  the  labors  of  a  quarter  of 
century  in  the  interest  of  their  advancement.  It  would  be  an  outrage  qn  all  oi 
people,  but  against  the  negro  race  it  would  rise  to  the  proportions  of  a  hideous  an^ 
appalling  crime, 

A  distiller}^  upon  every  spring  branch,  a  peck  of  corn  bartered  for  a  quart 
whiske5^  a  jug  of  the  devil's  swill  in  every  cabin  will  convert  every  neighborho( 
into  a  pandemonium,  and  expose  to  danger  the   purity  of  every  Christian  houj 
hold.    Families  would  fly  into  the  towns  and  cities  and  abandon  the  country  to  tl 
orgies  of  sensual  drunken  debauched  wretches. 

It  is  a  universally  recognized  principle  in  all  civilized  governments  that  luxi 
rie8  and  articles  promotive  of  vice  are  especially  fitting  subjects  of  taxation.  Thi 
principle  is  of  wise  and  just  application  in  all  governments,  but  peculiarly  so  iij 
those  which  depend  for  their  glory,  their  greatness  and  their  perpetuity  on  tl 
virtue  and  intelligence  of  their  people- 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  honestly  and  logically  the  justness  of  the  principle, 
the  fairness  and  propriety  of  its  application  to  the  taxes  in  question.  Burdens" 
upon  vice  are  incentives  to  virtue.  It  is  right  to  make  vice  and  vicious  tendencies- 
pay  dear  for  the  privilege  of  existence.  I  am  not  for  giving  to  whiskey,  so  far  as  the 
permit  of  government  can  give  it,  the  unrestrained  freedom  of  the  country. 
Untaxed  whiskey  will  be  cheap  whiskey.  Cheap  whiskey  will  necessarily  result  in 
increased  consumption.  Increased  consumption  will  be  followed  by  increase  in 
lawlessness  and  crime  and  degradation. 

All  parties  profess  to  admit  that  the  government  must  cease  to  collect  an 
immense  surplus  to  be  hoarded  in  the  Treasury  in  defiance  of  the  property  rights 
of  the  people  and  at  the  risk  of  financial  wreck  and  ruin ;  but  there  are  men  in 
both  parties  who  seek  to  accomplish  that  end  in  sach  a  way  as  to  give  the  people 
no  deliverance  from  the  dominion  of  monopoly,  no  relief  from  the  cumulative 
tyranny  of  trusts.  They  will  remove  the  surplus  willingly,  even  cheerfully,  by 
drying  up  the  fountains  of  the  excise  system ;  but  they  will  not  consent  to  remove 
a  feather's  weight  of  the  burdens  of  taxation  on  the  comforts  and  the  necessaries 
of  life. 

WHAT   THE  REPUBLICANS  SAY   TO  WORKINGMEN. 

They  are  willing  to  relieve  the  distresses  of  the  suffering,  mouopoly-riilden 
miners  of  Pennsylvania  by  furnishing  them  abundance  of  cheap  whiskey,  but  deny 
them  cheap  food  and  clothing.  To  the  demand  for  cheap  comI,  lumber,  nails  and 
blajikets  for  the  shivering  men  and  women  who  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  blizzard,, 
they  graciously  offer  the  comfort  and  protection  that  may  be  found  in  untaxed 
whiskey.  To  the  Western  farmer,  who  finds  all  the  proceeds  of  hi»  toil  eaten  up  by 
outrageous  taxes  on  all  he  buys,  with  no  compensating  benefits  by  reason  of  pro- 
tection in  anything  which  he  sells,  they  offer  a  deluge  of  cheap  whiskey.  To  the 
entreaty  of  the  Southern  farmer  for  cheap  iron,  cheap  farm  tools,  cheap  bagging  and 
ties,  cheap  salt,  in  mockery  of  the  hardships  under  which  he  struggles,  comes  the 
ready  offer,  in  bland  benevolence,  of  untaxed  whiskey  for  whites,  untaxed  whiskey 
for  blacks. 

To  the  struggling  needle- women,  who  demand  cheap  thread,  cheap  needles,  cheap 
buttons,  cheap  scissors,  cheap  thimbles ;  to  the  toiling  workingman,  who  asks  a 
cheapening  of  the  few  articles  that  are  necessary  to  the  comfort  of  his  humble  home ; 
to  the  freedmen,  who  ask  cheap  food,  cheap  clothing,  cheap  books,  cheap  agencies 
in  their  progress  and  elevation ;  to  the  manufacturer,  who  demands  cheap  raw. 
materials  as  the  sole  condition  to  his  successful  competition  with  the  whole  world; 
to  the  shipping  interests,  which  plead  for  free  ships  as  a  means  of  restoring  the 
commerce  of  the  country  to  its  pristine  glory  and  greatness — to  each  of  all  these 
worthy  representatives  of  outraged  and  failing  interests  comes  the  cruel,  tbe 
impious,  the  shameless  offer  of  free  whiskey.  It  is  the  sum  of  all  good.  It  is  the 
cure  of  every  ill.  It  is  the  inspiration  of  despairing  hope.  "Let  him  drink  and 
forget  his  poverty,  and  remember  his  misery  no  more." 


I 


THB  FBEE  WHISKEY  POLICY.  429 

XIII. 

TION   OF   THE  WHISKEY  TAX — WHY   THIS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  DONE   SO  LONG  AS 
OTHER  HEAVY  TAXES  REMAIN. 


^^  The  argument  against  the  repeal  of  this  tax,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  imposed 
during  the  war,  cannot  be  better  stated  than  has  been  done  by  Mr.  Fairchild,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  report  to  the  present  Congress,  wherein  he  says: 

The  chief  cause  for  the  prejudice  against  this  tax  seems  to  be  that  as  there  was 
no  such  tax  before  the  war  for  the  Union,  it  is  looked  upon  as  a  remainder  of  the 
measures  adopted  to  raise  money  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  which  ought  not  to  be 
continued  in  time  of  peace,  and  as  interfering  in  some  way  with  the  natural  rights 
of  mankind  to  grow  grain  and  tobacco  and  manufacture  therefrom  spirits,  cigars, 
snuff,  and  the  various  forms  of  merchantable  tobacco.  Of  course,  taxation  of 
whiskey  and  tobacco  trespass  no  more  upon  the  natural  rights  of  man  than  does  the 
taxation  of  his  clothing,  of  his  bedding,  of  every  implement  which  he  uses  in  the 
cultivation  of  his  grain  and  tobacco,  and  in  the  distillation  or  manufacture  of  the 
same.  The  burden  of  the  one  tax  is  direct,  known,  fixed;  the  whole  of  it  goes  into 
the  Government's  treasury;  the  burden  of  the  other  is  indirect  and  unknown,  and 
only  a  portion  of  it  comes  into  the  treasury.  It  reaches  the  farmer  or  distiller 
increased  by  the  profit  upon  itself,  which  every  merchant  must  take  as  the  clothing 
or  tools  pass  through  his  hands  on  their  journey  to  them  from  the  foreign  or  domestic 
manufacturer. 

Taxation  there  must  be.  The  choice  is  between  kinds  of  taxation;  each  man 
can  decide  for  himself,  if  he  will  examine  the  subject  free  from  prejudice,  which  is 
the  least  burdensome  for  him,  for  his  family,  and  for  his  neighbors,  and  which  is  in 
the  end  better  for  his  whole  country.  That  internal  taxation  of  spirits  axid  tobacco 
began  during  the  war  is  not  a  reason  why  it  should  be  done  away  with  now,  if  it  be 
in  Itself  wise.  So  the  fact  that  the  rates  of  customs  taxation  were  raised  during  the 
same  war  far  higher  than  ever  before  in  our  history,  and  have  been  continued  until 
now,  ought  not  to  determine  the  manner  of  their  tr^-atment;  this  should  rather 
depend  upon  what  is  just  and  expedient  at  the  present  time  Neither  passion,  pre- 
judice, nor  sentimentality  should  have  place  in  the  consideration  of  questions  of 
taxation. 

As  to  the  expense  of  collecting  the  internal  revenue,  I  suggest  that  an  amalga- 
mation of  the  customs  and  internal  revenue  systems  is  entirely  feasible,  and  that 
thereby  a  large  number  of  offices  might  be  abohshed,  and  that  the  expense  of  the 
whole  system  might  be  made  not  to  exceed  that  of  an  efficient  enforcement  of  the 
customs' laws.  I  earnestly  commend  this  suggestion  to  the  careful  consideration  of 
the  Congress.  Is  it  the  part  ot  statesmanship  to  give  up  a  machinery  for  its  collection 
when,  unless  we  are  more  favored  than  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  there  will 
come  a  day  when  it  will  all  be  needf  d?  If  the  law  for  the  collection  of  this  tax  is 
unnecessarily  oppressive,  amend  the  law,  To  do  away  with  the  whole  revenue  from 
internal  taxes  at  present  would  so  diminish  the  revenues  that  it  would  be  necessary 
either  to  lay  duties  on  articles  of  importation  now  free,  such  as  tea  and  coffee,  or  to 
suspend  the  sinking  fund  requiremtnte,  and  also  materially  diminish  other  expenses 
of  government. 

But  it  is  not  weh  either  to  abolish  or  reduce  internal  revenue  taxation;  it  is  a 
tax  upon  whiskey,  beer  and  tobacco,  things  which  are  in  very  small  measure  neces- 
sary to  the  health  or  happiness  of  mankind;  if  they  are  necessary  to  any  unfortu- 
nate man  they  are  far  less  neceseary  even  to  him  t|An  are  a  thousand  other  articles 
which  the  Government  taxes.  This  tax  is  the  leasH^urdensome,  the  least  unjust  of 
all  the  taxes  which  Government  lays  or  can  lay  upon  the  people;  it  should  not  be 
abolished,  nor  should  it  be  reduced  if,  with  due  regard  to  the  existing  conditions  of 
labor  and  capital,  sufficient  reduction  can  be  made  in  the  taxation  of  necessary  arti- 
cles which  are  in  the  daily  use  of  all  the  people. 


I 


430  THE  RELIGIOUS  BEVOLT. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
THE  RELIGIOUS   REVOLT. 


UNIVERSAL  CONDEMNATION  OF  THE  FEEE-WHISKEY  PLANK    IN    TI 
REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM. 


Journals  of  All  Denominations  Exjpress  the  Utmost  Abho'^ 
rence  of  the  Whole  Scheme. 


The  response  to  the  declaration  of  the  Republican  platform  in  favor  of  repealin| 
the  tax  on  whiskey  rather  than  to  surrender  any  of  the  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of 
life,  was  almost  instantaneous  on  the  part  of  the  religious  newspapers  of  every 
denomination,  and  of  the  leading  clergymen  everywhere,  as  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  editorials  and  letters : 

I. 

HOW  THE  CHALLENGE  WAS  MET  BY  THE  REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION. 
From  the  Christian  Union, 

The  Republican  party  has  taken  up  the  cliallenge  of  the  Democratic  party,  and 
a  clear  and  definite  issue  is  presented  to  the  American  voter  by  the  contrasted  plat- 
forms. Let  us  state  this  issue  in  our  own  words.  There  is  a  surplus  in  the  Treas- 
ury of  $125,000,000,  and  an  annual  increase  threatened  of  $60,000,000.  If  this  accu- 
mulation goes  on,  the  country  will  be  soon  involved  in  hopeless  bankruptcy,  because 
in  that  case  the  money  wliich  commerce  needs  will  be  locked  up  in  the  Treasunr 
vaults.  To  protect  the  nation  from  this  serious  menace,  two  policies  are  proposed. 
The  Democratic  party  proposes  to  confine  appropriations  of  public  money  to  such 
sums  as  are  necessary  for  an  economical  administration  of  the  Government ;  to 
retain  the  tax  on  alcohol;  to  modify  the  tax  on  tobacco;  and  to  reduce  the  tax  on 
imports  by  admitting  raw  materials  free  of  duty,  and  by  reducing  taxes  oq  all  arti- 
cles of  necessity.  If  this  involves  some  manufacturers  in  commercial  distress,  the 
party  will  regard  the  individual  injury  as  counterbalanced  by  the  general  good. 
The  Republican  party  proposes  to  abolish  the  tax  on  tobacco ;  to  abolish  also  the 
tax  on  alcohol  used  in  the  arts  #d  manufactures ;  if  necessary,  to  do  away  with  the 
national  tax  on  alcohol  altogether;  to  retain  the  present  tax  on  imports  substan- 
tially unchanged ;  to  retain  it,  not  because  it  is  necessary  for  revenue,  but  because 
it  will  foster  aud  promote  American  manufactures  and  keep  up  wages;  and  it  pro- 
poses to  accompany  this  policy  of  taxation  with  one  of  liberal  appropriations,  not 
only  for  immediate  governmental  necessities,  but  for  the  construction  of  a  navy  and 
of  coast  fortifications,  for  river  and  harbor  improvements,  for  national  aid  to  public 
education,  and  for  pensions.    With  this  explanation  we  put  the  policies  of  the  two 


THE  RELIGIOUS  REVOLT.  43J 

parties  in  parallel  columns,  to  make  apprehension  of  the  difference  between  the  two 
easier  and  clearer : 

Rep.  Dem. 

Tax  on  tobacco Abolish.  Modif3\ 

Tax  on  alcohol Reduce  or  abolish.        Retain. 

Tax  on  rawmaterials Retain.  Abolish. 

Tax  on  necessaries Retain.  Reduce. 

Tax  on  luxuries Retain.  Retain. 

Objectoftax Protection.  Revenue. 

Expenditures Liberal.  Economical. 

It  would  be  an  absurd  and  a  dishonorable  affectation  if  we  were  to  pretend  to 
look  upon  the  issue  thus  framed  Avith  inditterence.  We  believe  that  it  has  vital  rela- 
tions to  the  future  of  our  country.  We  believe  that  tbe  coming  election  will  be 
likely  to  settle  the  trend  of  national  life  for  some  years  to  come.  Nor  have  we  any 
wish  to  conceal  our  personal  predilections  and  prejudices.  They  are  in  favor  of 
economical  expenditures  and  a  lowered  tariff. 


II. 

^K  REVOLTS   AT  THE  DOSE  IN  THE  PLATFORM. 

^IP  From  the  Chicago  Standard. 

We  are  heartily  glad  to  see  an  article  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  calling  attentiott 
to  what  it  termed  *'  a  blunder  in  the  platform,"  and  which  in  the  view  of  a  good 
many  people  is  very  much  worse  than  simply  "  a  blunder."  It  quotes  from  one 
of  the  resolutions  adopted  as  a  platform  by  the  Republican  Convention,  still  in 
session  as  we  write,  as  follows : 

"  If  there  should  still  remain  a  larger  revenue  than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  ot 
the  Government,  we  fawr  the  entire  repeal  of  internal  taxes  (whiskey  and  tobacco> 
rather  than  the  surrender  of  any  part  of  our  protective  system  at  the  joint  behest  of 
the  whiskey  trusts  and  the  agents  of  foreign  manufacturers." 

This  it  very  properly  interprets  as  meaning  "  free  whiskey,"  and  also  as  a  way 
of  escape  from  any  expedient  for  reducing  the  Treasury  surplus  which  must  involve 
modification  of  the  present  tariff.    It  then  says : 

'•  Four  years  ago  the  Republican  party  pledged  itself  to  correct  the  inequalities 
of  the  tariff  and  reduce  the  surplus.  Now  it  is  made  to  demand  the  placing  of 
whiskey  and  tobacco  on  the  free  list  in  order  to  prevent  any  reduction  of  the  sur- 
plus by  correcting  the  inequalities  of  the  tariff  or  by  reducing  the  sugar  tax.  The 
Republican  tariff  platform  of  1884  in  substance  declared : 

"'The  Democratic  party  has  failed  completely  to  relieve  the  people  of  the 
burden,  of  warn  cessary  taxation  by  a  wise  reduction  of  the  suijplus.  The  Republican 
party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the  inequalities  of  the  tariff  and  to  reduce  the 
surplus.' 

"  Is  putting  whiskey  on  the  free  list  an  honest  redemption  of  this  pledge  ?" 

The  Tribune  advises  that  the  Convention  correct  this  *'  blunder  "  by  an  amende 
ment  to  the  platform,  "  striking  out  the  plank  in  favor  of  free  whiskey  and  declar- 
ing instead  that  the  tax  on  liquor  and  tobacco  shall  be  retained  to  meet  the  increasing 
expenditures  for  pensions  and  for  the  defrayment  of  service  pensions."  It  declares 
its  opinion  that  if  this  very  serious  mistake  is  not  corrected,  *'  it  will  cost  the  Re 
publican  party  tens  and  possibly  hundreds  of  thousands  of  votes."  Judging  by 
what  we  hear  from  temperance  men  who  have  always  voted  with  the  Republican 
party,  and  from  what  we  know  of  the  general  sentiment  of  Christian  people,  heartily 
tired  of  whiskey  rule,  the  Tribune's  alternate  estimate  of  the  loss  likely  to  follow 
the  retention  of  such  a  feature  in  the  platform,  is  much  more  nearly  the  right  one. 


432  THE  RELIGIOUS  REVOLT. 

III. 

A   BLUNDER  THAT   WAS  A  CRIME. 
From  the  Chicago  Advance. 

No  doubt  the  indignation  will  be  deep  and  widespread  in  view  of  the  cowardly 
and  wicked  refusal  of  the  Committee  on  the  Platform  in  the  RepubUcan  Conven- 
tion to  voice  the  sentiment  of  all  good  citizens  respecting  the  protection  which  the 
Government  ought  to  afford  the  home  against  the  saloon.  It  was  a  grievous  blun- 
der. It  was  a  kind  of  blunder  which  amounts  to  a  crime.  It  was  just  the  kind  of 
blunder  which  the  merely  cunning  politician  without  conscience  or  moral  sense  is 
prone  to  make.  We  do  not  care  to  predict  what  the  result  will  be.  Of  this  we  may 
be  very  sure,  that  whatever  the  platform  may  have  said  or  refused  to  say,  or  how- 
ever hard  the  manipulating  politicians  may  have  tried  to  wink  it  out  of  sight,  before 
the  campaign  is  over  they  will  find  that  the  question  which  they  attempted  to  taboo 
is  a  question  which  i^^presents  a  tremendously  insistent  and  aggressive  force  in  the 
politics  of  tO'day,  and  still  more  so  in  that  of  the  future. 


IV. 


WHAT  THE  PLATFORMS  REALLY  MEAN. 
Sev.  George  B.  Scott  in  the  New  York  " Witness" 

If  a  man  votes  the  Republican  ticket  next  fall  he  declares  himself  in  favor  of 
free  whiskey,  whether  that  is  his  intention  or  not.  That's  what  the  platform  calls 
for.  If  he  votes  the  Democratic  ticket  he  thereby  says,  "I'm  for  a  tax  on  liquor." 
If  he  casts  his  ballot  for  the  Prohibitionists  he  announces  the  fact  that  he  favors  the 
annihilation  of  the  liquor  curse. 

If  this  is  not  true  there  is  no  meaning  in  platforms,  and  they  should  never  be 
written  and  submitted  to  the  people. 


V. 

AN    OMISSION  THAT    IS  A   CRIME. 
From  the   Christian  Nation. 

Even  anti-saloon  Republicans  must  now  realize  the  hopelessness  of  securing 
temperance  reform  through  their  party.  Mr.  Griffin  and  hia  followers  have  labored 
persistently  and  faithfully,  only  to  be  put  off  again  and  again  by  their  party  lead- 
ers. If  "  hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick,"  they  must  be  sick  indeed  now. 
With  what  heart  or  face  can  they  take  another  step  in  the  agitation  of  their  reform 
when  their  only  reward  from  the  great  old  party  is  utter  obliviousness  in  its  plat- 
form to  the  greatest— the  only  really  great — moral  and  material  issues  now  stirring 
the  hearts  of  Americans!  How  can  anti-saloonists  remain  a  day  longer  in  a  party 
that  dares  to  presumptuously  ignore  the  principle  that  is  so  dear  to  their  hearts"? 
How  can  Christians  remain  in,  and  give  their  adherence  to  a  party  that  dares  to  be 
silent  on  the  curse  of  the  liquor  traffic,  when  the  country  is  being  desolated  by  its 
ravages,  when  the  cry  for  help  is  heard  on  every  hand,  and  the  voice  of  God  is 
thundering  in  his  word,  "  No  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  " 

In  the  presence  of  these  charges  the  RepubUcan  party  is  without  excilse. 
Within  its  own  ranks  the  question  has  been  strongly  agitated,  and  Christian  voters 
have  been  persuaded  to  remain  true  to  the  party  by  pledges  of  temperance  legisla- 
tion. At  its  Chicago  convention,  fraternal  delegates  were  present,  either  in  person 
or  by  letter,  from  Christian  organizations,  pleading  for  a  plank  in  their  platform 
condemnatory  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  pledging  itself  to  temperance  legislation.  In 
the  face  of  all  of  their  pledges,  these  influences  and  appeals,  in  the  face  of  multi- 


I 


THB  RELIGIOUS  REVOLT.  433 

tudes  of  suflFering  women  and  children,  and  a  vast  unnumbered  army  of  men 
pushing  on  in  desperation  to  drunkards'  graves,  in  the  face  of  mothers'  and  orphans' 
tears  and  prayers,  this  party  deliberately  decides  against  the  principle  of  prohibi- 
tion, against  the  best  and  highest  interests  of  this  country,  against  the  convictions 
of  the  Christian  men  and  women  within  its  ranks,  and  turns  to  the  saloon  and  the 
slums  for  its  votes  and  its  friends.  So  let  it  be.  But  in  the  light  of  all  these  things, 
the  omission  in  its  platform  of  any  reference  to  the  question  of  prohibition  is  of 
such  gravity  that  it  becomes  a  crime. 

We  have  not  been  among  those  who  have  in  season  and  out  of  season  attacked 
the  Republican  party ;  we  have  contented  ourselves  with  an  advocacy  of  the  princi- 
ple of  prohibition  and  the  necessity  for  a  third  party.  But  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
declare  at  this  time  that  as  a  party  it  is  guilty  of  suppressing  the  truth  and  pander- 
ing to  the  most  dangerous  element  in  our  country,  and  its  crime  deserves  con- 
demnation, and  itself  igDominious  death. 


VI. 

"it  would  give  u3  free  whiskey." 
Letter  o/Bev,  Br.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler  to  the  Evangelist,  June  28, 1888. 

I  claim  the  privilege,  as  an  old-fashioned  Lincolnite  Republican,  to  enter  my  ear- 
protest  against  its  reactionary  "plank"  on  the  most  controverted  question  of 
the  hour.  In  1884  the  Republican  Convention  wisely  declared  in  favor  of  the 
revision  of  the  tariff  and  the  reduction  of  the  enormous  and  darbgerous  surplus.  B  ut 
this  year's  Convention  has  strangely  declared  in  favor  of  the  practical  maintenance 
of  the  present  exorbitant  and  oppressive  war  tariff,  and  in  order  to  provide  against 
the  accumulation  of  a  surplus,  it  suggests  a  repeal  of  the  taxes  on  whiskey  and 
tobacco !  Instead  of  taking  off  the  burdens  from  many  necessaries  of  life,  it  would 
give  us  free  pipes  and  free  whiskey ! 

Six  months  ago  Mr.  Blaine,  in  his  so-called  "  message  from  Paris,"  very  saga- 
ciously said :  "  I  would  not  advise  the  repeal  of  the  whiskey  tax.  There  is  a  moral 
side  to  it.  To  cheapen  the  price  of  whiskey  is  to  increase  its  consumption  enor- 
mously. There  would  be  no  sense  in  urging  the  reform  wrought  by  high  license  in 
many  States,  if  the  national  Government  neutralizes  the  good  effect  by  making  whis- 
key within  reach  of  every  one  at  twenty  cents  a  gallon.  It  would  destroy  high 
license  at  once  in  all  the  States."  Very  true,  Mr.  B)aine ;  and  it  would  bring  in  a 
carnival  of  Beelzebub  and  Bacchus  all  over  the  land. 

I  am  not  the  only  dissentient  against  the  extreme  high  tariff  heresies  of  the  late 
Convention.  Many  of  the  most  powerful  Republican  journals  are  protesting  against 
them,  and  such  staunch  and  thoughtful  Republicans  as  ex-Mayor  Seth  Low,  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs,  and  many  others  of  our  Brooklyn  citizens  are  in  open  revolt 
against  them.  Dr.  Storrs  said  to  me  on  yesterday  that,  as  he  could  not  turn  Demo- 
crat, he  should  imitate  Sambo  in  the  story,  and  "  take  to  the  woods."  If  all  of  us 
Republicans  who  are  opposed  to  free  trade  and  free  whiskey,  and  yet  are  strenu- 
ously in  favor  of  reducing  the  present  outrageously  oppressive  tariff,  should  follow 
the  example  of  Dr.  Storrs,  the  "  woods  "  will  be  pretty  full  by  next  November. 

The  immense  surplus  in  the  National  Treasury  is  fraught  with  increasing  evils 
and  dangers.  There  is  a  growing  discontent  among  the  intelligent  working  classes 
with  high  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  many  are  now  burdened  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  few.  It  is  in  the  power  of  the  Republicans  in  the  present  Congress  to 
correct  immediately  many  of  the  unjust  features  of  this  odious  "  war  tariff,"  if  they 
will  set  resolutely  and  boldly  about  it.  They  will  thus  "  spike  the  guns"  of  the 
free  trader^.  They  will  neutralize  the  unhappy  effect  of  that  pronunciamento  in 
favor  of  fr6e  whiskey  as  an  alternative.    They  will  prevent  a  political  cyclone  that 

i gather  volume  as  the  season  rolls  on. 


434  THE  RELIGIOUS  REVOLT. 


This  is  a  question  that  deeply  concerns  both  the  financial  stability  and  the  public 
morality  of  the  nation.  For  party  politics  in  the  narrow  sense  I  care  but  little ;  for 
principles  that  alone  can  make  parties  effective  for  the  public  weal,  I  care  a  great 
deal.  Thirty  years  ago  I  used  my  tongue  and  pen  zealously  for  the  Republican 
party  in  its  early  conflicts  with  the  monster  of  chattel  slavery.  Its  name  and  fame 
are  dear  to  me ;  and  I  trust  that  it  may  not  become  itself  enslaved  to  the  reaction- 
ary rule  of  those  who  would  build  up  monopolies  at  the  expense  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people.  As  this  is  a  question  of  absorbing  interest,  and  touches  great  moral 
issues,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  discuss  it  in  these  columns. 


VII. 

WILL  MAKE  THEIR  PROTEST    EPFECTIVB. 
From  the  NorihwesUm  Christum  Advocate. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  present  year  will  witness  a  struggle  which  will  remind 
men  of  the  old  slavery  battles  in  ante- war  time^.  While  the  great  tariff  issue  will 
divide  the  two  old  parties,  two  or  three  apparently  minor  questions,  which  are  really^ 
not  minor,  will  figure  to  an  exter:t  which  most  men  will  not  realize  until  the  cam- 
paign is  over.  We  regret  that  the  liquor  issue  is  ignored.  It  would  seem  as  if  the- 
Republican  party  has  lost  nearly  as  many  votes  as  it  well  can  lose  because  of  the 
action  of  the  party  in  some  of  the  States. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  true  that  thousands  who  are  now  compelled  to  vote  with 
the  third  party  would  remain  in  the  Republican  party,  if  it  would  but  declare  war 
on  the  saloon  as  an  element  in  politics.  It  oaght  to  be  a  reproach  that  the  whiskey 
interest  has  more  power  in  our  large  cities  than  have  all  the  churches  and  schools^ 
combined.  We  have  little  doubt  that  thousands  who  are  now  indifferent  to  the 
thought  would  revolt  if  they  would  but  stop  to  realize  the  disgraceful,  not  to  say 
the  dangerous,  fact.  As  the  debate  progresses,  more  and  more  men  will  come  to 
realize  that  significjmt  state  of  the  facts.  Thousands  of  good  men  have  been  wait- 
ing to  see  whether  the  Republican  party  would  or  would  not  revolt  against  the 
power  that  is  the  enemy  of  all  the  homes  in  the  land. 

The  event  will  finally  convince  them  that  the  ultimate  test  has  been  made,  and 
that  they  must  now  make  their  protest  in  some  effective  way.  We  will  inevitably 
be  accused  of  partisanship  in  this  suggestion,  but  we  make  it  as  an  observer,  and  as 
a  citizen  who  regrets  that  the  party  has  so  non- acted  that  it  is  in  opposition  to  the 
express  position  of  our  church  on  an  issue  which  has  its  unavoidable  relations  to- 
the  peace  of  every  home  in  America. 

vm. 

RESENTING  THE  SNEER  "SUNDAY-SCHOOL  POLITICIAN." 

From  tM  NationaZ  Baptist. 

Mr.  Seth  Low  is  an  eminent  Christian  citizen  of  Brooklyn.  He  has  twice  beeu 
elected  Mayor  on  an  independent,  non-partiean  ticket.  He  is  deeply  interested  in 
all  that  relates  to  the  elevation  and  welfare  of  men,  and  especially  of  the  working 
alasses.  His  address  before  the  Christian  Conference  at  Washington  Ust  December 
upon  "The  Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Capital  and  Labor  Question,"  was  most 
wise,  just  and  humane;  in  fact,  was  one  of  the  most  admirable  papers  of  that  mem- 
orable occasion.  Mr.  Lew  looks  upon  politics  and  political  parties  as  a  means  to 
an  end  rather  than  as  an  end  in  itself.  He  does  not  believe  in  sacrificing  the  end  lo 
the  means.  Recently  Mr.  Low  has  felt  it  his  duty  to  express  his  dissent  from 
eome  of  the  positions  of  the  political  party  with  which  he  has  been  identified 
Through  all  his  life.  Thereupon  the  New  York  Tribune  uses  this  language:  ''Mr. 
Low's  aspirations  ought  not  hereafter  to  lead  bira  outside  of  a  Sunday- schoo^ 
He  is  designed  by  nature  as  a  fii-st-rate  Sunday-school  politician." 


THE  KELIGIOUS  REVOLT. 


435 


BF  The  sneer  haa  not  even  the  merit  of  originality;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  it  may 
■well  awaken  surprise  that  in  the  last  quarter  of  this  nineteenth  Christian  century 
the  epithet  should  be  used  as  a  term  of  reproach.  So  far  as  we  are  aware,  what  is 
meant  by  Sunday-school  politics  is  carrying  into  politics  the  lessons  which  are  taught 
in  the  Sunday-school;  that  is,  the  lessons  of  the  Bible  and  of  Christianity,  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  the  Gospels.  Sunday-school 
politics  involves  the  having  of  convictions,  the  believing  that  there  is  a  right 
and  that  there  is  a  wrong;  that  right  is  to  be  pursued,  however  unpopular,  and 
that  wrong  is  to  be  shunned,  however  gainful.  We  can  well  understand  that  those 
to  whom  politics  is  a  trade  worth  just  so  much  as  there  is  money  in  it,  to  whom 
honor  and  justice  and  liberty  and  humanity  are  but  a  party  cry,  empty  of  mean- 
ing— we  can  well  imagine  that  these  men  may  find  Sunday  school  politics  very 
much  in  their  way.  They  may  be  disposed  to  say  with  Lord  Melbourne  on  a  some- 
what similar  occasion,  "This  morality  will  ruin  everything."  Of  course,  if  men  have 
convictions,  and  follow  their  convictions,  it  will  not  always  be  easy  to  keep  them  in 
the  traces.  But  to  men  whose  convictions  go  back  thirty  years  or  so,  and  who 
remember  when  the  Sunday-school  and  the  Christian  pulpit  were  the  centre  of  the 
pulsations  of  the  national  life,  who  remember  when  men  went  from  the  Sunday- 
school  to  the  army  and  to  the  battle-field  and  to  the  prison-hell  and  to  death,  the 
sneer  at  Sunday-school  politics  may  seem  somewhat  ill-timed. 


28 


436  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OP  DEMOCRATIC  CLUBS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  DEMOCRATIC  CLUBS. 


THE   IMPORTA>T  WORK   TO  BE    DONE   BY  YOUNG    MEN  WHO  BELIEVE 

IN    LOW   TAXES,    ECONOMY  IN   PUBLIC    EXPENDITURES,    AND   IN 

THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JEFFERSON,   JACKSON  AND  tILDEN. 


I. 

After  the  triumphant  return  of  the  Democratic  party  to  power  in  the  Federal 
Government  in  1885,  the  young  men  of  the  country  naturally  turned  their  attention 
to  the  devising  of  methods  to  extend  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  party  and 
of  its  founders  and  of  the  honored  men  who  have  illustrated  and  embodied  these 
principles  through  nearly  a  century  of  the  existence  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States. 

Indeed  the  necessity  for  this  earnest  work  of  education  had  been  recognized  as 
early  as  1882  by  Chauncey  F.  Black,  of  York,  Pennsylvania,  who  organized  what 
is  known  as  the  Jefferson  Democratic  Association  in  his  own  town  as  well  as  in 
many  neighboring  places  throughout  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  In  May  last  these 
societies,  and  all  others  in  Pennsylvania  having  a  kindred  object,  held  a  State  con- 
vention at  Harrisburg  and  organized  the  Democratic  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  had  also  been 
moving  in  the  same  direction  for  some  time,  and  in  April  last  a  conference  was  held 
at  the  rooms  of  that  club  in  New  York.  A  temporary  organization  was  then 
effected  and  a  committee  appointed  with  f)ower  to  call  a  national  convention  of  clubs. 
The  committee  fixed  upon  July  4, 1888,  as  the  time  and  Baltimore,  Md.,  as  the  place 
for  holding  the  convention.  More  than  five  hundred  clubs  accepted  the  invitation 
by  sending  upwards  of  2,400  delegates. 

The  convention  met  at  noon  on  July  4^  and  adjourned  sine  die  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  following  day.    The  greatest  enthusiasm  and  harmony  characterized  the  pro- 
ceedings, which  were  marked  throughout  with  earnestness  and  patriotism.    The 
work  done  by  the  several  committees  was  painstaking  and  careful,  and  unanimov 
reports  were  submitted  and  accepted. 

A  constitution  was  adopted  and  a  permanent  organization  formed  under 
name  of  "The  National  Association  of  Democratic  Clubs."    Chauncey  F.  Black, 
Pennsylvania,  was  elected  President  of  the  association  ;  Edward  B.  Whitney,  Esc 
New  York,  Secretary;  and  George  H.  Lambert,  Esq.,  New  Jersey,  Treasurer. 
Vice-President  from  each  State  and  Territory  was  elected,  and  four  members  frot 
each  State  and  Territory  were  chosen  for  a  General  Committee. 

Since  the  convention  and  the  organization  of  the  association  at  Baltimore  mai 
new  clubs  and  societies  have  been  organized  and  State  associations  formed. 


NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OP  DEMOCRATIC  CLUBS.  437 


II. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  ADOPTED  BY  THE    CONVENTION  AT  BALTIMORE. 


^HTe,  the  Democratic  Clubs  of  the  United  States,  in  convention  assembled,  asso- 
liro  ourselves  together  under  the  following  constitution  : 

1   The  name  of  the  Association  shall  be  The  National  Association  op 

KCRATic  Clubs. 
The  objects  of  this  Association  are  as  follows  : 
0  foster  the  formation  of  permanent  Democratic  Clubs  and  Societies  through- 
)ut  the  United  States,  and  insare  their  active  co-operation  in  disseminating  Jeffer- 
.onian  principles  of  government ; 

To  preserve  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  autonomy  of  the  States, 
ocal  self-government  and  freedom  of  elections ; 

To  resist  revolutionary  changes  and  the  centralization  of  power; 

To  oppose  the  imposition  of  taxes  beyond  the  necessities  of  government  economi- 
;ally  administered; 

To  promote  economy  in  all  branches  of  the  public  service ; 

To  oppose  unnecessary  commercial  restrictions  lor  the  benefit  of*  the  few  at  the 
jxpense  of  the  many ; 

To  oppose  class  legislation,  which  despoils  labor  and  builds  up  monopoly; 

To  maintain  inviolate  the  fundamental  principle  of  Democracy — "Equality 
)efore  the  law ; "  and 

To  co-operate  with  the  regular  organization  of  the  Democratic  party  in  support 
)f  Democratic  men  and  Democratic  measures. 

3.  All  political  clubs  and  societies  which  concur  in  the  objects  of  this  Associa- 
ion  are  eligible  to  membership. 

4.  The  officers  of  this  Association  shall  consist  of  a  President,  a  Vice-President 
rom  each  State  and  Territory  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  Secretary  and  a 
Treasurer,  who  shall  have  the  usual  power  of  such  officers,  subject  to  the  regula- 
ations  of  the  General  Committee. 

5.  The  affairs  of  this  Association  when  not  in  convention  assembled  shall  be 
nanaged  by  a  General  Committee  consisting  of  four  members  from  each  State  and 
Territory  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  together  with  the  officers  of  this  Association, 
ill  of  whom  shall  be  ex-offlcio  members  of  the  General  Committee,  which  shall  have 
he  power  to  designate  an  Executive  Committee. 

6.  The  officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  elected  at  each  regular  convention. 
The  members  of  the  General  Committee  shall  be  elected  at  each  regular  convention 
)y  the  several  States.  Such  officers  and  members  of  the  General  Committee  shall 
lold  office  until  their  successors  are  elected  or  named. 

7.  The  General  Committee  may  fill  any  vacancies  in  their  own  body  and  in  any 
)f  the  offices  of  this  Association,  and  are  also  authorized  to  admit  clubs  and  societies 
o  membership,  but  a  convention  shall  have  power  to  overrule  any  action  of  this 
committee. 

8.  The  Executive  Committee  shall  raise  funds  by  voluntary  subscriptions  to 
jarry  out  purposes  and  objects  of  this  Association. 

9.  The  regular  convention  of  this  Association  shall  be  held  once  in  every  four 
'ears,  subsequent  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  the  time  and  place  to  be 
ixed  by  the  General  Committee.  Notice  of  at  least  two  months  shall  be  given  by 
he  Secretary  to  every  member  of  this  Association. 

10.  The  General  Committee  may  by  a  two  thirds  vote  call  a  special  convention 
)f  this  Association,  of  which  two  months'  notice  shall  be  given. 

11.  In  convention  the  members  of  tbis  Association  shall  be  entitled  to  represen- 
ationas  follows:  Each  club  or  society  shall  be  entitled  to  one  delegate  and  one 
.dditional  delegate  for  every  hundred  members  in  good  standing.  But  no  club  or 
ociety  shall  be  entitled  to  more  than  five  delegates. 


I 


438  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  DEMOCBATIC  CLUBS. 


1 


12..  When  the  clubs  or  societies  of  any  State  or  Territory  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  not  less  than  ten  in  number,  shall  have  formed  a  State  or  Territorial  or 
District  Association,  such  Association  shall  be  entitled  to  eleven  delegates  at  lar2:e. 

13.  At  a  convention  of  this  Association  the  vote  on  any  question  shall  be  taken 
by  States,  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  each  State  and  Territory 
and  the  District  of  Columbia  shall  be  entitled  to  cast  the  same  number  of  votes  as 
in  the  National  Convention  of  the  Democratic  party. 

in. 

THE     WORK    BEFORE     THE     ASSOCIATION    TO    BE     ACCOMPLISHED     DURING     THE 
PRESENT    AND    FUTURE    CAMPAIGNS. 

The  Democratic  party,  in  a  position  to  make  the  coming  fight  on  lines  of  it& 
own  choosing,  has  boldly  taken  Tariff  Reform  as  the  issue  of  the  campaign,  forcing 
the  opposition  into  their  present  attitude  of  favoring  free  whiskey  and  tobacco  rather 
than  any  reduction  of  import  duties  upon  the  necessaries  of  life  and  raw  materials 
used  in  our  manufactures. 

But  in  advocating  this  most-needed  reform,  and  in  pledging  ourselves  to  the 
support  of  measures  which  will  relieve  the  people  of  pernicious  and  unnecessary 
tariff  burdens,  we  have  encountered  the  opposition  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  and 
aroused  the  active  antagonism  of  those  receiving  direct  benefits  from  the  present 
system  of  unequal  and  unjust  taxation. 

To  remove  this  ignorance  and  overcome  this  prejudice,  much  educational  work 
must  be  done.  Proper  documents  and  reading  matter  must  be  brought  to  every 
doubtful  voter,  and  every  Democrat  should  be  prepared  to  demonstrate  the  truth 
of  the  principles  we  have  adopted,  as  well  as  to  urge  the  necessity  of  the  measure!* 
to  which  we  are  pledged.  The  National  Association  of  Democratic  Clubs  will  do 
this  work  to  the  full  extent  of  its  means. 

From  the  General  Committee  of  the  Assoeiation,  an  Executive  Committee  has 
been  appointed,  and  headquarters  opened  in  New  York,  in  the  building  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic National  Committee,  No.  10  West  29th  Street.  For  the  routine  work  of  the 
Associatioa  an  office  has  been  taken  at  No.  52  William  Street,  where  communica- 
tions may  be  addressed  to  the  Secretary  or  the  Cnairman  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee, and  all  inquiries  received  will  be  promptlyanswered.  Campaign  literature  will 
be  here  kept  in  stock,  ready  to  be  shipped  in  bulk  to  members  of  the  Association 
sending  orders. 

Every  club  or  society  belonging  to  the  Association  is  expected  to  be  in  active 
and  continual  correspondence,  and  to  report. 

IV. 

THE  PURPOSES  OF  THE   ASSOCIATION. 

The  objects  of  the  Association  can  not  be  more  explicitly  stated  than  in  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  the  a.ldress  by  its  president  ex- Lieut-Governor  Chauncey  F. 
Black,  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  We  are  entering  upon  a  new  era  in  American  politics.  The  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  has  met  the  expectations  of  the  country;  it  has  redeemed  all  its  pledges ; 
purified  every  branch  of  the  government ;  reformed  the  grosser  abuses  of  patronage ;  ele- 
vated the  civil  service,  and  replaced  extravagance,  corruption  and  partisan  excess  in  every 
department  with  economy,  integrity  and  legal  accountability.  These  reforms  are  the 
necessary  sequence  of  Democratic  doctrines.  They  follow  the  application  of  Democratic 
fundamental  principles— that  is  to  say,  a  strict  construction  of  the  constitution  upon 
the  rule  embodied  in  the  10th  Amendment,  taxation  only  for  the  support  of  government 
economically  administered,  and  expenditures  only  for  objects  specifically  enumerated— as 
naturally  and  inevitably  as  right  living  follows  the  adoption  of  Christian  truth  into  the 
heart  of  the  individual  man.  They  have,  in  every  instance,  been  the  immediate  results— the 
flower  and  the  fruit— of  Democratic  rule.  When  Jefferon  and  his  associates  were  chosen  in 
1800  they  found  a  task  of  reformation  before  them  almost  precisely  liKe  that  which  con- 
fronted Grover  Cleveland  and  his  associates  in  1884,  and  what  Thomas  Jefferson  did 
Grover  Cleveland  has  done. 


k 


NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  DEMOCRATIC  CLURS.  439 


T.Jefferson  was  re-elected,  and  Jefferson  Democrats  continued  to  be  elected  for  half 

«entury— the  golden  age  of  the  Republic— through  which  the  country  flourished  in  peace 
f  ad  unexampled  prosperity.  In  lik^-  manner  will  Grover  Cleveland  be  re  elected  in  Novem- 
I  er,  and  in  likt^  manner  will  a  long  line  of  Democratic  successors,  following  his  glorious 
Kara  pie,  planting  their  firm  steps  in  the  prints  of  his,  bring  to  this  people  peace  and  honor, 
jform  in  public  morf  Is,  freedom  in  trade  and  business,  and  every  blessing  which  flows 
irectly  from  the  restriction  of  the  g -neral  government  to  its  proper  and  lirnired  sphere, 
etnoman  doubt.  The  President  will  be  re-elected— and  the  only  question  is  one  of 
lajorities  in  the  conrrolling  States. 

"  Ler  us  hail,  then,  with  welcome  and  applause,  the  formation  of  State  and  Federal 
isociations  of  Democratic  societies  to  maintain  the  essential  principles  of  our  political 
'Stem  ;  but  let  us  not  neglect  toe  institution  and  the  regular  maintenance  of  these  soele- 
es  in  all  the  political  subdivisions  of  county,  ward  and  township,  so  that  the  constituencies 
'those  central  representative  bodies  shall  be  the  Democratic  people,  in  trutn  and  in  fact 
ich  an  organization,  permanent  and  enduring  as  the  party  itself,  would  insure  the  ascen- 
jncy  of  the  successors  of  Jefferson  for  an  indetinite  period. 

WHAT  SUCH  SOCIKTIE8  MAY  DO. 

5t  me  Illustrate:  We  are  confronted,  to-day,  by  the  tariff  question,  and  President 
efveland,  like  Mr.  Jefferson,  recognizing  the  paramount  importance  and  vital  character 
the  issue  as  involving  nothing  less  than  the  power  of  Government  to  lay  the  masses 
ider  tribute  for  the  support  of  special  interests  and  favored  classes,  has  summoned  the 
iople  to  vote  upon  it,  nakt^d  and  alone,  and  thus  to  deternune,  once  for  all,  whether  the 
uducers  of  this  country  are  to  be  free  or  slave. 

Does  any  man  suppose,  that,  if  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  had  at  any  time 
ice  1880  been  organized  into  Jefferson  associations  or  Democratic  societies,  acknowledg- 
g  the  name  and  authority  of  Jefferson,  there  could  have  been  the  smallest  division  of 
)inion  among  us  on  this  grave  question  ?  It  would  have  been  impossible.  Errors  and 
isconceptions  would  have  been  winnowed  away  in  the  keen  blast  of  popular  discussion  in 
e  voluntary  Democratic  a-semblies.  False  doctrine  would  have  been  detected  by  the 
fallible  touchstone  of  the  Jeffersonian  test,  and  the  fallacies  of  the  Bourbon  protectionist, 
eking  to  enclave  labor  to  build  up  monopoly,  would  have  been  uniformly  met  by  us  as 
ey  were  by  our  fathers.  It  would  not  have  required  the  trumpet  of  our  great  leader— the 
arless  and  invincible  man  of  the  people— who  stands  to-day  where  Jeffer-on  and  Jackson 
ood,  to  summon  us  to  this  critical  contest  for  American  Liberty,  we  would  have  been 
ere  long  before  he  called,  and  the  battle  would  have  been  won  before  it  was  joined. 

"Mr.  Jefferson  said  in  the  beginning,  that  this  question  of  the  alleged  power  of  Congress 
subsidize  some  at  the  expense  of  the  whole,  wa>  a  question  between  a  limited  and  an 
ilimited  government;  between  strong  government  and  constitutional  government; 
tween  freedom  and  slavery ;  between  the  right  of  a  man  to  enjoy  his  own  earnings,  and 
e  duty  to  pay  it  over  to  support  the  luxury  of  another.  Mr.  Jefferson  believed  that  no 
m  could  be  a  protectionist,  for  the  sake  of  protection,  and  be  a  Democrat.  President 
eveland  agrees  with  Mr  Jefferson  and  I  believe  I  am  safe  in  the  statement  that  every 
lightened  Democrat  in  the  United  .-states  agree-,  with  President  Cleveland.  Had  we  been 
operly  educated  by  means  of  Democratic  societies,  there  never  would  have  been  any 
•sent.  Let  us  now  repair  the  deficiency  ;  multiply  the  Democratic  .societies  ;  circulate  the 
jmocratic  scriptures  ;  array  the  party  of  the  people  upon  settled  principles  ;  and  defend 
e  constitution  against  the  assaults  of  the  Federalist  in  the  future  as  in  the  pa-t.  Presi- 
nt  Cleveland  will  be  re-elected,  of  course.  Let  us  prepare  now  for  the  election  ot  his 
ceessor  ;  for  just  as  cectain  as  the  time  comes  the  Bourbon  Federalist  will  be  here  in  1892 
ider  a  new  name,  and  with  a  new  ruse,  to  oppose  the  immortal  Democracy,  whose  history 
and  must  ever  be,  consistent  with  the  Union." 


V. 

A  SUCCINCT    STATEMENT  OF  WHAT    DEMOCRATIC  FAITH  IS  FOUNDED  ON. 

The  temporary  chairman  of  the  Baltimore  Convention,  William  E.  Russell, 

ayor  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  still  further  expressed  the  purpose  of  the  Asso- 

ition  and  then  enunciated  the  principles  which  should  guide  the  young  men  of 

e  party,  in  his  speech  on  taking  the  chair,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 

ken: 

"Thank  God,  we  enter  the  fight  with  a  living  faith,  founded  upon  principles  that  are 
3t,  enduring,  as  old  as  the  nation  itself,  yet  ever  young,  viiforous  and  progressive,  because 
are  is  ever  work  for  them  to  do  Our  party  was  not  founded  tor  a  single  mission,  which 
complished.  left  it  drifting  with  no  fixed  star  of  principle  to  guide  it.  It  was  born  and 
s  lived  to  uphold  great  truths  of  Government  that  need  always  to  be  enforced.  The  influ- 
ce  of  the  past  speaks  to  us  in  the  voice  of  the  present.  Jefferson  and  Jackson  still  lead 
,  not  because  i  hey  are  a  glorious  reminiscence,  but  because  the  philosophy  of  the  one,  the 
urage  of  the  other,  the  Democracy  of  both  are  potential  factors  in  determining  Democracy 
•day. 


V 


440  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OP  DEMOCRATIC  CLUBS. 

"Their  faith  and  ours  rest  upon  an  abiding  trust  in  the  people,  a  belief  that  power  can 
safely  be  put  in  their  hands,  and  the  b  oader  the  foundation  the  safer  the  structure  of  our 
Government.  We  believe  in  the  freedom  and  equality  of  all  men  in  the  affairs  of  State  and 
before  the  altar  of  their  God ;  in  the  freedom  of  the  individual  from  unnecessary  restric- 
tions and  unnecessary  burdens ;  that  taxation  witn  its  enormous  power  and  burdens  is  not 
to  be  used  to  take  from  one  to  give  to  another,  nor  to  enrich  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many;  that  of  itself  it  is  not  a  blessing  which  excuses  and  demands  a  wild  extravagance, 
but  a  necessary  evil,  to  be  lessened  by  prudence  and  economy:  that  it  should  be  levi'jd 
justlv,  equally,  according  to  men's  means,  and  not  their  necessities;  upon  luxuries,  that 
endanger  the  home  and  the  Republic,  and  not  upon  those  comforts  that  make  the  humblest 
fireside  more  cheerful,  and  in  its  happiness  and  strength  reflects  a  nation's  prosperity. 

THE  DOCTRINKS  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  CREED. 

"We  believe  that  a  Government  which  controls  the  lives,  liberties  and  property  of  a 

f)eople,  in  its  administration  should  be  honest,  economical  and  efficient,  and  in  its  form  of 
ocal  self-government  kept  near  to  the  power  that  makes  and  obeys  it.  To  safeguard  the 
rights  and  liberty  of  the  individual,  the  Democratic  party  demands  home  rule.  Democracy 
stands  beside  the  humblest  citizen  to  protect  him  from  oppressive  government ;  it  is  the 
bulwark  of  the  silent  people,  to  resist  having  tht>  power  and  purpose  of  government  warped 
by  the  clamorous  demands  of  selfish  interests.  Its  greatest  good,  its  highest  glory,  is  that 
it  is,  and  is  to  be,  the  people's  party.  To  it  government  is  a  power  to  protect  and  encourage 
men  to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  and  not  something  for  men  to  make  the  most  out  of. 
"And,  lastly,  we  believe  in  the  success,  the  erlory  and  the  grand  destiny  of  this  great 
Republic,  it  leaped  into  life  from  the  hands  of  Democrats.  More  than  three-quarters  of  a 
century  it  has  been  nurtured  and  strengthened  by  Democratic  rule.  Under  Democratic 
administrations,  in  its  mighty  swt  ep.  It  has  streched  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  is  to-day  not 
a  North  and  South,  and  East  and  West,  btit  a  glorious  union  of  thirty-eight  sovereign 
States,  re-unit«d  in  love  and  loyalty,  the  grear  nation  of  six  y  million  loyal  subjects.  And 
now,  under  the  last  and  best  of  Democratic  administrations,  the  courage,  fidelity,  patriot- 
ism and  Democracy  of  Grover  Cleveland  are  holding  it  true  to  the  principles  of  its  found- 
ers." 

The  Association  has  entered  upon  its  work  under  the  most  favorable  auspices. 
It  has  secured  the  support  and  encouragement  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  in  every 
State  where  it  has  perfected  its  organization.  It  is  working  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  recognized  party  organizations,  National,  State  and  local.  So  that  its  oppor- 
tunities for  doing  good  work  are  quite  equal  to  the  enthusiasm  with  which  it  tias 
entered  upon  it.  It  is  not  a  mere  marching  organization,  but  will  devote  itself  to 
an  intelligent  effort  to  educate  young  men  and  all  men  in  the  political  way  they 
should  go 


THB   GETTYSBURG    RBUNION.  441 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
THE   GETTYSBURG  REUNION. 


Speeches  of  General  Sickles,   of  New    York;    Governor   Beaver  of 

tPemisylvania ;    Governor    Gordon  and    General    Longstreet,    of 
Georgia,  at  the  Gettysburg  Reunion  July  1,  2  and  Z,  1888. 
At  the  reunion  of  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers  at  Gettysburg  July  1,  2  and 
3, 1888,  the  following  speeches  were  made  by  leading  participants  in  the  battle  on 
both  sides : 

L 

gbn:eral  longstreet's  speech. 

*'  Mr.  Chainnan,  Soldiers,  Gentlemen  and  Friends :  I  was  not  in  time  to  wit- 
ness any  part  of  the  engagement  of  the  first  day  of  Gettysburg,  but  am  pleased  to 
be  here  in  time  to  witness  the  ceremony  commemorating  the  days  of  honor  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  and  to  express  that  sympathy  that  should  go  out  from  all 
^  earts  to  those  who  know  how  to  appreciate  the  conduct  of  soldiers  who  offer  their 
lives  on  the  altar  of  their  country ;  and  who  may  better  attest  to  the  bravery  of  the 
defenders  of  Gettysburg  than  those  who  breasted  the  measure  of  battle  against 
them,  and  who  could  more  forcibly  realize  that  it  was  their  heroism  that  grasped 
the  culminating  moment,  resolved  to  resist  the  advancing  aspirations  of  State  sov- 
ereignty with  the  firmnesss  that  was  justified  by  the  strong  ground  upon  which 
fortune  cast  their  lines,  amidst  these  formidable  surroundings,  these  rock-bound 
slopes  and  heights,  reinforced  by  bails  of  lead  and  iron,  and  ribs  of  steel,  and 
Amf :  ican  valor. 

•'The  gage  of  the  battle  was  pitched,  and  here  the  great  army  of  the  South, 
the  pride  and  glory  of  that  section,  found  itself  overmatched,  arrested  in  its  march 
of  triumph  and  forced  to  stand  and  recoil,  but  not  for  want  of  gallantry,  fortitude, 
or  faith.  The  battle  of  the  second  day  by  McLane's  and  Hood's  divisions  and 
part  of  Anderson's  was  as  spirited  as  some  of  the  dashing  efibrts  of  the  First  Napo- 
leon, but  before  the  end  it  was  found  to  be  work  to  upheave  the  mountain.  That 
of  the  third  day  by  Pickett's  division  and  Trimble's  marching  1,200  yards  under 
the  fire  of  a  hundred  cannon  and  10,000  of  musketry  has  no  parallel  nor  is  likely  to 
have  in  the  annals  of  war.  This  battle  scene  recurs  to  my  mind  with  vivid  force. 
The  gallant  Pickett  at  the  head  of  ray  own  old  division,  and  Trimble,  of  even  bear- 
ing, like  soldierri  on  parade  holding  their  men  to  their  desperate  work ;  the  set 
features  of  the  veteran  Brigadiers  Armstead,  Garrett,  and  Lemper,  vigilant  of  their 
compact  files;  the  elastic  steps  of  the  troops  whose  half-concealed  smiles  expressed 
pleasure  in  their  opportunity,  marked  a  period  that  should  fill  the  measure  of  a 
soldier's  pride,  and  well  did  they  meet  their  promise  of  their  parting  salutations 
with  that  confidence  that  commands  success  where  it  is  possible. 

"  Their  hammered  ranks  moved  steadily  on  till  marching  up  face  to  face  they 
fell,  their  noble  heads  at  the  feet  of  the  foe  who,  standing  like  their  own  brave  hills, 
received  with  welcome  the  shock  of  this  well-adjusted  battle.  Such  ia  the  sacrifice 
sometimes  demanded  by  the  panoply  of  armies  arrayed  for  battle.  But  times  have 
changed.  Twenty-five  years  have  softened  the  usages  of  war.  Those  frowning 
heights  have  given  over  their  savage  tones,  and  our  meetings  for  the  exchange  of 
blows  and  broken  bones  are  left  for  more  congenial  days,  for  friendly  greetings 
and  for  covenants  of  tranquil  repose. 

"  The  ladies  are  here  to  grace  the  serene  occasion  and  quicken  the  sentiment 
that  draws  us  nearer  together.    God  bless  them  and  help  that  they  may  dispel  the 


443  THE    GETTTSBUBG    REUNION. 

delusions  that  come  between  the  people  and  make  the  land  as  blithe  as  a  bride  atj 
the  coming  of  the  bridegroom." 

II. 

GENERAL   SICKLES  OP   NEW  YORK. 

General  Daniel  E,  Sickles,  of  New  York,  made  the  following  speech: 

"This  assembly  marks  an  epoch.  You  are  survivors  of  two  great  armies.] 
You  and  your  comrades  fought  here  the  decisive  battle  of  a  long  and  terrible  civilj 
war.  Twenty-five  years  have  passed  and  now  the  combatants  of  1863  come 
together  again  on  your  old  field  of  battle,  to  unite  in  pledges  of  love  and  devotion] 
to  one  Constitution,  one  Union,  and  one  flag.  To-day  there  are  no  victors,  no  vau-j 
qnished  As  Americans  we  may  all  claim  a  common  share  in  the  glories  of  this! 
battlefield.  Memorable  for  so  many  brilliant  feats  of  arms,  no  stain  rests  on  thel 
colors  of  any  battalion,  battery  or  troop  that  contended  here  for  victory.  Gallant 
Buford,  who  began  the  battle,  and  brave  Pickett,  who  closed  the  struggle,  fitly! 
represent  the  intrepid  hosts  that  for  three  days'  rivaled  each  other  in  titles  to  mar-] 
tial  renown.  Among  the  hundreds  of  memorial  structures  on  this  field,  there  is 
not  one  bearing  an  inscription  that  wounds  the  susceptibilities  of  an  honorable  andj| 
gallant  foe. 

"This  meeting  is  a  historical  event.    We  dedicate  here  on  this  battlefield  to-dayj 
an  altar  sarred  to  peace  and  tranquility  and  union.     We  sow  the  seeds  of  frieiid- 
ship  between  communities  and  States  and  populations  once  hostile  and  now  recon- 
ciled.   We  all  share  in  the  rich  harvest  reaped  by  the  whole  country,  North  an(" 
South,  East  and  West,  from  the  new  America  born  on  this  battlefield,  where  the^ 
Republic  consecrated  her  institutions  to  liberty  and  justice. 

"It  is  sometimes  said  that  it  is  not  wise  to  perpetuate  the  memories  of  civil] 
war,  and  such  was  the  Roman  maxim.    But  our  civil  war  was  not  a  mere  con- 
spiracy against  a  ruler;  it  was  not  the  plot  of  a  soldier  to  oust  a  rival  from  power j 
it  was  not  a  pronunciamento.    The  conflict  of  1861-5  was  a  war  of  institutions  and  ] 
systems  and  policies.    It  was  a  revolution,  ranking  in  importance  with  the  French! 
revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  with  the  English  revolution  of  the  sevei-^ 
teenth,  universal  in  its  beneficent  influence  upon  the  destinies  of  this  country,  and^ 
ineflaceable  in  the  footprints  it  made  in  the  path  of  our  national  progress.    The 
memories  of  such  a  war  are  as  indestructible  as  our  civilization.    The  names  of! 
Lincoln  and  Lee  and  Grant  and  Jackson  can  never  be  eflaced  from  our  annals. 
The  valor  and  fortitude  and  achievements  of  both  armies,  never  surpassed  in  any 
age,  demand  a  record  in  American  history.      And  now  that  time  and  thought,  com- 
mon sense  and  common  interests  have  softened  all  the  animosities  of  war,  we  may ; 
bury  them  forever,  while  we  cherish  and  perpetuate  as  Americans  the  immortal 
heritage  of  honor  belonging  to  a  republic  that  became  imperishable  when  it  became 
free. 

"The  war  of  1861-5  was  our  heroic  age.  It  demonstrated  the  vitality  of  repub- 
lican institutions.  It  illustrated  the  martial  spirit  and  resources  and  genius  of  the 
American  soldier  and  sailor.  It  was  a  war  in  which  sentiments  and  ideas  domi- 
nated interests.  The  lavish  sacrifices  of  blood  and  treasure,  the  unyieldiug  tenacity 
of  the  combatants,  the  constancy  and  firmness  of  the  people  on  both  sides,  men  and 
women,  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor,  signalized  the  great  conflict  as  the  heroic  age 
of  the  Republic.  We  now  see  that  the  obstinacy  of  the  war  on  both  sides  com- 
pelled a  settlement  of  all  the  elements  of  disunion  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
An  earlier  peace  might  have  been  a  mere  truce,  to  be  followed  by  recurring  hostili- 
ties. We  fought  until  the  furnace  of  war  melted  all  our  discords  and  molded  us  in 
one  homogeneous  nation.  Let  us  all  be  devoutly  thankful  that  God  has  spared  us 
to  witness  and  to  share  the  blessings  bestowed  by  Providence  upon  our  couutry'as 
the  compensation  for  countless  sacrifices  niude  to  establish  on  just  and  firm  founda- 
tions a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people. 

"  For  myself,  I  rejoice  that  I  am  here  to  day  to  meet  so  many  comrades  and 
BO  many  foes,  and  to  unite  with  all  of  you  in  pledges  of  friendship  and  fraternity. 
And  now  I  ask  you,  one  and  all,  the  survivors  of  the  blue  and  the  gray,  to  affirm 
with  one  voice  onr  unanimous  resolve  to  maintain  our  Union,  preserve  our  insti- 
tutions ani  defend  our  flag." 


I 


THE  GETTYSBURG    REUNION.  443 


III. 

GOVERNOR  GORDON  OF  GEORGIA. 

Gen.  Sickles  introduced  Gen.  Gordon,  who  spoke  on  behalf  of  the  ex-Confed- 
erates. As  his  swinging  sentences  were  uttered  there  was  frequent  applause 
Gen.  Gordon  said : 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow -Soldiers :  I  greet  you  to-night  with  far  less  trepida- 
tion, and  infinitely  more  pleasure  than  in  the  early  days  of  July,  1863,  when  I 
last  met  you  at  Gettysburg.  I  came  then,  as  now,  to  meet  the  soldiers  of  the 
Union  Army.  It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  utterance  of  the  thoughts  which  now 
thrill  my  spirit.  The  temptation  is  to  draw  the  contrast  between  the  scenes  which 
then  were  witnessed  and  those  which  greet  us  here  to-night ;  to  speak  of  the  men 
with  whom  I  then  marched,  and  of  those  whom  we  met ;  of  those  who  have  sur- 
vived to  meet  again  twenty- five  years  later,  and  of  those  who  here  fought  and  fell ; 
of  the  contrast  made  by  this  mass  of  manly  cordiality  and  good  fellowship  with  the 
long  lines  of  dusty  uniforms  which  then  stood  in  battle  array  beneath  bristling  bay- 
onets and  spread  ensigns,  moving  in  awful  silence  and  with  sullen  tread  to  grapple 
each  other  in  deadly  conflict.  iVould  speak  of  all  these,  and  of  the  motives  which 
impelled  each,  of  the  swaying  tides  of  the  three  days'  battles,  of  the  final  Federal 
victory,  and  of  its  preponderating  influence  in  turning  the  scales  of  war,  but  the 
nature  of  the  pleasing  duty  assigned  me  forbids  this. 

There  is,  however,  one  suggestion  which  dominates  my  tbouajht  at  this  hour,  to 
present  which  I  ask  brief  indulgence.  Of  all  the  martial  virtues  the  one  which  is 
perhaps  more  characteristic  of  the  truly  brave  is  the  virtue  of  magnanimity.  "  My 
West  earldom  would  I  give  to  bid  clan  Alpines  chieftain  live  "  was  the  noble  sen- 
timent attributed  to  Scotland's  magnanimous  monarch  as  he  stood  gazing  into  the 
face  of  his  slam  antagonist.  That  sentiment,  immortalized  by  Scott  in  his  musical 
and  martial  verse,  will  associate  for  all  time  the  name  of  Scotland's  King  with 
those  of  the  great  spirits  of  the  past.  How  grand  the  exhibitions  of  the  same  gen- 
3rous«impulses  that  characterize  the  victors  upon  this  memorable  field. 

My  fellow-countrymen  of  the  North,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  speak  for  those 
whom  I  represent,  let  me  assure  you  that  in  the  profoundest  depths  of  their  nature 
they  reciprocate  that  generosity  with  all  the  manliness  and  sincerity  of  which  brave 
men  are  capable.  In  token  of  that  sincerity  they  join  in  consecrating  for  annual 
patriotic  pilgrimage  these  historic  heights,  which  drank  such  copious  draughts  of 
i\.merican  blood  poured  so  freely  in  discharge  of  duty  as  each  conceived  it,  a  Mecca 
ibr  the  North  which  so  grandly  defended  it,  a  Mecca  for  the  South  which  so  bravtiy 
ind  persistently  stormed  it.  We  jom  you  in  setting  apart  this  land  as  an  enduring 
nonument  of  peace,  brotherhood  and  perpetual  union.  I  repeat  the  thought  with 
idditional  emphasis,  with  singleness  of  heart  and  of  purpose,  in  the  name  of  acom- 
non  country  and  of  universal  human  liberty,  and  by  the  blood  of  our  fallen  broth- 
ers, we  unite  in  the  solemn  consecration  of  these  battle  hallowed  hills  as  a  holy, 
iternal  pledge  of  fidelity  to  the  hfe,  freedom  and  unity  of  this  che'^ished  Republic. 

I  am  honored  to-night  in  being  selected  to  introduce  one  of  the  distinguished 
epresentatives  of  that  spirit  of  magnanimity  of  which  I  have  spoken.  I  pi  esent  to 
'ou  a  soldier  without  fear,  reproach,  or  malice ;  a  soldier  whose  blood  was  spilled 
-nd  whose  body  was  maimed,  though  then  but  a  boy,  while  he  bravely  and  gladly 
'beyed  his  country's  commands.  I  introduce  to  you  a  statesman  whose  services  are 
listinguished  and  whose  record  is  stainless.  I  introduce  to  you  a  patriot  whose 
xtended  hand  and  generous  heart  are  ever  open  to  all  of  his  countrymen.  Soldier, 
tatesman,  patriot,  I  present  them  all  in  the  person  of  General-Governor  James  A. 
jeayer  of  Pennsylvania. 

m  ■  i^' 

^m  GOVERNOR  BEAVER  OP   PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  introduction  of  Governor  Beaver  and  the  glowing  tribute  that  was  paid  him  as 
Dldier,  statesman  and  patriot  was  the  signal  for  another  outburst  of  applause  and 
aree  hearty  cheers.    In  his  address  of  welcome  Governor  Beaver  said : 

Men  who  Wore  The  Gray  :  I  have  been  commissioned  by  my  comrades  of 
le  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac — men  who  wore  the  blue — to  address  you 
1  their  behalf  a  few  words  of  simple  and  sincere  welcome.  I  might  content  mj'self 
ith  expressing  the  cordial  feeling  which  prompted  the  invitation  in  obedience  to 


I 


444  THE   GETTYSBURG    REUNION. 

which  you  are  here  as  our  guests  to-day.  Those  who  commissioned  me  to  speak  for 
them,  as  well  as  you,  will,  however,  expect  something  more.  It  is,  perhaps,  due  to 
them,  to  you,  and  to  the  country  at  large,  which  views  with  interest  the  unique 
spectacle  which  we  present,  that  something  more  should  be  said  in  order  that  it  may 
be  seen  and  understood  of  all  men  that  we  can  talk  frankly  and  fully  of  what 
has  passed  while  we  enjoy  the  present  and  resolutely  and  unitedly  face  the  future. 
A  generation  ago  we  lived  together  as  citizens  of  one  country,  subject  to  the  provi- 
sions of  a  compact  which  had  been  made  three-quarters  of  a  century  before  by  our 
forefathers.  In  accordance  with  what  you  considered  its  fair  and  just  interpretation, 
and  the  agreement  being  itself,  as  you  supposed,  inadequate  to  protect  you  in  certain 
rights  ofproperty,youdetermined  toannul  itso  far  as  you  were  concerned;  to  with- 
draw yourselves  from  the  binding  force  of  its  provisions,  and  to  erect  a  separate 
and  independent  government,  based  for  the  most  part  upon  the  same  principles,  but 
providing  for  the  rights  of  property  and  your  views  o!  interpretation.  There  was 
more  or  less  of  intense  feeling  involved ;  and  yet  I  think  I  speak  the  words  of  truth 
and  soberness  when  I  say  that,  so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  there  was  nothing  of 
personal  animosity  or  bitterness  or  hate  involved  in  the  contest. 

My  own  case  is  that  which  will,  doubtless,  illustrate  many,  many  similar  ones. 
My  mother  lived  in  Pennsylvania.  She  had  three  boys  who  wore  the  blue.  Her 
only  sister,  and  the  only  other  child  of  her  father,  lived  in  Virginia.  Her  three 
boys  wore  the  gray.  They  served  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia ;  we  served 
for  the  most  part  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Our  deadly  shots  were  aimed  at 
each  other  in  many  battles  of  the  war  in  which  these  two  armies  confronted 
each  other.  Did  that  fact,  think  you,  obliterate  the  love  which  those  sisters 
bore  to  each  other,  or  that  which  animated  their  sons?  Nay,  verily.  On  our 
side  the  war  was  one  of  principles,  of  abstract  ideas  largely.  On  your  side  we 
admit,  with  your  views  of  what  was  to  be  expected  in  the  future,  your  property 
rights  and  private  interests  were  directly  involved;  ai:d  hence  the  more  intense 
feeling  and  ardor  which  you  displayed.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  that 
the  sword  to  whose  dread  arbitrament  you  had  submitted,  decided  against  you,  and 
that  your  representative  and  ours  so  agreed  at  Aopomattox.  The  questions  in- 
volved are  no  longer  at  issue;  that  issue  was  settled  and  settled  forever.  The 
judgment  of  the  court  of  last  resort  was  pronounced.  Your  representative- 
honorable  man  that  he  was— accepted  it  for  you.  You  as  honorable  men  have 
stood  by  and  are  bound  to  stand  bj'-  the  decision.  We  as  honorable  men  are  bound 
to  see  to  it  that  that  decision  is  respected,  and  that  you  shall  not  be  oaded  upon  to 
admit  more,  or  to  promise  more  than  is  involved  in  the  decision. 

Upon  this  platform  we  meet  here  to-day.  Upon  this  platform  we  stand  as  citi- 
zens of  a  common  country.  In  standing  upon  it  we  claim  no  superiority  over  you; 
you  admit  no  inferiority  to  us.  If  such  a  feeling  struggled  for  a  place  in  our  hearts 
the  issues  of  this  field  should  determine  that  question.  You  are  our  equals  in  cour- 
age, our  equals  in  perseverance,  our  equals  in  intelligence,  our  equals  in  all  that 
constitutes  and  dignifies  and  adorns  the  American  character.  You  are  Americans 
and  so  are  we.  The  men  and  the  women  who  remained  in  the  rear,  who  took  no 
immediate  and  active  part  in  the  contest  on  your  side  and  on  ours,  have  more  to  say 
about  the  decision  and  what  is  involved  in  the  decision,  and  are  more  determined 
and  outspoken  in  their  demands  than  are  we.  They  are  doubtless  trembling  lest 
something  should  be  said  or  done  here  to  day  which  may  unsetile  the  decision  of 
the  sword  and  annul  its  stem  decrees. 

But,  my  countrymen,  our  care  need  not  be  as  to  the  past  Its  record  is  made 
up,  its  decrees  are  recorded,  its  judgment  is  final.  You  and  I  have  something  to  do 
with  the  future.  Our  faces  are  to  be  rt  solutely  turned  to  the  front.  I  see  a  prand 
future  for  my  country.  Do  I  say  my  country?  Your  country,  our  country.  North 
and  South.  Oh,  my  countrymen  of  the  gray  and  of  the  blue,  and  you,  young  men 
who  wore  neither  gray  nor  blue,  these  are  the  questions  about  w^hich  we  should  be 
concerned;  and  because  the  consideration  of  these  questions  is  pressing  and  immi- 
nent, we  who  wore  the  blue  have  invited  you  men  who  wore  the  gray  to  join  us 
here  on  this  historic  field.  We  welcome  you  because  we  need  you.  We  welcome 
you  because  you  need  us.  We  welcome  you  because  we  together  must  enter  in  and 
possess  this  future  and  transmit  this  heritage  to  the  on  coming  generations.  Are 
ready?    Are  you  ready?    If  so,  let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead. 


▲  "fellow"  like  MORTON.  445 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 
A  "FELLOW"  LIKE  MORTON. 


THE  KIND  OF  FELLOW  SHNATOR  INGALLS  WANTED  AND  GOT. 


THE  KIND   OF   MAN    SENATOR    INGALLS    WANTED    AND   WHICH 

I  REPUBLICAN   PAPERS   INSIST   HE   GOT. 

"  The  least  e(m8pictu>us  and  therefore  the  least  complicated  man  will  be  the  best ;  some- 
body like  Hayes  in  1876.  Among  all  the  men  named  there  is  not  one  '  leader,'  no  one  whose 
personal  or  historical  relation  to  the  people  would  make  a  difference  of  1,000  votes  In  the 
canvass,  Sherman,  Allison,  Harrison,  each  have  records  that  would  be  awkward  on  the  .tariff, 
the  currency,  the  Chinese  question,  etc.  ♦  •  •  My  impression  is  that  Alger  or  Gresham 
come  nearer  filling  the  bill  than  any  of  the  others,  with  some  fellow  like  Phelps  of  New  Jer- 
sey, who  could  reach  the  conservative  forces  of  the  East  and  get  oontribution^  from  the  manufactti- 
rers  and  Wall  street.  ♦•••••  «**** 

JOHN  J.  INGALLS. 

No  man  was  erer  nominated  on  a  Presidential  ticket  who  was  so  conspicuously 
a  nonentity  as  Levi  P.  Morton,  of  New  York,  the  Republican  candidate  fr  Vice- 
President.  He  was  only  in  Congress  for  a  single  term,  and  then  only  by  yirtue  of 
his  money ;  but  many  a  man  has  made  a  record  in  this  time  which  served  to  show 
his  constituents  that  there  was  something  in  him  to  excite  admiration  and  to  demon- 
strate a  capacity  for  doing  something  if  he  should  get  a  chance  to  do  it. 

But  in  the  case  of  Levi  P.  Morton  there  is  less  than  nothing.  He  wa's  never 
conspicuous  either  at  home  or  abroad  for  anything  but  his  money — and  even  this  is 
most  conspicuous  by  being  invested  in  London  in  partnership  with  a  knight  of  the 
realm,  or  in  bonds  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad,  from  the  directory  of  which 
Mr.  Morton  has  just  retired  for  the  purposes  of  this  campaign  only.  His  money  is 
there,  and  nobody  has  given  so  much  as  a  hint  that  he  has  any  idea  of  giving  up  his 
investments  in  Canadian  railroads,  however  much  they  may  injure  the  commerce  of 
the  country  of  which  he  hopes  to  become  the  Vice  President. 

During  his  service  in  Congress  Mr.  Morton  did  at  least  one  thing  for  which  he 
deserves  gome  credit,  in  spite  of  the  fac't  that  he  and  his  friends  are  belittleing  it  and 
almost  denying  it  now.  On  April  5, 1880,  Mr.  Townshend,  of  Illinois,  moved  to 
discharge  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  from  further  consideration  of  House  Bill 
No.  5265,  and  that  the  same  be  passed.     The  bill  was  as  follows : 

Se  it  Enacted  by  the  ScnaU.  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in, 
Congress  Assembled,  That  sections  2.503,  2.504  and  2505,  of  Title  33,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of 
the  United  States,  be  revised  and  amended  so  that  the  duty  on  salt,  printing- type,  print- 
ing-paper and  the  chemicals  and  materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  printing-paper,  be 
repealed,  anci  that  said  articles  be  placed  on  the  free  list. 

The  result  was  ayes  112,  nays  80 ;  not  voting  100.    Among  those  recorded  as 

voting  aye  is  Levi  P  Morton,  of  New  York. 


i 


446  A  "fellow"  likb  morton. 

Now  that  his  party  has  not  only  concluded  that  it  does  not  want  the  duty  on  the 
necessaries  of  life  removed  so  long  as  any  man  is  subjected  to  a  tax  on  the  whiskey 
he  drinks  or  the  cigars  he  smokes,  Mr.  Morton  finds  this  little  record— this  wee 
little  bit  of  a  record — somewhat  awkward. 

HOW  MR.  MORTON  HAS  COME  FORWARD. 

Mr.  Morton  has  been  a  candidate  for  offices  at  various  times ;  in  fact  the  memory 
of  man  runneth  not  to  the  time  when  Mr.  Morton  has  not  been  wanting  something. 
He  has  always  a  simple  way  of  trying  to  get  things.  He  merely  goes  out  into  the 
market  and  tries  to  buy  them  as  he  does  his  vegetables  or  his  domestic  animals.  He 
has,  in  his  time,  wanted  to  be  in  Congress,  and  he  got  there  by  the  most  plentiful 
use  of  his  money  made  in  England  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad. 

Then  after  he  had  been  in  Congress  a  year  or  two  he  thought  he  wanted  a 
bigger  place.  So  during  the  canvass  of  1880,  he  went  down  among  the  conservative 
forces  of  the  East  and  got  contributions  from  the  manufacturers  and  Wall  street.  It 
was  the  money  raised  by  Mr.  Morton's  herculean  efiforts  that  enabled  Dorsey  to  sow 
two  dollar  bills  so  liberally  in  Indiana,  in  the  guise  of  what  President  Arthur  called 
**soap."  Mr.  Morton  did  not  do  this  from  pure  love  of  his  country.  He  wanted  to 
be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  But  when  the  election  was  over  Mr.  Blaine  and  other 
Republican  leaders  who  had  the  ear  of  the  late  President  Garfield  did  not  think 
that  Mr.  Morton  should  fix  his  price  so  high,  and  they  refused  to  pay  it. 

It  lias  always  been  understood  that  Mr.  Morton  thought  the  position  of  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  which  was  offered  him,  was  not  quite  up  to  his  demand,  perhaps 
because  he  did  not  see  any  chance  for  forming  big  enough  syndicates  in  it  to  satisfy 
his  modest  financial  ideas.  So  Mr.  Morton  took  the  mission  to  France,  where  he 
bad  a  chance  to  spend  some  of  his  English  and  Canadian  money. 

WHAT   HIS   FRIENDS  SAID   OP  HIM. 

After  the  defeat  of  Blaine  Mr.  Morton  knew  he  had  to  come  home,  and  imme- 
diately his  imagination  was  fired  with  the  hope  of  being  elected  a  United  States 
Senator.  So  his  friends  and  his  pocket-book  went  to  Albany  and  his  candidacy  was 
duly  announced.  It  will  be  better  to  let  the  leading  Republican  papers  of  tae  State 
of  New  York  tell  the  rest  of  the  story.  They  related  it  with  a  frankness  and  an  elo- 
quence which  are  most  refreshing  to  read,  even  now. 

The  Evening  Journal,  of  Albany,  has  long  been  the  leading  paper  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  outside  of  those  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  had  heard  of  Mr.  Morton 
before  he  went  up  there  in  the  winter  of  1885  to  become  a  candidate  for  Senator. 
Having  so  heard,  it  drew  and  printed  these  little  silhouettes  of  him  in  its  issue  of 
January  8, 1885. 

I. 

WHAT  THB  B.  B.  BEHIND   HIM  WERB. 

The  B.  B.'s  behind  the  Morton  boom  are  brag  and  "boodle."  Brag  is  the  weapon  of 
cowards.  It  Is  the  balloon  of  vanity.  It  never  won  a  fight  or  made  a  reputation.  "Boodle" 
is  one  of  the  most  expressive  and  suggestive  words  in  the  nomenclature  of  politics. 
'•Boodle"  may  be  used  to  bribe  or  to  betray.  It  has  no  other  uses.  It  is  always  an  instrumen- 
tality of  the  meanest  men  in  politics  and  is  always  used  for  the  most  ignoble  purposes.  The 
Republican  party  has  no  use  for  brag.  As  for  boodle,  the  stain  that  it  leaves  on  any  man 
who  touches  it  marks  him  for  life  and  makes  this  single  word  his  epitaph  wnen  he  iies  in 
the  potter's  field,  reserved  exclusively  for  "boodle"  politicians.  ♦  •  *  The  mem- 
bers who  prefer  Mr.  Evarts  to  Mr.  Morton  are  not  susceptible  to  disreputable  influences. 
Bluster  will  not  intimidate  them,  braijging  will  not  mislead  them,  "boodle"  will  not  entice 
them. 

II. 

CA-IiLING  FOB  A  SQUARE  FIGHT  AGAINST  BRAG  AND  BLTTSTER. 

A  self-organized  political  machine  by  methods  not  above  reproach  is  seeking  to  make  a 
man  of  mark  out  of  a  man  of  money.  All  this  is  in  the  face  of  an  almost  unanimous  pro i  est 
from  the  people.  Let  it  be  a  square,  manly  fight  with  no  division  of  the  sentitnent  now 
prevailing  among  the  people  and  Mr.  Morton's  candidacy  will  end  as  it  began,  in  brag 
and  bluster,  and  without  its  surplus  of  that  peculiar  commodity  contemptuously  described 
as  boodle. 


A  "fellow"  like  MORTON.  447 

III. 
HONEST  MEN  AGAINST  A  MILLIONAIRE'S  MONEY. 

We  do  not  believe  that  all  the  brag  and  boodle  that  can  be  injected  into  the  Morton 
impaign  will  change  a  single  vote  in  the  list  we  have  given.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  believe 
"It  honest  men  can  stand  out  against  all  the  pressure  of  a  millionaire's  money,  if  that 

3ssure  shall  be  applied.    Why  is  the  Morton  campaign,  a  secret  fight,  afraid  of  the  light 

cifly  r    xv«  D,  v»  x. 

IV. 

A  DEMAND  THAT  HIS  FREE  TRADE  RECORD  SHOULD  END  HERE. 

All  Republicans  are  agreed  that  after  fighting  so  nobly  the  battle  of  protection  in 

Ipvember,  the  State  of  New  York  should  send  no  free  trader  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 

ates.    Mr.  Morton  cabled  not  long  ago  that  he  was  fully  committed  to  protection.    We 

joice  that  the  then  leading  candidate  for  the  Senatorship  ap  oeared  t  o  be  fully  in  line  with 

^spublican  sentiment.    But  we  turn  to  the  record  and  find  Mr.  Morton  on  the  wroQg  side 

pen  he  was  in  the  Forty- sixth  Congress. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1880,  Mr.  Richard  W.  Townshend,  of  Illinois,  moved  to  suspend  the 
les  and  pass  House  bill  No.  5265,  which  provided  for  repealing  the  rfw^y  on  salt,  certain 
chemicals  and  printing  paper.  The  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  was  adopted  by  a  vote  o 
112  to  80.  Levi  F.  Morton  followed  the  lead  of  that  able  Democrat  and  ardent  free  trader,  Wm 
R.  Morrison,  and  voted  aye. 

Mr.  Morton's  record  as  a  free  trader  offsets  his  cablegram  as  a  protectionist.  The  Repub- 
lican party  wants  no  man  in  the  Senate  at  this  critical  period  who  has  the  taint  of  free 
trade  about  him. 

This  revelation  should  be  the  end  of  the  Morton  canvass. 


V. 

SENDING  RICH  MEN  TO  THE  SENATE  A  SERIOUS  EVIL. 


i 

^V  On  the  15th  of  January,  six  days  later,  the  Journal  set  its  artist  to  work  again. 
^■t  was  just  the  day  before  the  caucus  nominations  were  made,  and  this  was  the  cheer- 
^Kil,  smiling  picture  its  artist  drew : 

^B^  The  presence  of  rich  men  in  the  Senate,  chosen  on  account  of  their  wealth,  is  becom- 
^Bmg  an  evil  that  will  in  time  lead  to  some  strong  revolution  in  public   opinion.    The 

example  of  New  York  State  should  and  does,  we  believe,  exert  a  great  influence  on  other 

States. 

VI. 
SOUNDING  A  PJffiAN  OP  TRIUMPH. 

On  the  following  dav  Mr.  Morton  bad  been  defeated,  and  the  JoumdL  trod  on 

is  prostrate  body  with  this  brief  but  exultant  paragraph : 

'The  Morton  campaign  ends  gloriously.    It  is  an  utter  rout." 


OTHER  TINTS  ADDED  TO  THE  PICTURE. 

WHAT  LEADING  REPUBLICAN  PAPERS  POUND  TO  SAY  ABOUT  MORTON 
AND  HIS  METHODS. 


To  ehow  that  this  was  not  a  mere  whim  without  support  in  the  party  it  may  be 

rell  to  turn  to  the  utterances  of  other  Republican  papers  in  the  State  and  find  out 

^hat  they  thought.    The  Albany  Express  has  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 

most  conservative  and  at  tbe  same  time  reliable  newspapers  of  its  parly  in  the  State 

of  New  York.    But  on  January  7, 1885,  it  made  the  following  declaration : 

Mr.  Morton  conceived  that  his  money-bags  would  make  him  a  good  candidate,  and 
has  declined  to  withdraw  from  the  race.  Under  such  circumstances  the  men  who  will  vote 
for  him  will  be  marked.  Something  more  than  personal  favoritism  will  enter  into  this 
contest.  It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  Ezpresshas  withdrawn  from  advocating  Mr.  Mor- 
ton's candidacy.  It  would  rather  win  with  a  candidate  like  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  or  Frank 
H  iscock,  or  Judge  Russell  than  with  a  man  who  goes  back  upon  his  old  friends  and  depends 
on  his  money-bags  to  elect  him. 


I 


448  A  "fellow"    LIEIE   MORTON. 

II. 
THE  KIND   OF  ARGUMENTS  USED   BY  MORTON'S  MANAGERS. 

The  Buffalo  Express,  publishe<i  in  a  section  of  the  State  remote  from  Albany, 
could  not  stand  the  camiidacy  of  Mr.  Morton,  in  spite  of  its  strong  Republicanism. 
In  its  issue  of  January  10, 1885,  it  said  of  him  and  his  henchmen: 

Every  effort  will  be  made  by  the  skilled  talent  which  is  mana^ng  the  Morion  campaign 
to  break  the  Evarts  line.  These  skilled  manipulators  of  lesrislative  votes  are  under8t<Jod  to 
be  plentifxilly  supplied  with  "financial  arguments,"  and  they  may  be  expected  to  bring  sore 
temptation  to  bear.  Time  has  bee-i  ttat  legislators  have  fallen  before  temptation  of  thia 
kind  and  the  same  may  happen  again. 

m.  I 

DEMANDED  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  BOODLE  HUNTERS. 

The  Rochester  Poxt  Express,  just  before  the  Republican  Senatorial  caucus  in 
January,  1885,  thus  spoke  of  Mr.  Slorton's  candidacy : 

The  candidacy  of  Mr.  Morton  is  really  a  fl«ht  for  spoils.  A  huge  deal  has  been ; 
arranged.  Concerned  in  It  are  some  of  the  most  unscrupulous  politicians  in  the  Republi- 
can party.  They  have  their  greedy  eyes  fixed  upon  certain  important  offices.  Not  only 
should  the  boodie  hunters  be  defeated,  but  the  man  of  brains  should  bo  elected. 

IV. 

LET  THE  BEST  BRAINS  OF  THE  COUNTRY  GO   TO   THE   SENATE. 

Another  Republican  paper  in  the  Western  part  of  the  State,  the  Clyde  Times, 
said  of  Mr.  Morton's  candidacy  in  concluding  a  reference  to  the  contest  then 
pending: 

The  Senate  Chamber  should  not  be  the  place  for  vulgar  wealth  to  display  itself,  nor 
should  its  honors  be  offered  as  a  prize  for  which  riches  only  can  contend..  We  ought  to 
keep  it  what  our  fathers  intended  it  to  be,  the  highest  council  chamber  of  the  nation,  in 
which  our  wise  men,  the  best  brains  of  the  country,  shall  gather  to  consider  grreat  questions 
not  only  of  national  but  of  world-wide  interest. 

V. 

,   THE  RISING   OP  THE  TIDE  PRKDIOTBD. 

The  Lockport  Journal  during  the  week  before  the  real  opening  of  the  contest; 
in  January,  1^,  said : 

We  believe  within  the  coming  week  such  [Morton]  papers  will  note  a  rising  public  sen- 
timent against  such  a  money-bag  candidate  that  will  make  them  regret  their  present 
choice. 

As  this  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Morton  held  by  political  friends,  and  as  nobody' 
€ver  denied  the  truth  of  their  characterizations  of  nim,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the 
country  wiU  never  reverse  their  decision.    If  his  money  was  not  sufficient  to  carry 
him  through  a  contest  in  a  single  State,  what  hope  can  he  indulge  when  he  attempts 
to  spread  it  over  the  whole  country? 

THE  CONTRAST  PRESENTED  BY  MR.   THURMAN. 

As  a  contrast  to  what  Mr.  Morton's  political  friends  say  of  him  it  may  interest 
the  world  to  read  anew  what  Mr.  Blaine  said  of  Mr.  Thurman  in  his  "Twenty  Years 
of  Congress." 

His  rank  In  the  Senate  was  established  from  the  day  he  took  his  seat,  and  was  never 
lowered  during  the  period  of  his  services.  He  was  an  admirably  disciplined  debater,  was 
fair  in  his  method  of  statement,  logical  in  his  argument,  honest  in  his  conclusions.  He  had 
no  trick  in  discussion,  no  catch  phrases  lo  secure  attention,  but  was  always  direct  and 
manly.  His  mind  was  not  preoccupied  and  engrossed  with  political  contests  or  with  affairs 
of  State.  He  had  natural  and  cultivated  tastes  outside  of  those  fields.  He  was  a  discrimi- 
nating reader  and  enjoyed  not  only  serious  books,  but  inclined  also  to  the  lighter  indul- 
gence of  romance  and  poetry.  These  tastes  illustrate  the  genial  side  of  his  nature  and  were 
a  fitting  compliment  to  the  stronger  and  sterner  elements  of  the  man.  His  retirement  from 
the  Senate  was  a  serious  loss  to  his  party— a  loss,  indeed,  to  the  body.  He  left  behind  him 
the  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  during  his  twelve  years  of  honorable 
fiervioe. 


I 


PABTY  PLATFORMS  FOR   1888.  449 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
PARTY  PLATFORMS  FOR  1888. 


I^CIAEATION   OF   PETIS'CIPLES    MADE    BY    THE    REPUBLICAN,     PRO- 

IHIBrnON   AND   UNION   LABOR   PARTIES. 

I. 

aEPUBLlCAN  PLATFORM  ADOPTED  IN  NATIONAL  CONTENTION  AT  CHICAGO,  JUNE  21. 

The  Repnblioons  of  the  United  States,  assembled  by  their  delegates  in  National 
Convention,  pause  on  the  threshold  of  their  proceedings  to  honor  the  memory  of 
their  first  great  leader,  the  immortal  champion  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple— Abraham  Lincoln ;  and  to  cover,  also,  with  vrreatbs  of  imperishable  remem- 
brance and  gratitude  the  heroic  names  of  our  later  leaders  who  have  more  recently 
been  called  away  from  our  councils — Grant,  Grarfield,  Arthur,  Logan,  Conkling. 
May  their  memories  be  faithfully  cherished.  We  also  recall  with  our  greetings  and 
with  prayer  for  his  recovery  the  name  of  one  of  our  living  heroes,whose  memory  will 
be  treasured  in  the  history  both  of  Republicans  and  of  the  Republic — the  name  of 
that  noble  soldier  and  favorite  child  of  victory,  Philip  H.  Sheridan.  In  the  spirit  of 
those  great  leaders  and  of  our  own  devotion  to  human  liberty,  and  with  that  hostil- 
ity to  all  forms  of  despotism  and  oppression  which  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
Republican  party,  we  send  fraternal  congratulation  to  our  fellow- Americans  of 
Brazil  upon  their  great  act  of  emancipation,  which  completed  the  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  the  two  American  continents. 

We  earnestly  hope  that  we  may  soon  congratulate  our  fellow-citizens  of  Irish 
Dirth  upon  the  peaceful  recovery  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland. 

We  reaflSrm  our  unswerving  devotion  to  the  National  Constitution  and  to  the 
ndissoluble  union  of  the  States;  to  the  autonomy  reserved  to  the  States  under  the 
3onstitution;  to  the  personal  rights  and  liberties  of  citizens  in  all  the  States  and 
rerritoriesin  the  Union,  and  especially  to  the  supreme  and  sovereign  right  of  every 
awful  citizen,  rich  or  poor,  native  or  foreign  born,  white  or  black,  to  cast  one  free 
Dallot  in  public  elections  and  to  have  that  ballot  duly  counted ;  we  hold  the  free  and 
lonest  popular  ballot  and  the  just  and  equal  representation  of  all  of  the  people  to 
3e  the  foundation  of  our  republican  Government  and  demand  effective  legislation  lo 
jecuretheintegrity  and  purity  of  elections,  which  are  the  fountains  of  all  public 
mthority. 

We  charge  that  the  present  administration  and  the  Democratic  majority  in 
Congress  owe  their  existence  to  the  suppression  of  the  ballot  by  a  criminal  nuUifl- 
lation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States;  we  are  uncompromisingly 
n  favor  of  the  American  system  of  protection ;  we  protest  against  its  destruction,  as 
Droposed  by  the  President  and  his  party.  They  serve  the  interests  of  Europe ;  we 
jvill  support  the  interests  of  America.  We  accept  the  issue  and  confidently  appeal 
;o  the  people  for  their  judgment. 


I 


450  PARTY  PLATFORMS  FOR  1888. 

The  protective  system  must  be  maintained.  Its  abandonment  has  always  been 
followed  by  general  disaster  to  all  interests  except  those  of  the  usurer  and  the  sheriff. 
We  denounce  the  3[ills  bill  as  destructive  to  the  general  business,  the  labor  and  the 
farming  interests  of  the  country,  and  we  heartily  endorse  the  consistent  and  patriotic 
action  of  the  Republican  Representatives  in  Congress  in  opposing  its  passage.  We 
condemn  the  proposition  of  the  Democratic  party  to  place  wool  on  the  free  list,  and 
we  insist  that  the  duties  thereon  shall  be  adjusted  and  maintained  so  as  to  furnish 
full  and  adequate  protection  to  that  industry. 

The  Republican  party  would  eflFect  all  needed  reduction  of  the  National  revenue 
by  repealing  the  taxes  upon  tobacco,  which  are  an  annoyance  and  a  burden  to  agri- 
culture, and  the  tax  upon  the  spirits  used  in  the  arts  and  for  mechanical  purposes; 
and  by  such  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  tend  to  check  imports  of  such  articles 
as  are  produced  by  our  people,  the  production  of  which  gives  employment  to  our 
labor,  and  release  from  import  duties  those  articles  of  foreign  production  (except  lux- 
uries), the  like  of  which  cannot  be  produced  at  home. 

If  there  shall  still  remain  a  larger  remnue  than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  of  th^  Gov- 
ernment, we  favor  th^  entire  repeal  of  internal  ta^es  rather  tluin  the  surrender  of  any 
part  of  our  protective  system^  at  the  joint  behests  of  the  whiskey  trusts  and  the  agents  of 
foreign  manufacturers. 

We  declare  our  hostility  to  the  introduction  into  this  country  of  foreign  con- 
tract labor  and  of  Chinese  labor,  alien  to  our  civilization  and  Constitution,  and  we 
demand  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  existing  law  against  it,  and  favor  such  imme- 
diate legislation  as  will  exclude  such  labor  from  our  shores. 

We  declare  our  opposition  to  all  combinations  of  capital  organized  in  trusts  or 
otherwise  to  control  arbitrarily  the  condition  of  trade  among  our  citizens,  and  we 
recommend  to  Congress  and  the  State  Legislatures,  in  their  respective  jurisdictions, 
such  legislation  as  will  prevent  the  execution  of  all  schemes  to  oppress  the  people  by 
undue  charges  on  their  supplies  by  unjust  rates  for  the  transportation  of  their  pro- 
ducts to  market.  We  approve  the  legislation  by  Congress  to  prevent  alike  unjust 
burdens  and  unfair  discriminations  between  the  States. 

We  reaffirm  the  policy  of  appropriating  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States 
to  be  homesteads  for  American  citizens  and  settlers,  not  aliens,  which  the  Republi- 
can party  established  in  1862  against  the  persistent  opposition  of  the  Democrats  in 
Congress,  and  which  has  brought  our  great  Western  domain  into  such  magnificent 
development.  The  restoration  of  unearned  railroad  land  grants  to  the  public  domain 
for  the  use  of  actual  settlers,  which  was  begun  uoder  the  Administration  of  Presi- 
dent Arthur,  should  be  continued.  We  deny  that  the  Democratic  party  has  ever 
restored  one  acre  to  the  people,  but  declare  that  by  the  joint  action  of  Republicans 
and  Democrats  about  fifty  millions  of  acres  of  unearned  lands,  originally  granted 
for  the  construction  of  railroads,  have  been  restored  to  the  public  domain  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  conditions  inserted  by  the  Republican  party  in  the  original  grants.  We 
charge  the  Democratic  Administration  with  failure  to  execute  the  laws  securing  to 
settlers  title  to  their  homesteads  and  with  using  appropriations  made  for  that  pur- 
pose to  harass  innocent  settlers  with  spies  and  prosecutions  under  the  false  pretense 
of  exposing  frauds  and  vindicating  the  law. 

The  government  by  Congress  of  the  Territories  is  based  upon  necessity  only,  to 
the  end  that  they  may  become  States  in  the  Union ;  therefore  whenever  the  condi- 
tions of  population,  material  resources,  public  intellit^ence  and  morals  are  such  as  to 
insure  a  stable  local  government  therein,  the  people  of  such  Territories  should  be 
permitted  as  a  right  inherent  in  them  the  right  to  form  for  themselves  constitutions 
and  State  governments,  and  be  admitted  into  the  Union.  Pending  the  prepa- 
ration for  Statehood  all  officers  thereof  should  be  selected  from  the  bonafide  resi- 
dents and  citizens  of  the  Territory  wherein  they  are  to  serve  South  Dakota  should 
of  right  be  immediately  admitted  as  a  State  under  the  constitution  framed  and 
adopted  by  her  people,  and  we  heartily  endorse  the  action  of  the  Republican  Senate 
in  twice  passing  bills  for  her  admission.  The  refusal  of  the  Democratic  House  of 
Representatives,  for  partisan  purposes,  to  favorably  consider  these  bills  is  a  willful 
violation  of  the  sacred  American  principle  of  local  self  government,  and  merits  the 
condemnation  of  all  just  men.    The  pending  bills  in  the  Senate  for  acts  to  enable 


I 


PARTY   PLATFORMS  FOR   1888.  451 


the  people  of  Washington,  North  Dakota  and  Montana  Territories  to  form  consti- 
tutions and  establish  State  govornments  shall  be  passed  without  unnecessary  delay. 
The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  facilitate  the  admission 
of  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico,  Wyoming,  Idaho  and  Arizoni  to  the  enjoyment 
of  self-governmeut  as  States,  such  of  them  as  are  now  qualified  as  soon  as  possible 
and  the  others  us  soon  as  they  b  come  so. 

The  political  power  of  the  Mormon  Chur(;h  in  the  Territories,  as  exercised  in 
the  pa.-t,  is  a  menace  to  free  institutions,  a  danger  no  longer  to  be  suffered,  therefore 
we  pledge  the  Republican  party  to  appropriate  legislation,  asserting  the  sovereignty 
of  the  nation  in  all  Territories  where  the  same  is  questioned,  and  in  furtherance  of 
that  end  to  place  upon  the  statute  books  legislation  stringent  enough  to  divorce  the 
political  from  the  ecclesiastical  power  and  thu^  stamp  out  the  attendant  wickedness 
of  polygamy. 

The  Republican  party  is  in  favor  of  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  money, 
and  condemns  the  policy  of  die  Democratic  Administration  in  its  efforts  to  demoni- 
tize  silver  and  the  redaction  of  letter  postage  to  one  cent  per  ounce. 

In  a  republic  like  ours,  wh<  re  the  citizen  is  the  sovereign  and  the  official  the 
servant,  where  no  power  is  exercis'd  except  by  the  will  of  the  people,  it  is  import* 
ant  that  the  sovereign — the  people — should  possess  intelligence.  The  free  school  is 
the  promoter  of  that  intelligent  e  which  is  to  preserve  us  a  free  nation.  Therefore 
the  State  or  nation,  or  both  combined,  should  support  free  institutions  of  learning 
sufficient  to  afford  to  every  child  growing  up  in  the  land  the  opportunity  of  a  good 
common  school  educati  n. 

We  earnestly  recommend  that  prompt  action  be  taken  by  Congress  in  the  enact- 
ment of  such  legislation  as  will  bcbt  secure  the  rehabitation  of  our  American  mer- 
chant marine,  and  we  protest  against  the  passage  by  Congress  of  a  free  sh^p  bill  as 
calculated  to  work  injustice  to  labor  by  lessening  the  wages  of  those  engaged  in 
preparing  materials  as  well  as  those  direct'y  employed  in  our  shipyards. 

We  demand  appropriations  for  the  early  rebuilding  of  our  navy,  for  the  coa- 
struction  of  coast  fortifications  and  modern  ordnance  and  other  approved  mod^'^n 
means  of  defense  for  the  protection  of  our  defenseless  harbors  and  cities,  for  tlie 
payment  of  just  pensions  to  our  soldiers,  for  the  necessary  works  of  national  import- 
ance in  the  improvement  of  liarb  rs  and  the  channels  of  internal,  coastwise  and  for- 
eign commerce  for  the  encouiogement  of  the  shipping  interests  of  the  Atlantic,  Gulf 
and  Pacific  States,  as  well  as  foi  the  payment  of  the  maturing  public  debt.  This 
policy  will  give  employment  to  our  labor,  activity  to  our  various  industries,  increase 
the  security  of  our  country,  promote  trade,  open  new  and  direct  markets  for  our 
produce,  and  cheapen  the  cost  of  transportation.  We  affirm  this  to  be  far  better 
for  our  country  than  the  D«^moc  ratio  policy  of  loaning  the  Government's  money, 
without  interest,  to  pet  banks. 

The  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  by  the  present  Administration  has  been  distin- 
guished by  its  inefficiency  and  its  cowardice,  having  withdrawn  from  the  Senate  all 
pending  treaties  offered  by  the  R«^  publican  Administration  for  the  removal  of  foreign 
burdens  and  restrictions  upon  our  commerce,  and  force  its  extension  into  better  mar- 
kets. It  has  neither  effected  nor  proposed  any  others  in  their  stead.  Professing 
adherence  to  the  Monroe  doctrine,  it  has  seen  with  idle  complacency  the  extension 
of  foreign  influence  in  Central  America  and  of  foreign  trade  everywhere  among  our 
neighbors.  It  has  refused  to  charter,  sanction  or  encourage  any  American  organi- 
zation for  constructing  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  a  work  of  vital  importance  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  of  our  national  influence  in  Central  and  South 
America,  and  necessary  for  the  development  of  trade  with  our  Pacific  territory,  with 
South  America  and  with  the  islands  and  further  coasts  of  the  Pacific  ocean. 

We  arraign  the  present  Democrat  ic  administration  for  its  weak  and  unpatriotic 
treatment  of  tiie  fisheries  question  and  its  pusillanimous  surrender  of  the  essential 
privileges  to  which  our  fishing  vessels  are  entitled  in  Canadian  ports  under  the 
treaty  of  1818,  the  reciprocal  maritime  legislation  of  1830  and  the  comity  of  nations, 
and  which  Canadian  fishing  vessels  receive  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  We 
condemn  the  policy  of  the  present  administration  and  the  Democratic  majority  in 
Congress  toward  our  fisheries  as  unfriendly  and  conspicuously  unpatriotic,  and  as 


I 


452  PARTY  PLATFORMS  FOR   1888. 

tending  to  destroy  a  valuable  national  industry  and  an  indispensable  resource  o^ 
defense  against  a  foreign  ent  my. 

The  name  of  American  applies  alike  to  all  ci'izens  of  the  Republic,  and  imposes 
upon  all  alike  the  same  obligation  of  obedience  to  the  laws.  At  the  same  time  that 
citizenship  is  and  must  be  ihe  panoply  and  j-afeguard  of  him  who  wears  it,  and  pro- 
tect him,  whether  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  in  all  his  civil  rights.  It  should  and 
must  afford  him  protection  at  home,  and  follow  him  and  protect  him  abroad  in 
Tfvhatever  land  he  may  be  on  a  lawful  errand. 

The  men  who  abandoned  the  Republican  party  in  1884  and  continued  to  adhere 
to  the  Democratic  party  have  deserted  not  only  the  cause  of  honest  government,  of 
sound  finance,  or  freedom  or  purity  of  the  ballot,  but  specially  have  deserted  the 
cause  of  reform  in  the  civil  service.  We  will  not  fail  to  keep  our  pledges  because 
they  have  broken  theirs,  or  because  their  candidate  has  broken  his.  We  therefore 
repeat  our  declaration  of  1884,  to  wit :  "The  reform  of  the  civil  service,  auspiciously 
begun  under  the  Republican  administration,  should  be  completed  by  the  further 
extension  of  the  reform  system  already  established  by  law  to  all  the  grades  of  the 
service  to  which  it  is  applicable ;  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  reform  should  be 
observed  in  all  executive  appointments,  and  all  laws  at  variance  with  the  object  of 
existing  reform  legislation  should  be  repealed,  to  the  end  that  the  dangers  to  free 
institutions  which  lurk  in  the  power  of  official  patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effec- 
tively avoided. 

Tke  gratitude  of  the  nation  to  the  defenders  of  the  Union  cannot  be  measured 
by  laws.  The  legislation  of  Congress  should  conform  to  the  pledge  made  by  a  loyal 
people  and  be  so  enlarged  and  extended  as  to  provide  against  the  possibility  that 
any  man  who  wore  the  Federal  uniform  shall  become  an  inmate  of  an  almshouse 
or  dependent  upon  private  charity.  In  the  presence  of  an  overflowing  Treasury 
it  would  be  a  public  scandal  to  do  less  for  those  whose  valorous  service  preserval 
the  Government.  We  denounce  the  hostile  spirit  ehown  by  President  Cleveland 
in  his  numerous  vetoes  of  messages  for  pension  relief  and  the  action  of  the  Demo- 
cratic House  of  Representatives  in  refusing  even  a  consideration  of  general  pension 
legislation. 

In  support  of  the  principles  herewith  enunciated  we  invite  the  co  operation  of 
patriotic  men  of  all  parties,  and  especially  of  all  workingmen  whose  prosperity  is 
seriously  threatened  by  the  free  trade  policy  of  the  present  administration. 

H. 

PROHIBITION   PLATFORM   ADOPTED  IN  NATIONAL  CONVENTION   AT    INDIANAPOLIS, 

MAT   31. 

Preamble :  The  Prohibition  party,  in  National  Convention  assembled,  acknowl- 
edging Almighty  God  as  the  source  of  all  power  in  government,  do  hereby 
declare : 

1.  That  the  manufacture,  importation,  exportation,  transportation  and  sale  of 
alcoholic  beverages  should  be  made  public  crimes  and  prohibited  as  such. 

2.  That  such  Prohibition  must  be  secured  through  amendments  of  our  National 
and  State  Constitutions,  enforced  by  adequate  laws  adequately  supported  by 
administrative  authority ;  and  to  this  end  the  organization  of  the  Prohibition  party 
is  imperatively  demanded  in  State  and  nation. 

8.  That  any  form  of  license,  taxation  or  regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic  is  con- 
trary to  good  government ;  that  any  party  which  supports  regulation,  license,  or 
taxation,  enters  into  alliance  with  such  traffic  and  becomes  the  actual  foe  of  the 
State's  welfare ;  and  that  we  arraign  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  for 
their  persistent  attitude  in  favor  of  the  license  iniquity,  whereby  they  oppose  the 
demand  of  the  people  for  Prohibition,  and,  through  open  complicity  with  the  liqu;^ 
crime,  defeat  the  enforcement  of  law. 

4.  For  the  immediate  abolition  of  the  internal  revenue  system,  whereby 
National  Government  is  deriving  support  from  our  greatest  national  vice. 


PARTY  PLATFORMS  FOR   1888.  458 

^  5.  That  an  adequate  public  revenue  being  necessary,  it  may  properly  be  raised 
by  import  duties;  but  import  duties  should  be  so  reduced  that  no  surplus  shall  be 
accumulated  in  the  Treasury,  and  that  the  burdens  of  taxation  shall  be  removed 
from  foods,  clothing  and  other  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life,  and  imposed  on 
such  articles  of  import  as  will  give  protection  both  to  the  manufacturing  employer 

■pd  producing  laborer  against  the  competition  of  the  vv^orld. 

^f  6.  That  the  right  of  suflfrage  rests  on  no  mere  circumstance  of  race,  color,  sex 
or  nationality ;  and  that  where,  from  any  cause,  it  has  been  withheld  frtim  citizens 
who  are  of  suitable  age  and  mentally  and  morally  qualified  for  the  exercise  of  an 

^totelligent  ballot,  it  should  be  restored  by  the  people  through  the  legislatures  of  the 

H||7eral  States  on  such  educational  basis  as  they  may  deem  wise. 

^F  7.  That  civil  service  appointment  for  all  civil  offices  chiefly  clerical  in  their 
duties  should  be  based  upon  moral,  intellectual  and  physical  qualifications,  and  not 
upon  party  service  or  partv  necessity. 

8.  For  the  abolition  of  polygamy  and  the  establishment  of  uniform  laws  govern- 
ing marriage  and  divorce. 

9.  For  prohibiting  all  combinations  of  capital  to  control  and  to  increase  the  cost 
of  products  for  popular  consumption. 

10.  For  the  preservation  and  defense  of  the  Sabbath  as  a  civil  institution,  with- 
out oppressing  any  who  religiously  observe  the  same  on  any  other  than  the  first 
day  of  the  week. 

11.  That  arbitration  is  the  Christian,  wise  and  economic  method  of  settling 
national  differences,  and  the  same  method  should,  by  judicious  legislation,  be 
applied  to  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  large  bodies  of  employes  and  their 
employers.  That  the  abolition  of  the  saloon  would  remove  burdens — moral,  phy- 
sical, pecuniary  and  social — which  now  oppress  labor  of  its  earnings,  and  would 
prove  to  be  a  wise  and  successful  way  of  promoting  labor  reform;  and  we  invite 
labor  and  capital  to  unite  with  us  for  the  accomplishment  thereof.  That  monopoly 
in  land  is  a  wrong  to  the  people,  and  the  public  land  should  be  reserved  to  actual 
settlers;  and  that  men  and  women  should  receive  equal  wages  for  equal  work.     • 

12.  That  our  immigration  laws  should  be  so  enforced  as  to  prevent  the  intro- 
duction into  our  country  of  all  convicts,  inmates  of  other  dependent  institutions  and 
all  others  physically  incapacitated  for  self  support;  and  that  no  person  should  have 
the  ballot  in  any  State  who  is  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

13.  Recognizing  and  declaring  that  Prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  has  become 
the  dominant  issue  in  national  politics,  we  invite  to  full  party  fellowship  all  who  on 
this  one  dominant  issue  are  with  us  agreed  in  full  belief  that  this  party  can  and  will 
remove  sectional  differences,  and  promote  national  unity,  and  insure  the  best  wel- 
fare of  our  entire  land. 

The  convention,  besides  several  complimentary  resolutions  endorsing  different 
co-operative  movements,  adopted  the  following  ; 

Resohed,  That  we  hold  that  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  should  be  made 
jsecure  in  all  their  civil,  legal  and  political  rights. 

Resolved,  That  we  condemn  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  for  per- 
aistently  denying  the  right  of  self-government  to  the  600,000  people  of  Dakota. 

CANDIDATES  FOR  PRESIDENT    AND  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

The  convention  nominated  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  of  New  Jersey,  for  President  by 
acclamation 

For  Vice-President,  John  A.  Brooks,  of  Micsouri,  was  nominated,  also  by  accla- 
mation. 

III. 

UNION    LABOR    PLATFORM     ADOPTED    IN  NATIONAL   CONVENTION   AT   CINCINNATI, 

MAY   15. 

General  discontent  prevails  on  the  part  of  the  wealth- producer.  Farmers  are 
suffering  from  a  poverty  which  has  forced  most  of  them  to  mortgage  their  estates, 
and  the  prices  of  products  are  so  low  as  to  offer  no  relief  except  through  bankruptcy. 
Laborers  are  sinking  into  greater  dependence.    Strikes  are  resorted  to  without 


454  PAKTY   PLATFORMS   FOR    1888. 

bringing  relief,  because  of  the  inability  of  employers  in  many  cases  to  pay  living- 
wages,  while  more  and  more  are  driven  into  the  street.  Business  men  find  collec- 
tions aliuost  impossible,  and  meantime  hundreds  of  millions  of  idle  public  money 
which  is  needed  for  relief  is  locked  up  in  the  United  States  Treasury  or  placed  with- 
out interest  in  favored  banks  in  grim  mockery  of  distress.  Land  monopoly  flourishea 
as  never  before,  and  more  owners  of  the  soil  are  daily  becoming  tenant-.  Great 
transportation  corporations  still  succeed  in  extorting  their  profits  on  watered  stock 
through  unjust  charges.  The  United  States  Senate  has  become  an  open  scandal,  its 
member.xhip  bemg  purchased  by  the  rich  in  open  defiance  of  the  popular  will.  Vari- 
ous efforts  are  made  to  squander  the  public  money,  which  are  designed  to  empty 
the  Treasury  without  paying  the  public  debt.  Under  these  and  other  alarming 
conditions  we  appeal  to  the  people  of  our  country  to  come  out  of  old  party 
organizations,  whose  indifference  to  the  public  welfare  is  responsible  for  this  distress, 
and  aid  the  Union  Labor  party  to  repeal  existing  class  legislation  and  relieve  the 
distress  of  our  industries  by  establishing  the  following : 

While  we  believe  that  the  proper  solution  of  the  financial  distress  will  greatly 
relieve  those  now  in  danger  of  losing  their  homes  by  mortgage  foreclosures,  and 
enable  all  industrious  persons  to  secure  a  home  as  the  highest  result  of  civilization, 
we  oppose  land  monopr^ly  in  every  form,  demand  the  forfeiture  of  unearned  grants, 
the  limitation  of  land  ownership  and  such  other  lesislation  as  will  stop  speculation  in 
lands  and  holding  it  unused  from  those  whose  necessities  require  it.  We  believe 
the  earth  was  made  for  the  people  and  not  to  make  an  idle  aristocracy  to  subsist 
through  rents  upon  the  toils  of  the  industrious,  and  that  corners  in  land  are  as  bad 
as  corners  in  food,  and  that  those  who  are  not  residents  or  citizens  should  not  be 
allowed  to  own  lands  in  the  United  States.  A  homestead  should  be  exempt  to  a 
limited  extent  from  execution  or  taxation. 

The  means  of  communication  and  transportation  shall  be  owned  by  the  people 
as  is  the  United  States  postal  system. 

The  establishment'of  a  national  monetary  system  in  the  interest  of  the  producer, 
instead  of  tlie  speculator  and  usurer,  by  which  the  circulating  medium  in  necessary 
quantity  and  full  legal  tender,  shall  be  issued  directly  to  the  people  without  the 
intervention  of  banks  and  loaned  to  citizens  upon  land  security  at  a  low  rate  of 
interest  so  as  to  relieve  them  from  the  extortion  of  usury  and  enable  them  to  control 
the  money  supply.  Postal  savings  banks  should  be  established,  and  while  we  have 
free  coinage  of  gold  we  should  have  free  coinage  of  silver.  We  demand  the  imme- 
diate application  of  all  the  money  in  the  United  States  Treasury  to  the  payment  of 
the  bonded  debt,  and  condemn  the  further  issue  of  interest-bearing  bonds,  either  by 
the  National  Government  or  by  States,  Territories  or  Municipalities. 

Arbitration  should  take  the  place  of  strikes  and  other  injurious  methods  of  set- 
tling labor  disputes.  The  letting  of  convict  labor  to  contractors  should  be  prohib- 
ited, the  contract  system  be  abolished  on  public  works,  the  hours  of  labor  in  indus- 
trial establishments  be  reduced  commensurate  with  the  increased  production  by 
labor-saving  machinery,  employes  protected  from  bodily  injury,  equal  pay  for  equal 
work  for  both  sexes,  and  labor,  agricultural  and  co-operative  associations  be  fos- 
tered and  encouraged  by  law.  The  foundation  of  a  republic  is  m  the  intelligence  of 
its  citizens,  and  children  who  are  driven  into  workshops,  mines  and  factories,  are 
deprived  of  the  education  which  should  be  secured  to  all  by  proper  legislation. 

We  demand  the  passage  of  a  service  pension  bill  to  every  honorably  discharged] 
soldier  and  sailor  of  the  United  States. 

A  graduated  income  tax  is  the  most  equitable  system  of  taxation,  placing  the| 
burden  of  government  on  those  who  can  best  afford  to  pay,  instead  of  laying  it  onf 
the  farmers  and  producers,  and  exempting  millionaires,  bondholders  and  corpora- 
tions. 

We  demand  a  constitutional  amendment  making  United  States  Senators  electivi 
by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

We  demand  the  strict  enforcement  of  laws  prohibiting  the  importation  of  sub- 3 
jects  of  foreign  countries  under  contracts.  , 

We  demand  the  passage  and  enforcement  of  such  l^islation  as  will  absolutely) 
exclude  the  Chinese  from  the  United  States. 


TARTY  PLATFORMS  FOR   1888.  465 

The  right  to  vote  is  inherent  iu  citizenship,  irrespective  of  sex,  and  is  property 
Hthin  the  province  of  state  legis;ati»u. 

The  paramount  issues  to  be  solved  in  the  interests  of  humanity  are  the  abolition 
usury,  monopoly  and  trusts,  and  we  denounce  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
rties  for  creating  and  perpetuating  these  monstrous  evils. 


IV. 

DEMOCRATIC   STATE  PLATFORMS  ON  THE  TARIFF,  1888. 

Alabama. — We  «re  unalteribly  opposed  to  the  general  war  tariff.  We  dem'md 
reform  of  the  tariff  and  a  reduction  of  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  by  a  reduction 
"tariff  taxation. 

California. — We  heartily  indorse  that  progressive  measure,  commensurate  with 
d  made  necessary  by  the  growth  and  needs  of  our  countrj'-,  the  message  of  the 
sident  urging  a  reform  in  our  tariff  which  will  lessen  exactions  now  practiced 
n  our  people. 

Colorado.— 'We  heartily  indorse  the  last  message  of  President  Cleveland. 
Connecticut. — We  approve  of  the  demand  for  a  readjustment  of  the  tariff, 
ardfiil  of  our  industrial  interests  and  the  interests  of  labor  against  the  cheaper 
r  of  Europe,    *    *    *    and  that  the  revenue  shall  be  reduced  to  the  needs  of 
e  Government. 

Dakota. —  We  indorse  the  message  of  President  Grover  Cleveland  to  the  Con- 
ess  of  the  United  States  iu  favor  of  reduction  of  surplus  revenue  in  the  Treasury 
y  the  cntting  down  of  the  onerous  and  burdensome  revenue  taxation  upon  the 
.ecessaries  of  life.  v 

Georgia. — The  message  of  President  Cleveland    *    *    *    was  a  statesmanlike 
nd  true  declaration  of  the  time-honored  principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  and 
meets  our  hearty  and  unqualified  indorspmeut,  and  we  accept  and  commend  themes- 
sage  as  embracing  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party  upon  this  great  issuf. 
Illinois — We  admire  his  (the  President's)  candor  and  applaud  his  courage  in 
icing  in  his  recent  message  to  Congress    *    *    *    the  Democratic  doctrine  that 
e  constitutional  tax  power  of  the  Government  is  exhausted  when  the  Government 
by  meanf  of  it  exacted  from  the  people  a  sufficient  amount  of  revenue  to  meet 
e  necessary  expenses  of  the  Government  economically  administered. 

Indiana. — We  insist  that  the  taxes  on  imports  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point 
nsistent  with  efficiency  in  the  public  service,  and  we  demand  a  revision  and  reform 
the  present  unjust  tariff  as  recommended  in  the  late  message  of  the  President. 

low  I. — We  are  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  the  taxing  power  for  any  but.  public 
rposes,  and  fully  and  unqualifiedly  declare  President  Cleveland's  message  as  the 
lews  of  the  Iowa  Democracy  on  the  tariff  question. 

Kentucky. — The  Democrats  of  Kentucky  do  especial y  declare    *    *    *    their 
flagging  devotion  to  the  doctrine  laid  down  in  the  President's  last  annual  message 
Congress.    *    *    *    They  indorse  the  proposal  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Coramit- 
known  as  the  Mills  bill,  as  a  fair,  conservative,  and  practical  measure  of  revenue 
orm. 

Maine. — We  do  not  advocate  free  trade,  but  favor  and  desire  a  revision  of  the 
esent  unjust  and  burdensome  tariff  laws. 

JiaryZand.— Unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation  and  ought  not  to  be  longer 
lerated. 

Michigan. — We  declare  ourselves  in  fullest  sympathy  with  the  letter  and  spirit 

f  the  President's  message  upon  this  subject.    It  is  a  manly  State  paper    *    *    * 

d  has  pure  justice  and  holy  truth  for  its  inspiration. 

Minnesota. — The  time  has  come  for  a  thorough  revision  and  a  radical  reduction 

of  the  existing  revenue  taxes.     We  insist  that  this  work  be  at  once  begun  and 

speedily  consummated  without  further  evasion  or  delay. 

Mississippi. — We  approve  without  qualification,  the  Mills  bill    *    *    *    and 
applaud  the  course  of  our  representatives  who  have  given  it  a  hearty  and  unani- 
ous  support. 


456  PABTY   PLATFORMS  POK   1888. 

Missouri.— We  instruct  our  delegates  (to  the  National  Convention)    *    * 
to  vote  for  a  platform  embodying  the  principles  of  tariff  reform  set  forth  in  his  (the 
President's)  last  annual  message. 

Nebraska. — The  Democrats  of  Nebraska  heartily  indorse  the  views  of  President 
Cleveland  on  this  issue,  which  were  so  admirably  expressed  in  his  message  to  the 
Fiftieth  Congress,  and  they  urge  upon  the  National  Democracy  about  to  assemble  in 
St.  Louis  a  similar  expression  from  its  councils. 

Nevada. — We  denounce  the  present  tariff  system.  *  *  *  We  declare  that 
taxation  should  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of  government,  and  the  burden  of 
taxation  should  rest  upon  those  who  use  luxuries  rather  than  upon  those  who  use 
only  the  necessaries  of  life. 

New  Hampshire. — They  (the  Democracy  of  New  Hampshire)  fully  approve  of 
the  President's  message  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  tariff  reform  and  the  reduction 
of  war  taxes  to  the  end  that  the  labor  of  the  country  be  relieved  of  onerous  and 
unnecessary  burdens. 

New  Jersey. —It  (the  Democracy  of  New  Jersey)  urges  upon  Representatives  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  Congress  *  *  *  a  reduction  of  the  redundant  revenue 
of  the  Government  and  th^  revision  of  the  tariff,  with  a  due  regard  for  the  interests 
of  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industries  and  of  labor  and  capital  to  be 
affected  thereby. 

New  York. — The  allegiance  and  adherence  of  the  State  Democracy  *  *  * 
are  hereby  again  declared  with  an  explicit  approval  of  the  doctrines  affirmed  in  the 
last  annual  message  of  the  President  to  Congress. 

Ohio. — We  approve  the  Mills  Tariff  bill  as  the  practical  expression  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

Oregon  — We  most  earnestly  and  unqualifiedly  indorse  the  policy  of  tariff  revision 
and  reduction  of  the  surplus  revenue  to  the  needs  of  the  Government  economically 
administered,  as  set  forth  in  the  President's  last  annual  message  to  Congress.  We 
believe  *  *  *  that  unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation  and  oppression, 
and  that  the  public  revenue  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  derived  from  taxes  levied 
upon  the  luxuries  rather  than  the  necessities  of  life 

Pennsylvania. — We  give  our  most  hearty  and  emphatic  indorsement  to  the 
recommendations  of  President  Cleveland's  last  annual  message  to  Congress  and 
*  *  *  we  recommend  to  Congress  the  prompt  adoption  of  the  Revenue 
Reform  bill  reported  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means. 

Rhode  Island  — Reduction  of  taxation  is  an  imperative  duty,  and  should  be 
made  first  upon  those  articles  which  can  be  classed  as  necessaries  to  the  whole  peo- 
ple, men,  women  and  children. 

South  Carolina  — The  message  of  the  President  advocating  reduction  in  revenue 
is  indorsed  as  a  statesmanlike  and  practical  way  in  which  to  relieve  the  overburdened 
people  without  injury  to  the  laborer  or  damage  to  capital. 

Tennessee  — The  views  of  the  President  in  his  message  to  Congress  in  regard  to 
the  tariff  are  pure  Jeffersonian  Democracy  and  sound  statesmanship,  therefore  we 
heartily  indorse  his  views  as  expressed  in  said  message. 

Texas. — We  indorse  the  views  expressed  by  Grover  Cleveland,  our  President,  in 
his  last  annual  message  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff.  *  *  *  We  indorse  the 
tariff  bill  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  commonly  known  as  the 
Mills  Tariff  bill. 

Vermont. — We  favor  stich  a  revision  of  the  tariff  bill  as  will  reduce  taxation  to 
the  needs  of  the  Government  economically  administered,  and  will  especially  relieve 
the  poor  and  benefit  all  by  freemg  from  tax  the  necessaries  of  life  and  taxing  as 
lightly  as  practicable  other  articles  most  commonly  consumed  or  used,  and  raw 
materials. 

Virginia. — The  simple  and  plain  duty  which  is  due  to  the  people  is,  in  the 
language  of  President  Cleveland,  "to  reduce  taxation  to  the  necessaffy  expenses  of  an 
economical  operation  of  the  Government,  and  to  restore  to  the  business  of  the  coun- 
try the  money  which  we  hold  in  the  Treasury  through  the  perversion  of  govern- 
mental powers." 

Wisconsin. — We  demand  *  *  *  that  taxation  be  reduced  in  strict  con- 
formity to  the  principles  laid  down  by  President  Cleveland  in  his  message  to  the 
Fiftieth  Congress. 


THE   HISTORY  OF  TAB  IFF  CHANGES. 


457 


CHAPTER   XL. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  TARIFF  CHANGES. 


)MPLETE    ACCOUNT    OF     AMERICAN    TARIFF    LEGISLATION,    FROM 
THE    FOUNDATION  OF   THE   GOVERNMENT  TO    THE   PASSAGE 
OF    THE    MILLS    BILL    BY   THE    HOUSE. 


'he  first  tariff  act  was  passed  on  the  4th  of  July,  1789;  the  last  one  on  the  3d  of 

March,  1883.    Including  these  two  there  have  been  fifty-five  tariff  acts  passed  in 

ninety-nine  years.    Most  of  them  did  not  make  radical  changes  in  the  tariff.    The 

tariffs  usually  conwdered  most  important  by  historians  were  passed  as  follows,  and 

they  have  all  been  named,  also,  as  follows : 

Hamilton  tariff 17891  Compromise  tariff 1833 

Calhoun  tariff 18  6|  Whig  tariff 1842 

Clay  tariff 1824  1  Walker  tariff 1846 

Abominations  tariff 1828  |  Morrill  tariff 1861 

The  general  effects  of  these  various  tariffs,  and  of  the  modifications  made  in 

them  between  times,  may  be  traced  in  the  following  table,  which  shows  the  average 

rate  of  tax  paid  on  all  taxed  imports  for  each  year  since  1781.    There  was  always  a 

free  list — always  absolute  free  trade  in  many  things — but  here  are  the  average  rates 

for  the  year  on  the  things  actually  taxed  : 


Tear. 
1791 

Per  cent. 
15  34 

Year. 
1816 

Per  cent. 
27  94 

Year. 
1841 

Per  cent. 
34  56 

Y.ar. 
166 

Per  cent. 
48  35 

1798 

1793 

11.54 

14.68 

1817 

1818 

1819 

1830 

32.90 

16.78 

29.81 

36.59 

1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846  

25.81 

29.19 

36  88 

34.45 

33  35 

1867 

46.67 

18(i8- 

48  63 

1794  .... 

1795 

1796 

1797 

1798 

17.10 

11.21 

12  02 

15.60 

.     .  19  99 

1869 

1870 

..........IS 

47.08 

1831 

30  99 

1H71 

43.95 

1823 

1833 

1834 

1825 

27.13 

3921 

50.21 

50.24 

1847 

3«.02 

18:3 

41.35 

1848.   ..   . 

...    36  28 

1873      .... 

38  07 

r799 

1800 

1801 

lg()3 

19.*0 

17.43 

16.61 

fO  67 

1849 

26  11 

1874    

.38  53 

^fm 

37.14 

1875 

40.62 

1826 

1837 

1838 

1829 

1830 

1831 

1832 

1833 

1834 

4^  2-5   i^"^! 

26.63 

27.38 

25  9-3 

1876 

44  74 

53.76 

47.59 

54.18 

61.69 

47.38 

43  98 

38.25 

40  19 

ia53 

1853 

1877  

42  89 

1803 

1804 

1805 

1806 

20.52 

23.76 

19.19 

31  33 

1878 

43  76 

1854 

1F55 

1856 

1857 

1868 

25.61 

26.82 

26.05 

22.45 

22.43 

1879 

44.87 

1880 

1881   

43.48 

43.20 

1807 

1808 

30:09 

37  22 

1882 

42  66 

1883 

42  45 

1809 

18  80 

1859 

. . 19  56 

1804 

41.61 

1810 

1811 

1813 

14.07 

35  62 

13  07 

1835 

1836 

40.38 

34  94 

I860 

19  67 

1885  

45.86 

1«61 

1884 

1886 

45.65 

1837 

1838 

39.18 

41  33 

1862 

36  20 

1887 

47,10 

1813 

69  03 

1863 

32.63 

Estim't'd 
rate  ud< 
bill 

average 
ler  Mills 

1814 

46  79 

1839 

31  77 

1864.  .... 

36  69 

1815 

ft  81 

1840..... 

ai  ?iQ 

1865 

47  56 

42  49 

458  THE   HISTORY   OP   TARIFF    CHANGES. 

The  reader  will  be  surprised  to  observe  that  the  highest  average  rate  was  ii 
1813  and  the  lowest  in  1815,  although  there  intervened  no  important  change  in  tb 
law,  and  that  the  rate  for  1813  was  ten  times  as  high  as  for  1815.  Washington  neve 
lived  to  see  the  tariff  average  as  high  as  20  per  cent. — less  than  half  the  rate  left  b; 
the  Mills  bill— though  the  year  before  he  died,  1798,  shaved  it  pretty  close.  It  wa 
not  until  1813,  when  the  Government  was  24  year3  old,  and  was  in  the  midst  of  wai 
that  the  average  rate  reached  the  point  proposed  in  the  Mills  bill.  It  has  passed  tha 
point  in  only  27  of  the  98  years  covered  by  the  table,  and  16  of  these  have  been  sine 
1861,  when  the  Morrill  bill  passed. 

The  average  rate  collected  in  1887  has  been  exceeded  but  thirteen  times  in  ou 
history,  and  eight  of  these  were  before  the  war.  The  highest  series  of  rates  collect© 
for  any  term  of  seven  years  was  from  1824  to  1830,  inclusive.  It  actually  averagei 
for  the  seven  years  more  than  52  per  cent.  Numerous  other  interesting  compari 
sons  will  occur  to  the  student. 


THE  RATES  ON  GOODS  IN  COMMON  USE. 

So  much  for  the  general  average  rate  collected  on  all  dutiable  goods.  Now  le 
us  tabulate  as  best  we  can  briefly  the  history  of  the  rates  enacted  on  certain  selected 
articles  of  common  use.  This  is  a  difficult  task,  for  the  reason  that  there  are  tw 
kinds  of  tarifl"  taxes — specific  and  ad  valorem.  A  specific  tax  or  duty  is  so  much  oi 
the  pound,  yard,  gallon,  barrel  or  bushel,  etc.  An  ad  valorem  duty  is  so  much  on  th 
dollar's  worth.  How  can  we  compare  these  ?  How  can  we  compare  a  tax  of  tei 
cents  a  yard,  under  one  tariff,  with  a  tax  of  twenty  per  cent,  on  the  cost  price,  unde 
another  tariff?  If  we  knew  the  foreign  cost  of  the  cloth  taxed  ten  cents  a  yard  w 
could  do  it,  but  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  the  Government  has  told  us  thai 
or  even  instructed  its  custom-house  officers  to  fiad  it  out. 

To  confuse  matters  still  more,  the  present  tariff  often  levies  both  kinds  of  dutie 
on  the  same  article.  Thus  on  one  of  the  six  classes  into  which  women's  and  chi] 
dren's  dress  goods  are  divided,  the  tax  is  six  cents  a  square  yard  (specific)  and  3 
per  cent,  (ad  valorem).  But  this  is  not  the  oddest  nor  most  confusing  feature  abou 
it,  for  if  tl-ie  goods  weigh  over  four  ounces  per  square  yard  the  t  ix  is  levied  in  a  stil 
different  way,  and  instead  of  six  or  eight  cents  a  yard,  it  is  50  cents  a  pound,  plu 
the  35  per  cent.  If  past  tar'ffs  were  as  intricate  as  the  present  one  our  task  woul 
indeed  be  hopeless. 

But  in  all  tariffs  there  are  clauses  stating  what  the  tax  shall  be  on  all  articles  c 
the  several  great  classes  "not  otherwise  provided  for"  (n.  o  p.V  Into  these  n.  o.  f 
clauses  are  dumped  the  article?  of  each  great  class  which  the  tax  layers  couldn' 
think  of,  or  were  afraid  they  couldn't  with  suffl  lent  accuracy  describe  in  their  prope 
places.  The  taxes  they  laid  on  these  were  of  necessity  simple  and  usually  a 
valorem,  and  furoi.^h  a  key  to  the  mind  of  the  legislator.  If  he  laid  a  tax  of  20  pe 
cent,  on  cottons  'no.  p."  you  may  well  guess  that  he  thought  he  was  putting  abou 
an  average  of  20  per  cent,  on  the  cottons  he  did  provide  for.  The  followiU; 
table  occasionally  makes  this  use  of  the  n.  o.  p.  classes,  but  always  with  the  letter 
attached : 


THE  HISTORY  OF  TARIFF   CHANGES.  459 


TKS  OF  DUrr  LEVIED  ON  ARTICLKS  OF  NECESSITY  UNDER  ALL  TARIFFS  SINCE  1791. 


free 

ii 

0@80, 

30 
0@24:    24 
!l3c. 
5@20lb. 

l25  1Pct 
50c.  & 
*40a5  ¥  ct 
35c.  & 
*36a5@40 


5 

7X 
10 
12;5^;  15 
1!X'  15 


15 

free 

15     j 

30    free 

30 

25 

free 

30 

25 

free 

m 

35 

free 

30 

25 

free 

25 

21 

free 

24 

23 

free 

23 

25 

free 

30 

20 

30 

30 

15 

24 

24 

-s 

20 

30 

H 

a 

20 

35 

*7] 

20 

m 

1* 

^  . 

«H      . 

"p. 

^O 

^  A 

0    . 

go 

c  ^ 

a"; 

i 

CO 

Ce4 

5 

5 

5 

5 

10 

7^ 

15 

12  >^ 

15 

12,!^ 

17>^ 

15 

35 

30 

20 

25 

25 

25     J 

25 

25     J 

25 

2:5 

24 

24 

'£i 

23 

;^) 

25 

:^o 

20 

24 

15 

30 

30 

45 

40 

45 

40 

10 

12X' 

15 

20 

20 

22  >^ 

45 


'^  1- 

*  S  » 

a  p. 


10 

10 
10 
15 
15 

20 

20 
20 


20 


24 


40     25@40 
45     25@60 


The  figures  marked  with  a  *  are  the  average  rates  collected  oa  the  next  year's  Imports. 
All  the  others  are  at  the  rates  embodied  in  the  law. 

UPS  AND   DOWNS  OF    THE   WOOL  TARIFF. 

The  history  of  the  wool  tariff  needs  to  be  elaborated  a  little.  Down  to  1834 
wool  was  free  and  cotton  was  taxed.  Then  wool  was  divided  into  two  classes, 
according  to  value,  and  if  valued  at  less  than  ten  cents  a  pound  the  tax  was  15  per 
cent.,  otherwise  20,  and  afterwards  30.  In  1828  the  tax  on  high  grade  wool  was 
enormously  increased.  For  eight  years  it  remained  at  4  cents  a  pound  and  40  per 
cent.,  and  then  the  compromise  tariff  began  to  reduce  it  a  little.  The  maximum 
figures  given  from  1828  to  1843  are  the  highest  that  could  possib'y  be  collected 
under  the  complex  law,  and  doubtless  far  higher  than  the  average  actually  collected, 
though  that  was  probably  50  per  cent.  In  1833  low  grade  wool  was  again  made  free, 
and  has  never  since  been  heavily  taxed.  Wool  is  now  (since  1867)  divided  into  three 
classes,  '*  clothing,"  "  combing  "  and  "  carpet,"  and  they  paid  last  year  55  per  cent., 
43  per  cent,  and  25  per  cent,  respectively. 

THE  PRESENT  RATE   WOULD   ONCE   HAVE  BEEN-  THOUGHT   ROBBERY. 

The  first  tariff  was  the  lightest.  It  was  gradually  raised  until  the  war  of  1812 
broke  out,  and  then  it  was  doubled  at  a  stroke.  The  genuine  high  protective  system 
was  adopted  in  1816,  under  the  influence  of  Calhoun,  who  bitterly  regretted  it. 
Webster  was  a  free  trader  when  the  tariff  was  raised  in  1824,  but  faced  about  and 
helped  to  raise  it  again  in  1828  This  was  called  the  Tariff  of  Abominations,  because 
the  free  traders  tried  to  kill  it  by  loading  it  down  with  abominations,  but  to  their 


I 


460  THE  HISTORY  OP  TARIFF  CHANGES. 

great  surprise  it  passed  with  all  its  sins  upon  it.  It  almost  led  to  war,  and  did  lea 
to  the  CJompromise  Tariff  of  1833,  which  proposed  a  gradual  horizontal  reductioi 
In  1842  the  Whigs  raised  the  tariff;  in  1846  the  Democrats  reduced  it;  in  1857  th 
new  Republican  party  had  got  control  of  the  lower  house  and  with  Democrat! 
help  reduced  the  tariff  again,  to  the  lowest  point  reached  since  1816.  Four  yeai 
later  the  Republicans  adopted  the  Morrill,  or  War  Tariff,  and  gradually  raised  i 
until  1867 ;  its  extremest  features  being  adopted  after  the  war  was  over.  In  187 
they  passed  a  horizontal  reduction  of  10  per  cent.,  which  they  repealed  two  yeai 
later. 

In  1882  they  appointed  a  Tariff  Commission,  and  it  recommended  a  reductio 
which  would  have  left  the  average  rate  about  30  per  cent,  on  dutiable  goods.  O: 
the  3d  of  March,  1883,  they  passed  a  law  which  reduced  some  duties  and  raise 
others,  among  them,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  table,  those  on  glass  and  earthenware,  bu 
leaving  the  general  average  about  the  same.  All  subsequent  reduction  bills  hav 
failed  to  pass  the  lower  house  until  Saturday,  July  21,  1888,  when  the  Mills  bi 
placing  wool,  lumber  and  some  other  articles  on  the  free  list,  and  calculated  to  reduc 
the  average  rate  on  dutiable  imports  to  43.49  per  cent.,  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  16 
to  149. 


BNGLISfl  PEAR  OF  THE  MILLS  BILL.  461 


CHAPTER  XLI. 
ENGLISH  FEAR  OF  THE  MILLS  BILL. 


HE  STATESMEN,    ECONOMISTS    AND    MANUFACTURERS   OF   ENGLAND 
ANXIOUS    AND    WATCHFUL    ABOUT   IT. 


Since  the  introduction,  discussion  and  passage  of  the  Mills  bill  through  the 
ouse  the  English  newspapers,  political  as  well  as  the  special  representatives  of  the 
ides  and  different  branches  of  manufactures,  appear  to  be  waking  up  to  a  realiza- 
in  of  the  fact  that  with  more  liberal  customs  laws,  whereby  manufacturing  shall  be 
iieved  of  some  of  the  burdens  put  upon  it  in  the  matter  of  raw  materials.  The 
iglish  suprf  macy  in  the  markets  of  the  world  is  likely  to  be  disputed  with  more 
ccess  than  has  ever  yet  been  done.  England  has  heretofore  had  only  to  compete 
th  countries  in  which  the  trammels  of  taxes  have  been  diligently  maintained, 
e  has,  as  the  result  of  this,  been  able  to  maintain  herself  and  her  manufacturing 
premacy  in  all  the  newer  countries  of  South  America  and  in  her  own  colonies  in 
ferent  parts  of  the  world. 

For  several  years  past  English  economists  and  statesmen  have  been  saying  to 
3  manufacturers  that,  so  long  as  the  United  States  maintained  a  tax  on  raw 
iterials,  which  was  practically  prohibition,  they  could  maintain  themselves  and 
)ir  business.  They  have  given  warning,  as  they  thought,  in  the  most  timely  manner, 
\t  if  these  restrictions  were  ever  removed,  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States, 
th  their  enterprise  and  the  efficiency  of  their  labor,  would  at  once  leap  to  the 
nt  as  the  most  dangerous  competitors  to  this  recognized  commercial  position  ever 
reloped. 


^&< 


I. 


long  the  earliest  to  give  w^arning  of  this  was  the  veteran  statesman  Glad- 
ne,  the  admiration  of  the  liberty-loving  people  of  all  lands.  In  an  address  to  a 
nmercial  body  in  Leeds,  England,  in  1881,  he  thus  expressed  his  opinion  on  this 
jstion  of  first  importance  to  the  manufacturing  elements  of  England: 
Well,  now,  there  is  also  an  idea  that  America  is  pursuing  a  course  of  profound  wisdom 
•egard  to  its  protective  system,  and  we  are  told  that  under  the  blessed  shelter  of  a  system 
;hat  hind  the  tender  infancy  of  trades  is  cherished,  which  afterwards,  having  obtained 
3r,  will  go  forth  into  neutral  markets  and  poseess  the  world.  Gentlemen,  is  that  true? 
lerica  has  been  too  long  in  various  degrees  a  protective  country. 

Have  the  manufacturers  of  America  gone  forth  and  possessed  the  world  ?  How  do  they 
ipete  with  you  in  thoee  quarters  of  the  world  which  are,  speaking  generally,  outside 
influences  of  protection  ?  Gentlemen,  te  the  whole  of  Asia,  to  the  whole  of  Africa* 
to  the  whole  of  Australasia— which  in  the  main  are  outside  this  question,  and  may 
ly  be  described  in  the  rough  as  presenting  to  us  neutral  markets,  where  we  meet 
erica  without  fear  or  favor  one  way  or  the  other— the  whole  of  the  exports  of  the 
ted  States  of  manufactured  goods  of  those  countries  amount  to  £4,751,000,  while  the 
i  to  those  same  quarters  from  the  United  Kingdom  were  iiT8,140,000. 


462  ENGLISH   FEAR  OF  THE   MILLS  BILL. 

Qentlemeii,  the  fact  is  this:  America  is  a  young  country,  with  enormous  vigor « 
enormous  internal  resources.  She  has  committed— I  say  it,  I  hope,  not  with  disrespect 
say  it  with  strong  and  cordial  sympathy,  but  with  much  regret— she  is  committing  errors 
which  we  set  her  an  example.  But  from  the  enormous  resources  of  her  home  market,  j 
development  of  which  internally  is  not  touched  by  protection,  she  is  able  to  commit  th( 
errors  with  less  fatal  consequences  upon  her  people  than  we  experienced  when  we  co 
mitted  them ;  and  the  enormous  development  of  American  resources  within  casts  aim- 
entirely  in  the  shade  the  puny  character  of  the  export  of  her  manufactures  to  the  neut 
markets  of  the  world. 

I  will  say  this,  that  as  long  as  America  adheres  to  the  protective  system,  your  comra 
cial  primacy  Is  secure.  Nothing  in  the  world  can  wrest  it  from  you  while  America  cont 
ues  to  fetter  her  own  strong  hands  and  arm^,  and  with  these  f  ttered  arms  is  content 
compete  with  you,  who  are  free,  in  neutral  markets.  And  as  long  as  America  follows  1 
doctrine  of  protection,  or  as  long  as  America  follows  the  doctrines  now  known  as  those 
fair  trade,  you  are  perf  "ctly  saf o,  and  you  need  not  allow,  any  of  you,  even  your  light 
slumbers  to  be  disturbed  by  the  fear  that  America  will  take  from  you  your  commerc 
primacy. 

II. 

*As  the  views  of  the  leading  statesman  of  the  British  Empire  have  thus  be 
given,  it  will  be  interesting  to  find  out  what  the  manulacturers  and  economists  tbi 
of  it. 

In  1882  William  Kathbome,  a  member  of  the  English  Parliament,  in  an  ess 
on  "Protection  and  Communism,"  in  which  he  represented  English  feeling  on  c 
tariff,  spoke  as  follows : 

In  would  be  a  great  mis  ake  to  suppose  that  at  the  present  time  Englishmen  w< 
very  anxious  for  their  own  sakes  to  see  America  adopt  free  trade.  There  is,  on  the  c( 
trary,  a  great  and  growing  feeling  in  this  country  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of  England  tl 
the  United  States  should  still  adhere  to  protection.  As  long  as  they  do  so  it  is  thou{ 
England  is  safe  from  her  only  dangerous  competitor  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Cobden  Club  ia  1882,  Mr.  Joseph  Chamberla 
who  is  now  so  well  known  in  this  country,  gave  his  opinion  on  the  question.  }, 
Chamberlain  is  interested  personally  in  the  maintenance  of  the  tariff  on  wo 
screws,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  he  is  engaged.  This  interest  has  led  him 
accept  large  subsidies  from  American  competitors,  with  thu  understanding  that 
would  not  throw  his  goods  into  this  market.  At  the  meeting  in  question  this  Er 
lish  manufacturer  said : 

For  myself,  speaking  only  as  an  Englishman,  I  look  forward  with  anxiety,  t 
unmingled  with  alarm,  to  the  time  when  our  merchants  and  manufacturers  will  have 
face  fho  free  and  unrestricted  competition  of  the  great  republic  of  the  west,  and  when  i 
enterprise  of  its  citizens  and  the  unparalleled  resources  of  its  soil  will  no  longer 
shackled  and  handicapped  by  the  artificial  restrictions  which  have  hitherto  impeded  t 
full  development  of  its  external  commerce. 

Lord  Brassey,  one  of  the  most  extensive  of  English  manufacturers,  in  ] 
"Lectures  on  the  Labor  Question,"  said: 

But  it  must  also  be  remembered  that,  assuming  the  cost  of  labor  in  the  United  Stat 
to  be  25  percent,  in  excess  of  the  cost  in  this  country,  the  addition  to  the  value  of  t 
product  does  not  exceed  5  or  6  per  cent.,  and  if  the  d.ities  imposed  in  the  United  Sta 
on  all  law  materials  should  be  repealed,  and  if.  as  we  may  reasonably  anticipate,  t 
cost  of  living  should  be  materially  lessened,  tne  cost  of  production  under  those  mc 
favorable  circumstances  would  be  so  much  reduced  that  the  present  advantages  of  t 
British  manufacturer  would  ceast ,  and  there  would  no  longer  be  asuflacient  margin  to  co^ 
the  cost  of  exportation  from  this  country  to  America. 

In  1879  James  Thornly,  a  representative  of  the  Textile  Manufacturer  of  Ma 
Chester,  England,  came  to  this  countrv  to  study  the  cotton  industry,  as  it  came  in 
competition  with  the  products  of  that  collection  of  busy  cotton  mills.  In  tl 
industry  the  free  raw  materials,  giving  our  manufacturers  some  conspicuous  adva 

♦For  several  of  the  quotations  in  this  section  of  the  present  chapter  the  compl! 
takes  pleasure  in  expressing  his  obligations  to  Mr.  Fred.  Perry  Powers,  from  whose  br 
but  suggestive  article  on  "  British  Interest  in  American  Protection,"  in  Bedford's  Magaz 
forJAugust,  several  of  the  quotations  have  been  culled. 


i 


ENGLISH  PEAR  OF  THE  MILLS  BILL. 


iges,  exportation  of  cotton  goods  had  rapidly  increased.  Mr.  Thornly  found 
lat  the  cost  of  labor  here  per  yard  of  product  was  less  than  in  Manchester,  and 
lat  the  freight  on  the  raw  material  was,  of  course,  much  less.  But  in  spite  of 
lese  advantages  he  reported  to  his  people  that  the  mill-owners  of  Manchester  need 
ot  indulge  in  any  serious  fears  of  competition  from  this  country.  He  said  In  con- 
luding  his  observation: 

While,  however,  the  American  nation  heaps  duties  upon  the  import  of  foreign 
•achinery,  thus  increasing  the  price  of  mill  construction,  and  in  other  ways  by  her  tariff 
r^ngements  artificially  raising  the  cost  of  production,  American  manufactures  will 
)ntinue  too  high  in  price  to  compete  with  England  in  ail  but  exceptional  cases. 

Prof(  ssor  Cairnes,  the  leading  as  well  as  the  ablest  of  later  political  economists 
r  England,  confirms  these  views  in  his  "Political  Economy,"  in  which  he  asserts: 

Accordingly,  in  the  United  States,  as  we  have  seen,  coal,  iron,  lumber,  and  leather  are 
1  loaded  wiih  heavy  import  duties.  But  what  is  the  conspquence?  Just  this,  that  Ameri- 
m  manufacturers  are  thus  deprived  of  the  advantage  they  would  naturally  possess  of 
jiaining  their  raw  material  cheap.  They  are  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in  relatiomto 
anufaciurers  in  Europe  precisely  where  under  free  trade  their  position  would  be 
rongest. 

Sir  Charles  Dilke  is  everywhere  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  England, 
id  one  of  the  most  strongly  devoted  to  the  cause  of  free  trade.  In  an  interview 
3ld  with  him  by  a  correspondent  of  a  New  York  paper  in  London,  on  August 
tth,  on  the  effect  which  the  passage  of  the  Mills  Bill  would  have  on  English  man- 
factures  and  commerce,  Sir  Charles  said  : 

The  uninformed  public  here  have  the  impression,  largely  created  by  your  protectionists 
I  America,  that  the  opening  of  American  markets  would  be  of  advantage  to  England.  In 
ich  an  event  the  manufacturers  and  capitalists  here,  who  know  better,  would  proceed  to 
aload  their  interests  and  enterprises  at  a  profitable  advance  on  the  uninformed  public.  A 
w  tariff  policy  in  America  might  in  this  way  create  a  good  deal  of  apparent  activity  in 
on  here  for  a  year  or  so,  but  after  that  there  would  spring  up  a  fierce  competition  for  the 
arkets  of  the  world,  in  which  I  am  unable  to  see  how  England  can  expect  to  hold  her 
wn.  One  of  the  chief  elements  of  our  present  commercial  and  shipping  predominance 
18  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  that  our  great  natural  rival  of  the  New  World  prefers  to 
led  on  her  own  fat,  like  the  hibernating  bear,  and  leaves  us  free  outside  to  range  the 
obe. 

This  mfikes  plain  the  falsity  of  the  charge  so  persistently  made  that  the  maau- 
cturers  of  England  are  so  much  interested  in  the  reduction  of  our  tariff  that  they 
•6  raising  money  to  promote  it.  On  the  other  hand,  all  their  selfish  interests  lie  in 
le  direction  of  the  maintenance  undisturbed  of  the  existing  conditions  in  this 
mntry,  under  which  England  has  not  had  any  serious  competition  in  the  markets 
:  the  world, 

III. 

Not  only  has  this  been  the  position  of  English  statesmen,  manufacturers  and 
ionomists,  but  the  question  has  been  fully  discussed  from  this  point  of  view  during 
16  present  year,  whde  the  President's  message  and  the  Mills  Bill  have  been  lead- 
g  topics. 

In  order  to  demonstrate  this  the  following  extracts  are  given  from  recent  issues 
f  newspapers  in  all  parts  of  England  : 

AGAINST  THE  INTEREST  OP  ENGLAND. 
From  the  Birmingham  Daily  Post,  July  38. 

English  traders  will  learn  with  a  good  deal  of  amusement  that  in  the  Presidential  elec- 
3n  campaign  in  America  the  great  cry  which  the  Republicans  are  using  against  Mr.  Cleve- 
nd  is  that  he  is  deliberately  betraying  the  interests  of  American  trade  for  the  benefit  of 
Qglish  manufacturers.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  from  an  English  point  of  view 
e  Mills  Taritf  Bill  by  no  means  bears  that  aspect.  On  the  whole,  its  operation  will  probably 
)  distinctively  to  our  disadvantage.  Only  in  a  few  trivial  instances  the  bill  reduces  the  tariff 
.  articles  imported  from  England.  The  main  object  of  the  measure  is,  by  light<  nlng  and  in 
me  instances  removing  the  duties  on  raw  material,  to  lessen  the  cost  of  the  production  of 
merioan  manufactures,  and,  of  course,  every  step  in  that  dinction  will  make  the  United  State* 
mare  dangerous  competitor  of  Ungland  in  ail  neutral  markets. 

It  is  perfectly  clear,  therefore,  that  if  the  policy  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  as  embodied  in  the 
ills  Tariff  Bill  and  as  set  forth  In  the  now  historic  declaration  to  Congress,  has  been  received 
Ith  marked  satisfaction  in  England,  that  satiefactlon  has  not  been  In  any  way  due  to  a 


464  ENGLISH  FEAR  OF  THE   MILLS  BILL. 


I 


sense  that  the  operation  of  the  bill  wa^*  likely  to  confer  any  material  advantage  on  the  Eni 
lish  trader.  That  would  have  been  absurd.  The  cause  of  th  •■  satisfaction  was  the  rebu 
which  it  administered  to  the  fatuous  cry  for  protection  in  England. 

The  Mills  Bill  was  not  a  free  trade  bill— to  so  describe  it  would  be  a  palpable  abuse  ( 
terms— but  it  meant,  at  any  rate,  an  abandonment  of  high  protection,  and  an  admission  thi 

f»rotective  duties  increased  the  cost  of  production,  and  so  crippled  the  nation  in  its  comp 
ition  with  other  manufacturing  countries  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  When  Mr.  Clev 
land's  manifesto  was  make  public  the  fair  trade  agitation  in  England,  just  then  at  a  coi 
siderable  height,  went  out  like  a  snuffed  candle.  That  was  the  reason,  and  the  only  reaso 
for  the  delight  with  which  that  manifesto  was  received  in  England.  If  purely  selfish  coi 
siderations  had  been  allowed  to  sway  English  opinion,  we  do  not  doubt  that  the  feelit 
amongst  clear-sighted  English  traders  would  have  been  rather  for  the  rejection  than  tl 
acceptance  of  the  Mills  Tariff  Bill. 

The  city  of  Sheffield,  England,  is,  as  is  well  known,  the  great  centre  for  tl 
manufacture  of  cutlery.  Here,  if  any  where,  there  might  be  found  joy  over  tl 
prospect  of  gaining  access  to  the  American  market.  But  this  joy  does  "not  seem  ' 
exist,  if  the  leading  newspaper  of  that  city  may  be  said,  in  any  way  to  reflect  tl 
opinions  of  its  manufacturers  and  people. 

doesn't  have  a  FREE  TRADER'S  METHOD. 

In  its  issue  of  July  18,  the  Sheffield  Daily  Telegraph,  a  protective  paper,  said : 

President  Cleveland  is  claimed  as  a  Free  Trader.  With  "mora!  impenitency  of  asse 
tion"  we  will  repeat  the  views  of  this  Free-Trader,  as  expressed  by  himself  in  the  me^sai 
to  Congress  last  year— views  since  endorsed  and  amplified  :  "It  has  been  our  policy,"  1 
said,  "to  collect  the  principal  revenue  by  a  tax  on  imports.  No  change  in  ttiis  policy 
desirable."  That  is  pretty  definite  for  a  Free -Trader.  He  continues:— 'But  the  prese 
condition  of  affairs  constrains  the  people  to  demana  a  revision  of  the  Revenue  Laws, 
that  the  receipts  may  be  reduced  to  what  is  necessary  to  cover  the  expenses  of  economic 
administration  ;  and  this  demand  should  be  recognized  and  obeyed  by  Congress.  In  roa 
justing  the  burdens  of  taxation  we  should  deal  cautiously  wish  industries  dependent! 
present  conditions,  and  regard  also  the  interests  of  American  labor.  I  recommend,  kee 
ingin  view  all  these  considerations,  that  the  revenue  laws  be  amended  so  as  to  cheapen  t! 
neces  aries  of  life  and  give  fheeh  ENTftANCE  to  uaw  materials."  Did  we  not  know  W( 
the  methods  of  Free-Traders  we  should  hope  that  they  would  allow  these  views  of  "N, 
Cleveland's  to  restrain  them  from  "branding"  him  as  a  Free-Trader  of  their  type.  But  thj 
with  our  knowledge,  would  be,  as  a  great  Liberal  said  of  the  total  repeal  of  the  corn  l&v 
"madness." 

WHAT  AN  ENGLISH   FAIR  TRADER    THINKS. 

In  the'same  issue  of  the  Telegraph,  a  correspondent,  who  is  evidently  to  beclfi 
sified  as  an  English  fair  trader,  sent  that  paper  a  copy  of  President  Cleveland's  Tai 
many  Hall  Fourth  of  July  letter,  and  under  the  head  of  "representation  uumaskec 
he  added : 

In  consequence  of  the  mis-representation  indulged  in  with  respect  to  President  Cle\ 
land's  fiscal  policy,  I  venture  to  enclose  the  full  text  of  the  letter  to  which  allusion  h 
been  made. 

Now,  I  have  been  in  America,  and  I  assert  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  you  a 
literally  correct  in  your  remark  that  it  is  possible  to  search  the  States  through  witho 
coming  across  a  modern  Cobdenite.  The  species  is  undoubtedly  confined  exclusively 
the  British  Islands,  and  is,  I  am  convinced,  becoming  scarcer  and  scarcer  even  there. 

There  are  people  in  the  States  who  are  known  as  Free  Traders,  but  the  term  does  v 
mean  what  it  does  in  England.  They  are  persons  who  favor  Import  duties  on  manuff 
tures  being  reduced,  say  to  30  par  cent,  ao  valorem,  while  a  few  are  daring  enough  to  nai 
20  per  cent.  They  also  believe  in  the  policy  of  free  raw  materials.  President  Cleveland 
insisting  on  the  need  of  this  latter  condition,  as  far  as  is  safe  for  American  interests.  T 
evils  to  which  he  alludes  in  his  letter  refer  to  the  unnecessary  dearntss  of  raw  materials, 
will  be  seen  by  his  allusion  to  the  limitation  of  the  area  of  their  markets. 

Protectionists,  on  the  other  nand,  are  persons  who  Insist  on  all-round  heavy  tar: 
which  circumstances  do  not  require,  and  which  is  productive  of  many  abuses  without  coi 
pensating  advantages.  Americans  are  either  Fair  Traders  or  protectionists;  of  Fi 
Traders  there  are  none.  President  Cleveland  is  a  Fair  Trader,  labeled  for  political  pi 
poses  a  Free  Trader.  Of  this  he  complains,  and  justly,  for  the  very  name  stinks  In  the  nosti 
of  the  people,  especially  of  English  immigrants.  With  reference  to  the  letter  of  tl 
enlightened  statesman  (in  England,  with  his  views,  he  would  be  dubbed  a  raving  Prot< 
tionist),  let  me  point  out— (1)  that  President  Cleveland  does  not  describe  import  duties 
"extortion."  It  is  the  "  useltss  and  dangerous  surplus  in  the  National  Treasury"  whi( 
he  says,  "  tells  no  other  tale  but  that  of  extortion."  (2)  That  so  far  from  accepting  the  ti 
of  Free  Trader,  President  Cleveland  repudiates  it,  rebukes  those  who  have  so  "  brande< 
him,  and  declares  that  he  has  always  been  "  the  friend  of  American  labor." 


I 


ENGLISH  FEAR   OF    TBE   MILLS  BILL.  465 


THE  WIND  DOES  NOT  BLOW  IN  A  FREE  TRADE  DIRECTION. 


I  leave  your  readers  fco  judge  of  the  honesty  which  selects  a  few  words  here  and  there 
from  a  communication  for  purposes  of  its  own,  and  those  purposes  quite  at  variance  with 
the  intentions  and  objects  of  the  communfcation.    Even  well-wishers  fear  to  trust  this 

Iof  hocesty." 
IThe  Telegraph  appeared  to  be  so  positive  of  its  position  that  on  the  24th  of 
r,  after  the  vote  in  the  House  on  the  Mills  bill,  it  again  enforced  it  as  follows: 

The  adoption  of  the  Mills  Tariff  Bill  by  the  House  of  Representatives  has  afforded  an 
opportunity  of  learnini?  what  is  understood  by  the  term  "Free  Trade"  in  the  United 
States.  Republicans  have  persistently  described  the  Mills  bill  as  a  "free  trade  "  measure. 
The  average  rate  of  duty  fixed  by  the  bill  is  forty-two  dollars  forty-nine  cents  per  hundr^ 
dollars.  Under  the  bill  lumber,  wood,  hemp,  tin  plates,  and  other  material  would  enter 
American  ports  duty  free.  But  the  average  decrease  of  duty  on  goods  exported  from 
England  would  be  only  four  dollars  sixty-one  cents  per  hundred  dollars.  Therefore,  there 
\B  not  much  spilt  milk  to  cry  over,  from  the  protectionist  point  of  vi-^w.  The  bill  carries 
out  the  principle  which  we  have  always  understood  to  do  duty  for  free  trade  in  the 
Statt  s,  namely,  that  certain  raw  materials  should  enter  the  country  duty  free,  but  that 
manufactured  imports  should  be  stiffly  taxed  for  revenue  purpo-es.  Moreover,  even  this 
modified  reform  is  not  likely  i  o  become  law  at  present.  The  bill  is  almost  certain  to  be 
rejected  by  the  Senate.  The  value  of  the  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  Is  to 
Show  that  the  wind  blows  in  the  direction  of  fl  -cal  roform,  certainly  not  of  free  trade. 

*NO   OTHER   COUNTRY   ADOPTING   ENGLAND'S   POLICY. 
On  the  following  day,  July  25,  the  editor  of  the  Telegraph  VQimnzd.  with  dogged 
English  tersistence  to  the  question,  and  even  used  the  Mills  Bill  to  enforce  his  owa 
ideas  in  favor  of  a  tariff,  by  saying : 

Should  the  Mills  Tariff  Bill  become  law  in  the  United  Spates,  the  effect  will  not  be 
favorable  to  the  exporting  manufacturers  of  this  country.  Rightly,  Mr.  Mills  scouts  the 
idea  that  it  is  a  Free  Trade  Bill,  as  Free  Trade  is  understood  by  the  degenerate  successors 
of  Mr.  Cobden.  It  grants  no  special  privileges  for  foreigners.  It  aims  at  creating  only 
greater  advantages  for  Americans.  Nor  is  it  on  the  lines  of  Mr.  Ctobden's  Free  Trade.  It 
does  not  concede  the  principle  of  free  exchange  between  nations.  It  will  enable  American 
manufacturers  to  obtain  cheaper  raw  materials,  thus  assisting  them  to  become  greater 
exporting  competitors  with  ourselves,  but  it  retains  for  them  their  home  market. 

Neither  the  people  of  the  States  nor  of  Europe  are  likely  to  copy  our  example,  and  the 
lapse  of  our  Cobdenites  into  the  prophetic  mood  respecting  coming  Free  Trade  in  America 
is  accountable  only  from  the  circumstance  that,  facts  being  against  them,  they  are  seeking 
to  recall  waverers  and  stimulate  the  drooping  spirits  of  d  spondent  followers  by  a  repetition 
of  promises  which  were  to  have  taken  effect  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  but  which  are  still  wait- 
ing fulfillment  in  the  dimmest  of  distant  futures. 

OF  GREAT  DISADVANTAGE  TO    ENGLISH  BUSINESS. 

Turning  attention  to  Birmingham,  the  very  centre  of  manufacturing  industries 
in  England,  the  Gazette  of  that  city,  representing  the  radical  free  trade  policy,  which 
in  England  is  given  the  name  of  "Birmingham  School,"  says  in  its  issue  of  August  1: 

It  is  a  ridiculous  mistake  for  them  to  suppose  that  English  manufacturers  are  enthusi- 
astic about  the  revision  of  the  tariff  proposed  in  the  Mills  Bill,  or  that  they  are  pleased 
with  any  reduction  of  duty  which  has  for  its  object  the  freer  admission  of  those  things 
which  America  requires  to  strengthen  her  manufacturing  resources.  Sober-minded 
Americans  may  take  it  from  us  that  manufacturers  in  this  country  see  in  every  reduction 
of  the  American  tariff,  centering  as  it  always  does  upon  crude  or  semi-crude  material 
needful  to  American  producers,  a  fresh  blow  to  their  chances  of  recovering  lost  business  in 
the  S*^ates,  and  (more  important  still)  a  grave  menace  to  their  trade  in  the  neu  ral  markets. 
Except  in  special  lines  in  which  American  manufacturers  have  a  special  aptitude,  American 
competition  in  th6  neutral  markets  of  the  world  has  not  been,  and  is  not^  formidable,  and 
it  never  will  be  formidable  until  one  of  two  things  occurs— until  the  Republic  adopts  free 
imports  or  Great  Britain  reverts  to  protection.  If  free  trade  were  adopted  in  the  United 
States  there  would  be  three  fat  years  for  English  manufacturers  and  then  the  wilderness. 
Rational  Americans  surely  cannot  suppose  that  we  should  be  so  short-sighted  as  to 
rejoice  over  such  a  prospect.  We  should  not  only  lose  the  American  market  to  a  larger 
extent  than  we  have  lost  it  already,  but  we  should  in  a  few  years  be  elbowed  out  of  the 
Colonies,  out  of  South  America,  South  Africa,  China,  and  in  some  degree  probably  out  of 
India  also.  We  cannot  afford  to  pit  our  resources  against  those  of  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania 
on  equal  terms,  and  much  as  we  regret  the  gradual  exclusion  of  our  products  from  the  States  by  the 
action  of  the  tariff,  we  know  well  enough,  that  if  there  had  deen  no  tariff  the  same  result  would  have 
taken  place  by  the  action  of  a  competition  in  which  American  manufacturers  were  not  hampered  by 
high  prices  for  material.  The  Democratic  Tariff  Bill  is  not  a  free  trade  measure  ;  it  is  a  Bill  which 
adjusts  a  Protectionist  policy  on  scientific  principles,  and  if  Englishmen  had  to  choose  they  tooukl 
much  prefer  the  unscientific  tariff  which  it  is  intended  to  supersede. 


466  ENGLISH  FEAR   OF   THE  MILLS  BILL. 

VERY  LITTLE  INTEREST  TAKEN   IN   THE  MOVEMENT. 

The  Manchester  Quardian^  the  ablest  of  all  the  provincial  papers  of  Englan( 
in  its  issue  of  July  23,  in  the  course  of  a  long  editorial  on  the  passage  of  the  Mil 
Bill  in  the  House,  said : 

The  Republicans  are  seeking  to  cast  odium  upon  their  opponents  by  dubbing  thei 
"Free-traders,"  a  name  which  until  recent  years  was  almost  as  distasteful  to  the  averag 
American  as  is  that  of  Protectionest  to  the  average  Englishman.  But,  in  truth,  free  tra(] 
as  we  understand  the  term,  never  has  been  and  is  not  likely  soon  to  be  a  Democratic  do 
trine.  There  is  an  obvious  purpt^se  in  this  Republican  taunt.  The  design  is  t 
catch  the  liish  vote  by  representing  Mr.  Clevtjland  as  the  friend  and  ally  of  fre( 
trade  England.  Enormous  quantities  of  tracts  and  leaflets  a»e  being  distribute 
amongst  the  people,  setting  forth  this  supposed  alliance  of  the  Presiien*^,  and  quotic 
abundantly  the  articles  of  English  newspapers  in  which  any  kind  of  admiration  of  M 
Cleveland  or  of  his  official  conduct  is  expressed.  We  are  represented  as  being  overjoye 
at  the  prospect  of  being  able,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Cleveland  and  his  party,  very  soon  1 
"flood  the  American  markets  with  the  products  of  our  "pauper  labor."  This  is  an  ol 
device,  and  although  it  has  lost  much  of  its  ancient  force,  it  may  to  a  certain  extent  ser\ 
the  end  in  view.  Everyone  on  this  side  ihe  ocean  is  aware,  however,  that  the  prospect  ( 
tariff  reform  is  viewed  htre  wiih  satisfaction  on  one  ground  only.  The  mass  of  our  peop; 
believe  in  free  trade,  as  Americar  s  believe  in  Republicanism,  and  just  as  the  latter  tali 
pleasure  in  anything  pointing  to  the  growth  of  their  idea  of  the  best  form  of  national  goi 
ernment,  so  wr  are  undoubtedly  rejoic  d  at  the  prospect  of  any  stop  which  may  tend  t 
enlarge  international  commercial  Intercourse. 

Moreover,  the  Hepuolican  1  adets  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  most  Englishme 
take  not  the  sligbte;  t  interest  in  the  tariff  reform  movement  in  America,  whils^t  many  fai 
seeing  nersons  amongst  us  regard  the  adoption  of  anything  like  free  trade  in  the  Unite 
States  as  likely  to  make  the  latter  much  keener  competitors  with  us  in  neutral  markets  tha 
they  are  now.  Such  men  do  not  look  upon  President  Cleveland's  policy  with  satisfactioi 
Having  regard  to  their  own  interf  sts  alone,  they  would  much  rather  see  the  present  system  ( 
high  Protection  maintained.  Others  again,  think  that  the  present  policy  of  the  Democrats 
likely  to  retard  rather  than  to  hasten  on  the  progress  of  tariff  reform.  These  argue  that : 
left  alone,  the  existing  tariff  will  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  bring  on  a  cricis,  under  prei 
sure  of  which  Protectionism  will  be  entirely  swept  away  at  a  blow.  Such  considerations  i 
these  go  to  show  that,  save  only  as  a  means  of  promoting  international  commerce  andintei 
national  friendliness,  ihere  is  no  strong  desire  in  this  country  for  the  success  of  the  Dem( 
cratic  policy. 

WHAT   THE   GLADSTONE  ORGAN  THINKS   OF   IT. 

Turning  from  this  expression  of  opinion  in  the  manufacturing  districts  of  En^ 
land  to  the  London  papers,  the  same  generj,l  fear  of  injury  finds  expression.  Th 
Daily  News  is  the  organ  of  Mr.  Gladstone  and  the  Liberal  party,  and  is  the  only  on 
of  the  great  morning  new^^papers  of  London  which  has  supported  the  Irish  deman 
for  Home  Rule.    On  July  24,  in  a  local  discussing  the  Mills  Bill,  the  News  said : 

It  has  been  the  habit  of  the  Republicans  to  deride  every  attempt  of  the  Democrats  i 
Reform  of  the  Taritf  as  a  Free  Trade  measure.  It  is  their  way  of  giving  a  dog  a  bad  nam( 
They  have  employed  most  specious  pleading  to  convince  the  workingmen  that  the  Pres 
dent  of  the  Uni  ed  States,  as  well  as  the  majority  in  Congress  led  by  Mr.  Mills,  hav 
attempted  reform  in  the  interest  of  British  traders,  and  that  the  Bill  under  consideration, 
passed,  would  swamp  the  industries  of  the  Staves.  The  JS'eio  York  Tribur,e,  the  organ  of  th 
Protectionists  j  ar  exctllence,  only  recently  said  in  one  of  its  leading  columns,  "As  a  Britis 
candidate,  as  a  representative  of  British  manufacturing  interests,  Mr.  Cleveland  is  admii 
able,"  &c.,  «&c.  The  true  issue  was  very  plainly  stated  by  Mr.  Cleveland  in  his  famous  mci 
sage  to  Congress  last  December.  Mr.  Cleveland  urges  a  reduction  of  the  surplus  by  remo> 
ingthedu lies  upon  raw  wool  and  other  raw  materials  necessary  in  manufacturing,  and 
reduction  of  the  duties  upon  manufacturt  s  and  necessaries  of  life,  based  upon  th*  se  altere 
conditions.  The  President  has,  however,  empbaticaiiy  protested  against  the  attempt  t 
brand  those  who  seek  to  correct  the  evils  of  the  existing  system  of  rabid  Protectionism  "8 
Free  Traders  and  enemies  of  our  workingmen  and  industrial  enterprises." 

"Whether  Engl  ill  traders  and  manufacturers  have  reason  to  congratulate  themsclvei 
or  to  expect  an  increase  of  trade  with  the  States  from  the  ultimate  enactment  of  the  Mil: 
Bill,  is  a  question  of  grave  doubt.  An  examination  of  the  bill  seems  to  show  that,  if  an: 
thing,  while  reducing  taxation,  it  is  more  Protectionist  than  the  law  which  it  is  intended  t 
supersede.  The  present  American  tariff  is  a  war  tariff,  and  it  was  based  on  the  necessit 
of  taxing  all  and  every  commodity  tha'  could  possibly  be  taxed.  Many  of  is  provision 
are  due  to  the  fact  that  Inland  duties  had  to  be  compensated  by  equivalent  import  dutie 
These  inland  duties  have  long  been  removed,  while  all  equivalent  import  duties  hav 
remained.  Thus,  in  point  of  fact,  the  tariff,  beside  being  practically  higher  now  than  at  11 
highest  before,  is  absolutelyinoreaeedin  its  protective  features  by  thla  removal  of  equivt 
lent  inland  duties. 


ENGLISH  FEAR  OF  THE   MILLS  BILL.  467 


SOME  TRADE    PAPER    OPINIONS. 


^B  Carrying  the  examination  still  further  into  the  trade  papers,  the  following 

^Kressions  may  lie  noted  : 

^B  [London  Warehouseman  and  Drapers'  Trade  Journal.] 

^*  A  tariff  bill  which  leaves  an  average  duty  of  forty-two  and  one-half  per  cent,  upon  all 
Imported  articles  is  very  far  from  being  a  "free  trade  measure."  Nor  is  it  at  all  certain 
that  if  a  free-trade  policy  were  adopted  by  the  United  States  it  would  be  any  special  advan- 

^getous.    They  would  certainly  become  much  more  formidable  as  competitors  in  the 

^■rld's  markets. 

^HT  [Engineering  Trades'  Report,  London.] 

In  the  United  States  free-trade  principles  which,  till  recently,  have  only  met  with  a 
lukewarm  support  from  a  minority  of  the  people,  are  likely  soon  to  receive  more  atten- 
tion, the  issue  being- forced  in  the  coming  Presidential  election.  The  inconveniences  and 
losses  which  must  always  attend  a  radical  alteration  of  fiscal  policy  will,  however,  hinder 
any  sudden  change,  and  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  need  not  anticipate  for  some 
years  to  come  (he  serious  competition  which  will  arise  in  foreign  markets  directly  tlieir  American 

rare  free  to  sell  abroad. 
[From  the  London  Shipping  World  for  August.] 

It  answers  the  purpose  of  American  journals  opposed  to  4he  Administration  and 
re-election  of  President  Cleveland  to  pretend  that  Mr.  Mills's  bill  is  framed  in  the  interest 
of  British  manuf  acturf  s  and  commerce  !  The  N&w  Ym±  Tribune,  describing  the  scene  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  during  the  closing  period  of  Mr.  Mills's  speech,  tells  us  that "  the 
gallery  reserved  for  the  members  and  attaches  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  contained  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  British  Embassy,  and  other  foreign  legations  from  countries  which  stand 
ready  to  pounce  upon  the  richest  market  in  the  world,  if  the  Free  Traders  succeed  in  their 
scheme." 

It  is  scarcely  worth  noticing  observations  of  this  class,  which  are,  indeed,  appeals  to 
the  prejudices  of  that  section  of  the  American  people  who  have  not  thought  out  the  great 
economic  problem  of  their  country.  The  political  representatives  of  this  country  at  the 
Republican  court  are  aware,  or  should  be  aware,  that  the  best  thinkers,  and  the  most 
astute  manufacturers  of  England,  know  full  well  that,  so  long  as  the  present  tariff  is 
maintained  by  the  United  States,  that  enterprising  country  will  be  so  hampered  and 
handicapped  in  the  race  for  ascendency  in  the  International  market  that  it  can  never 
compete  against  this  country  with  any  reasonable  hope  of  success. 

Europe  receives  from  America,  in  considerable  quantities,  manufactured  articles  such 
as  agricultural  implements,  boots  and  shoes,  etc.;  and  it  does  not  seem  to  be  a  very 
abstruse  proposition— that  if  the  duty  upon  the  articles  used  in  the  manufacture  of  these 
exports  were  taken  off  they  could  be  produced  at  less  cost,  could  be  exported  in  larger 
quantites,  and  would  yield  a  better  return  of  remuneration  to  those  engaged  in  their  man- 
ufacture. 

So  long  as  the  price  of  articles  exported  is  enhanced  by  a  high  tariff  upon  the  mate- 
rials used  in  their  production,  so  long,  also,  will  it  be  impossible  for  the  United  States 
successfully  to  compete  with  us  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

Knowing  this,  we  are  in  no  hurry  to  see  Free  Trade  become  the  national  policy  of 
the  United  States ;  for  whomsoever  might  be  benefited  by  that  policy,  serious  loss  would, 
undoubtedly,  eventually  be  ours. 

Even  in  Germany,  where  protection  has  been  made  more  rigid  during  the 
past  ten  years,  the  Monthly  for  Textile  Industry,  a  trade  paper  of  Leipsic,  expresses 
the  same  fear  as  the  newspapers  of  England  are  shown  to  feel.  In  a  recent  number 
it  said : 

It  is  well  known  that  G  ermany  participates  largely  in  the  export  of  woolen  goods  to 
the  United  States,  and  it  is  now  asked  how  far  the  abolition  of  the  American  duty  on  wool 
will  affect  German  woolen  industries.  The  question  may  be  answered  by  saying  that  the 
effect  is  not  likely  to  be  a  favorable  one,  because  it  is  thought  that  the  American  woolen 
industry,  upon  the  removal  of  the  import  duty,  will  improve  and  progress  in  such  measure 
as  to  curtail  our  woolen  goods  export  trade  to  that  country. 

These  are  only  specimens  of  the  opinions  held  by  the  people  of  foreign  coun- 
tries on  the  question  of  tariS"  revision  now  under  discussion  here.  But  they  show 
as  plainly  as  anything  can  that  the  proposed  removal  of  hard  restrictions  is  looked 
upon  with  anything  but  satisfaction  by  the  commercial  rivals  of  this  country. 
Sensible  people  can  see  plainly  from  these  that  the  charges  made  by  Republican 
newspapers  are  as  false  as  they  are  idle.  These  few  extracts  are  a  complete  refuta- 
tion of  the  charge  that  any  man  in  any  party  in  this  country  has  considered 
anything  but  the  good  of  their  own  people. 
.SO 


I 


468  "  FAT  "  IN   THE    TARIFF. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
"FAT"  IN  THE  TARIFF. 


AN   EXPERT   REPUBLICAN   OPINION   ON    THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF 
TARIFF   BENEFITS. 


What  a  Senator  Has  to  Say  on  the  Question — An  Unusually 

Pithy  Letter  Included  in  an  Official  BepuUican 

Document  Soliciting  Contributions. 


James  P.  Foster  of  New  York  is  President  of  the  Republican  League  of  the 
United  States,  organized  in  December  last  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  general  and  local 
committees  of  the  party.  He  had  not  been  long  in  place  until  he  concluded  that  he 
wanted  some  money  to  promote  the  cause,  so  he  issued  a  circular  which  included 
within  it  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Senator  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  which  not  being 
intended  for  publication,  told  an  amount  of  truth  truly  unusual.  The  following  is 
the  full  text  of  the  circular— the  most  successful  political  boomerang  ever  thrown 
in  American  politics : 


[Dictated.] 


I. 
[CONFIDENTIAL.] 


Office  of 

Albert  Daggett, 

51  New  Street, 

{Room  13 ) 

New  York,  May  25, 1888. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  been  requested  to  submit  the  enclosed  communication 
to  you,  and  I  do  so  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  With  my  knowledge  of  practical 
politics,  I  unhesitatingly  say  that  this  is  the  most  important  undertaking  in  the 
campaign  of  1888.  and  I  confidently  rely  upon  your  prompt  endorsement  and  as- 
sistance. Will  you  kindly  subscribe  and  return  the  enclosed  subscription  list  to  me 
at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable,  as  the  work  is  outgrowing  the  resources  of  the 
League,"which  now  contains  oyer  5,000  clubs,  with  a  membership  of  half-a-million 
voters  ? 

Very  truly  yours, 

[Enclosure.]  Albert  Daggett. 


fat"  in  the  tariff.  469 


[Confidential.] 


HEADQUARTERS 

XDictated.]  of  the 

REPUBLICAN  LEAGUE   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES. 




^K  My  Dear  Sir  :  The  Repablican  League  of  the  United  States  desires  to  bring 
you  face  to  face  with  the  startling  fact  that  the  coming  Presidential  election  is  not 
to  be  fought  on  the  old  party  lines  which  have  heretofore  divided  Democrats  and 
^■publicans,  but  upon  the  direct  issue  of  free  trade  vs.  protection. 
^"The  League  stands  for  protection  and  is  fighting  in  your  interest.  It  is  no 
Fourth  of  July  organization  for  dress  parade,  but  is  an  every -day  working  force  of 
practical  political  workers,  who  have  in  four  months  enrolled  an  army  of  over 
400,000  men  to  fight  against  British  free-trade  ideas,  British  gold,  and  Democratic 
Hessians,  who  are  fighting  under  her  banners.  It  is  useless  to  argue  the  case ; 
Democracy  stands  for  free  trade  and  against  your  interests,  and  you  know  it,  no 
matter  whether  you  have  heretofore  been  a  Democrat  or  a  Republican.  High- 
sounding  platforms  of  words  cannot  gainsay  this  fact,  nor  fool  you  unless  you  wish 
to  be  fooled. 

The  coming  campaign  will  be  fought  for  protection  under  disadvantages  never 
before  encountered.  Ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  Federal  officials  are  Democrats, 
and  will  contribute  financially  to  the  hoped  for  success  of  the  free-traders.  Never 
before  has  the  Democratic  free-trade  or  "  tariff-reform  "  party  been  in  so  fortunate 
a  position. 

The  Republican  League  is  not  composed  of  theorists  who  are  for  ever  promising 
to  do  something  and  never  keeping  their  promises.  It  has  already  done  more  than 
any  other  political  organization  ever  attempted  before  the  Presidential  candidates 
had  been  placed  in  the  field.  As  our  patriotic  volunteers  sprang  to  the  country's 
•defense  when  secession  threatened  its  destruction,  so  at  the  cill  of  the  League  vast 
armies  have  been  enrolled  to  fight  the  thousand  times  more  dangerous  foe  to  the 
country's  continued  prosperity — free  trade. 

We  will  win  this  fight  if  you  will  do  your  share  and  help  us  to  finish  what  we 
have  begun ;  we  want  money,  and  want  it  at  once.  We  are  overwhelmed  with 
calls  for  tariflf  documents  and  for  speakers  and  organizers.  We  propose  to  organize 
and  fight  against  free  trade  in  every  doubtful  Congressional  and  Legislative  district 
in  the  United  States.  To-day  there  is  but  one  majority  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  when  the  lines  are  drawn  between  Democrats  and  Republicans,  and  unless 
much  is  done,  the  n3xt  Congress  will  see  a  free-trade  House,  Senate,  and  Presi- 
dent, and  then  good-by  to  your  prosperity. 

It  may  not  be  of  your  personal  knowledge,  but  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  that  the 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States  who  are  most  benefited  by  our  tariff  laws  have  been 
the  leant  willing  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  the  parly  which  gave  them  protection,  and 
which  is  about  to  engage  in  a  life  and -death  struggle  with  free  trade. 

A  Republican  United  States  Senator,  from  a  State  which  never  had  a  Demo- 
cratic representative  in  either  house  of  Congress  or  a  Democratic  State  officer,  in 
speaking  of  the  well-known  disposition  of  the  manufacturing  interest  to  lock  up  its 
money,  fold  its  hands,  and  look  on  while  somebody  else  fights  for  its  success,  says : 

"  The  campaign  which  we  are  about  to  enter  will  concern,  more  than  anybody 
else,  the  manufacturers  of  this  country.    They  have  heretofore  been  very  laggard  in 


470  "fat"  in  the  tariff. 

their  contributions  to  the  Republican  cause.  In  fact,  if  I  could  punish  iliem  without 
punishing  the  cause  of  protection  itself  ,  I  would  consign  them  to  the  hottest  place  1  could 
think  of  on  account  of  their  cravenal parsimony.  If  this  class  of  people  do  not  care  to 
contribute  to  the  success  of  the  RepuMicin  party,  they  are  welcome  to  try  their  chance» 
under  a  Democratic  administration :  lean  stand  it  as  long  as  they  can^  And,  again  : 
"I  was  solicited  to  contribute  to  a  protective-tariff  league,  and  I  replied  that  if  the 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States  in  their  associated  capacity  were  an  eleemosynary 
institution,  that  I  would  vote  to  give  then  a  pension,  but  that  I  did  not  propose  myself  to 
contribute  money  to  advance  the  interests  of  men  who  were  getting  practically  the  sole 
benefit,  or  at  least  the  most  directly  important  benefits  of  tlie  tariff*'  laws.  I  am  in  favor 
of  protection,  not  precisely  the  kind  we  are  having,  but  I  might  be  willing  to  keep 
even  that  rather  than  not  have  any,  but  I  am  sure  I  can  get  along  without  any  of  it 
fully  as  well  as  the  manufacturers  can,  and  if  they  think  the  Republican  party  is. 
going  to  maintain  a  high  protective  corps  for  their  benefit,  and  the  men  who  do  the^ 
work  in  that  party  are  going  to  keep  up  the  expenses  of  a  campaign  out  of  their 
own  pockets,  leaving  them  to  reap  tlie  fruits  of  the  tariff  policy  witJiout  any  deduction 
for  political  expenses,  they  are  very  greatly  mistaken.  I  understand  that  in  a  general 
way  the  manufacturers  of  New  England  have  been  more  liberal  in  their  contribu- 
tions than  those  of  Pennsylvania. 

•'In  fact,  I  have  it  froai  the  bsst  possible  source  that  the  manufacturers  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  are  more  highly  protected  than  anybody  else,  and  who  make  large  fortunes 
every  year  when  times  are  prosperous,  practically  give  nothing  towards  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  ascendeacy  of  the  Republican  party.  Of  course,  I  shall  not  violate 
what  I  consider  to  be  proper  principle  of  action ;  but  if  I  had  my  way  about  it,  I 
would  put  tlie  manufacturers  of  Pennsylvania  under  the  fire  and  fry  all  tJie  fat  out  of 
them.  If  the  Mills  Tariflf  Bill  comes  to  the  Senate,  there  will  be  some  votes  cast 
there  which  will  open  the  eyes  of  some  of  these  people  who  have,  while  gathering 
their  millions,  treated  the  Republican  party  as  their  humblest  servant." 

These  are  strong  words,  and  bitter,  but  they  are  true,  and  it  now  remains  with  you 
and  your  associates  to  determine  whether  they  are  to  be  reiterated  after  this  cam- 
paign is  over,  and  protection  has,  through  your  apathy,  been  struck  its  death  blow^ 
If  you  give  us  the  means  to  win  the  victory,  we  will  do  it.    Are  vou  willing  ? 

Yours  very  truly, 

JAMES  P.  FOSTER,  President. 


II. 
WHY    HE    CAN    NOT   HELP. 

A  REPUBLICAN  MANUFACTURER  WHO   DOESN'T  PROPOSE  TO  HAVE  ANY  FAT  FRIED 
OUT  OF    HIM  IF  HE  KNOWS  IT. 

A  Republican  manufacturer  in  North  Adams,  Mass.,  who  has  received  a  copy 
of  the  interesting  circular  sent  out  by  James  P.  Foster,  President  of  the  Republican 
League  of  the  United  States,  has  written  a  letter  explaining  why  he  can  not  send 
Mr.  Foster  any  "  fat."  He  says  that  the  company  with  which  he  is  associated  is 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods,  and  is  therefore  "  one  of  the  protected 
industries  of  New  England,"  and  adds : 


"fat"  in  the  tariff.  471 

*'As  a  manufacturer  I  see  clearly  that  a  reasonable  tariff  is  necessary  to  the  life 

dustrial  New  England,  but  being  a  manufacturer  (even  a  Republican  one)  does 

prevent  my  also  seeing  that  our  present  tariff  needs  reforming,  and  moreover, 

t  is  more  to  the  point,  that  reform  is  bound  to  come  whether  we  want  it  or  not. 

•'  If  during  the  past  four  months  the  Republican  leaders  in  and  out  of  Congress 

brought  to  the  question  a  sincere  desire  to  do  that  which  should  be  best  for  the 

ntry,  there  could  now  be  no  burning  tariff  issues.    And  what  is  this  going  on  in 

gress  while  I  write  ?    The  Republican  members  fighting,  as  if  for  the  very  life 

the  republic,  to  maintain  the  tax  on  lumber — to  protect  the  men  who  are  killing 

immature  and  insufficient  forests  and  tax  the  people  to  pay  for  it ! 

"Is  there  a  man  of  sense  in  New  England  who  believes  that  the  country  as  a 

^^  le  will  endorse  that  sort  of  protection '  when  the  time  comes  for  them  to  pass 

^l^n  it?    I  repeat  that  tariff  reform  is  bound  to  come,  and  if  we  will  not  help  to 

fairly  settle  the  question  it  will  be  settled  without  our  help.    How,  then,  shall  we 

successfully  meet  the  storm  and  save  that  which  is  good? 

^^  "  Can  it  be  done  merely  with  a  yell  against  '  free  trade '  and  bearing  a  protec- 
Hpi  idol  in  one  hand  and  free  whiskey  in  the  other,  or  by  simply  talking  of  the 
protection  of  the  American  laborer,  while  we  leave  the  floodgates  of  Europe  open 
to  pour  in  'American  laborers '  upon  us,  or  by  blindly  following  the  leadership  that 
is  leading  us  straight  into  the  ditch,  through  opposing  anything  and  everything  not 
originating  with  the  Republican  party  ?  Hardly.  If  we  want  any  part  in  this 
matter  we  must  ourselves  become  sincere  and  reasonable  tariff  reformers." 


III. 

THE  ADVICE  GIVEN  BY  A  SENATOR. 

the  now  celebrated  letter  which  senator  ingalls  wrote  to  his  . 

kansas  friend. 

Vice  President's  Chamber, 
Washington,  June  16. 

Yours  of  the  13th  at  hand.  It  does  not  make  much  difference  who  is  nominatea 
'my  judgment.  The  candidates  will  cut  but  a  small  figure  in  the  fight.  We  can 
-elect  anybody,  or  we  shall  fiiil.  The  least  conspicuous,  and  therefore  the  least  com- 
plicated, man  will  be  the  best— somebody  like  Hayes  in  1876. 

Among  all  the  men  named  there  is  not  one  "  leader,"  no  one  whose  personal  or 
historical  relations  to  the  people  would  make  a  difference  of  1,000  votes  in  the  can- 
Tass.  Sherman,  Allison,  Harrison,  etc.,  have  records  that  would  be  awkward  on  the 
tariff,  the  currency,  the  Chinese  question,  etc.  Depew's  connection  with  railroads 
and  corporations  would  be  a  heavy  load,  especially  in  the  agricultural  States.  We 
might  as  well  nominate  Gould  or  Vanderbilt  at  once. 

My  impression  is  that  Alger  or  Gresham  come  nearer  filling  the  bill  than  any 
of  the  others,  with  some  fellow  like  Phelps  of  New  Jersey,  who  could  reach  the 
conservative  forces  of  the  East  and  get  contributions  from  the  manufacturers  and 
Wall  street.  But  you  can  judge  much  better  than  I  what  is  best  after  consulting 
with  the  delegates. 

I  have  the  use  of  the  wires  during  the  convention,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  com- 
pany, and  you  can  therefore  telegraph  me  fully  at  all  times  if  anything  of  interest 
transpires.  Truly  yours, 

JOHN  J.  INGALLS. 

the  same  letter  as  read  and  punctuated  on  the  floor  of  the  house. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Chicago,  June  23, 1888. 
The  following  letter  from  Senator  John  J.  Ingalls  was  received  by  a  member 
of  the  Kansas  delegation  in  the  convention  : 


473  "fat"   IX    THE    TARIFF. 

"Vice  Presidents  Chamber,  Washington,  June  16, 1888. 

"Yours  of  the  13th  at  hand.  It  does  not  make  much  difference  who  is  nomW 
nated,  in  my  judgment.  The  candidates  will  cut  bat  a  small  figure  in  the  fight. 
We  can  elect  anybody  or  we  shall  fail. 

[Laughter  on  the  Democratic  side.] 

"The  least  conspicuous,  and  therefore  the  least  complicated  man  will  be  the- 
best— 

[Laughter  on  the  Democratic  side.] 
somebody  like  Hayes — 

[Renewed  laughter,  long  continued.] 
in  1876.    Among  all  the  men  named  there  is  not  one  leader — no  one  whose  personal 
or  historical  relations  to  the  people  would  make  a  difference  of  1,000  votes  in  the 
canvass.    Sherman,  Allison,  Harrison,  etc, ,  have  records  that  would  be  awkward 
on  the  tariff— 

[Applause  on  the  Democratic  side.] 
the  currency,  the  Chinese  question— 

[Renewed  applause  on  the  Democratic  side.] 
etc. 

"Depew's  connection  with  railroads  and  corporations  would  be  a  heavy 
load,  especially  in  the  agricultural  States.  We  might  as  well  nominate  Gould  or 
Vanderbilt  at  once.  My  impression  is  that  Alger  or  Gresham  comes  nearer  filling 
the  bill  than  any  of  the  others,  with  some  fellow  like  Phelps,  of  New  Jersey — 

[Laughter  on  the  Democratic  side,  ] 
who  could  reach  the  conservative  forces  of  the  East  and  get  contributions — 

[Renewed  laughter.] 
from  the  manufacturers  and  Wall  street.    But  you  can  judge  much  better  than  I 
what  is  best  after  consulting  with  the  delegates, 

"I  have  the  use  of  the  wires  during  the  convention  by  the  courtesy  of  the  com- 
pany, and  you  can  therefore  telegraph  me  fully  at  all  times  if  anything  of  interest 
transpires.  Truly  yours, 

JOHNJ.  INGALLS." 

[Shouts  of  laughter  and  applause  on  the  Democratic  side,  long  continued.] 


IV. 
IS  NOT  AFRAID  OF  TARIFF  REVISION. 

AN  OLD   REPUBLICAN    MANUFACTURER  WHO  IS   NOT  SCARED  BY   THE  FREE   TRADE 
CRY   SO  FREELY  INDULGED  IN. 

The  Republicans  of  Massachusetts  are  not  having  the  best  success  in  soliciting* 
funds  from  manufacturers.  The  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Hol- 
yoke  Republican  Club  recently  solicited  a  contribution  from  Mr.  Arthur  T.  Lymair, 
who  is  the  Treasurer  of  the  Hadley  Thread  Company,  of  Holyoke,  as  well  as  of 
the  Lowell  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Lowell.  In  reply  Mr.  Lyman  wrote  the 
following  letter: 


i 

^H)  "  FAT  "   IN  THE    TARIFF.  473 

^v  Boston,  July  13. 

BJatrTwan  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Holyohe  Republican  Club  : 

Dear  Sir  :— I  have  yours  of  the  12th,  asking  for  a  contribution  for  the  Repub- 
lican Club.  I  am  of  course  deeply  interested  in  the  tariff  as  regards  the  Hadley 
Company,  and  also  in  its  bearing  on  many  other  cotton  and  woolen  manufactures  in 
which  I  am  interested,  but  in  my  opinion  the  Republican  members  of  Congress  from 
New  England  and  the  Home  Market  Club  and  the  Woolen  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion have  practically  done  more  harm  to  the  cause  of  protection  and  to  the  pro- 
tected (so-called)  industries  of  Massachusetts  than  the  Democratic  members  of  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee,  I  have  had  occasion  to  see  some  of  the  Democratic 
members  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  and  to  hear  of  the  plans  and  views  of 
others,  and  I  am  convinced  that  but  for  the  action  of  the  Republican  members  of 
Congress  from  New  England  and  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Republican  manufac- 
turers of  New  England,  we  could  have  had  in  the  Mills  bill  satisfactory  schedules 
for  woolens  and  cottons. 

As  it  is,  at  the  request  of  some  manufacturers  (Republicans)  made  through  the 
Democratic  members  from  Massachusetts,  the  Democrats  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee  altered  and  advanced  rates  on  some  important  items,  while  we  were 
met,  I  am  informed,  by  Republican  members  of  the  House,  saying  :  *'Leave  the 
fichedule  as  it  is ;  it  is  better  for  the  election."  The  Republicans  now  refuse  to  aid 
in  putting  new  materials  on  the  free  list,  and  certainly  in  New  England  free  raw 
material  has  been  considered  as  an  element  in  pi'otection  almost  as  essential  as  the 
duty  on  manufactured  articles.  From  my  business  experience  in  both  importing 
and  manufacturing,  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  necessity  of  protection  for  the  mainte- 
nance here  of  certain  manufactures,  and  I  very  much  regret  that  the  Republican 
party,  with  which  I  have  acted  from  its  beginning,  has,  for  political  success,  taken  a 
position  which  I  consider  hostile  in  its  practical  effects  to  the  protected  industries  of 
Massachusetts. 

The  Democratic  members  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  take  broad,  and 
on  the  whole,  reasonable,  views  of  the  tariff  question,  and  while  of  course  they  look 
at  the  interest  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  they  do  not  ignore  the  fact  that  manf 
great  industries  have  grown  up  in  this  country  under  the  high  duties  made  neces- 
sary by  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  that  it  is  only  fair  and  proper  that  considera- 
tion should  be  paid  to  their  existence  and  condition.  Neither  do  they  ignore  the 
fact  that  the  working  people  in  the  protected  industries  are  very  largely  members  of 
the  Democratic  party. 

Besides  the  consideration  that  my  manufacturing  interests  have  been  put  at 
needless  risk  by  the  partisan  action  of  the  Republicans,  I  must  also  take  into  consid- 
eration the  mterests  of  the  whole  country,  in  which  we  are  all  involved,  and  I  cannot 
feel  it  to  be  right  to  vole  for  any  one  who  can  honestly  stand  on  the  Republican 
platform.  Most  of  the  Republicans  with  whom  I  have  spoken  about  it  have  told  me 
that  they  have  not  read  it.  I  can  readily  believe  that  it  would  be  disagreeable  read- 
ing to  Republicans,  who  in  the  past  have  in  all  honesty  desired  to  have  raw  mate- 
rials and  food  products  on  the  free  list.  But  the  exigencies  of  practical  politics  have 
forced  the  party  into  a  false  position  as  regards  the  tariff,  and  into  many  unwise  and 
dangerous  relations  in  regard  to  the  domestic  and  foreign  afiairs  of  the  country. 

There  is  practically  no  party  in  this  country  in  favor  of  free  trade  in  any  rea- 
sonable sense  of  the  term,  and  it  is  as  unfair  to  call  the  Mills  Bill  a  free -trade  bill  as 
it  is  to  say  that  the  Republicans  are  in  favor  of  free  drinking  of  whiskey,  because 
the  manufacturers  of  protected  articles  have  several  years  insisted  that  all  internal 
taxes  should  be  taken  off  in  order  that  it  should  be  impossible  to  alter  the  duties  on 
imports.  While  the  Mills  Bill  is  not  a  bill  that  wholly  commends  itself  to  me,  it  is 
correct  and  for  the  interest  of  Massachusetts,  in  many  particulars,  notably  in  the 
matter  of  free  wool.  Every  manufacturing  country  in  the  world  of  any  consequence 
except  the  United  States,  has  wool  on  the  free  list.  The  position  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  has  taken,  makes  it  well  for  the  country,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  it  should 
not  have  the  control  of  the  Government  for  the  next  four  years. 

ARTHUR  T.  LYMAN. 


474  BEASONS  IN  FAVOR   OF   TAX  REVISION. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 
EEASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX  REVISION. 


MEN     OF   EVERY    PEOFESSION    AND    EMPLOYMENT   WHO     DO     NOT 
BELIEVE    IN    BURDENSOME    TAXES. 


I. 
OPINIONS  OF  OPERATIVES. 

TEXTILE-WORKERS    WHO    SAY    THAT    THE     PRESENT    LAWS    FAIL    TO    GIVE    THE 
W^ORKER   niS   SHARE   OF   THE   PROTECTION   CLAIMED   FOR   HIM. 

The  following  petition  from  workers  in  the  textile  industries  of  Philadelphia  was 

presented  to  the  House  on  June  29,  by  Mr.  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky : 
To  the  Honorable  iJie  House  of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C: 

"When  the  forty  thousand  textile  workers  of  Philadelphia,  in  April,  1886,  made 
the  appeal  to  you,  through  tlie  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  for  relief  from  the 
outrageous  inequalities,  discriminations  and  oppressions  of  the  present  tariff  laws,  it 
was'hoped  by  them  that  their  demands,  reasonable  as  they  were,  would  be  heeded, 
and  that  partisan,  sectional,  or  class  considerations  would  not  be  alldwcd  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  doing  ot  a  simple  act  of  justice  and  the  righting  of  the  most  glar- 
ing wrongs.  It  was  the  first  time  that  the  workingmen  spoke  on  the  subject,  unin- 
fluenced by  any  outside  pressure  or  coercion,  but  the  answer  has  been  the  failure  to 
perfect  a  measure  of  relief. 

Hence,  it  becomes  necessary  to  renew  the  appeal,  and  in  doing  so  we  beg  leave 
to  submit  the  reasons  and  causes  that  inspire  us  to  this  act. 

The  condition  of  the  textile  industries,  especially  the  woolen  trade,  has  been 
growing  worse,  the  working  time  in  the  mills  is  being  shortened,  and  the  wages  are 
being  pared  down  just  in  proportion  as  the  strain  upon  the  physical  exertions  of  the 
toiler  increases,  and  we  are  forced  to  compete  with  labor  in  other  parts  of  our  own 
country  that  is  paid  no  more  than  is  the  much-talked-of  "  pauper  labor"  of  Europe, 
and  as  all  this  has  taken  place  under  a  system  that  is  declared  to  be  for  the  "  protec- 
tion of  American  labor,"  are  we  not  justified  in  making  inquiries,  with  the  aid  of 
our  experience,  as  to  whether  it  is  so  or  not? 

If  there  is  any  virtue  in  the  theory  that  in  order  to  protect  American  labor 
against  ruinous  foreign  competition  it  ia  necessary  to  place  a  tax  upon  goods  that 
are  brought  in  from  countries  where  labor  is  cheaper,  it  follows  that  these  taxes 
should  in  all  cases  correspond  with  the  amount  and  cost  of  labor  required  upon  such 
goods  in  their  successive  stages  of  manufacture,  but  this  obviously  plain  and  honest 
rule  has  never  been  observed  in  any  tariff  law  which  its  framers  claimed  to  be  for 
the  protection  of  labor.  That  the  reverse  has  been  the  case  naturally  excites  the 
suspicion  that  the  design  was  to  crush  rather  than  help  labor.  In  the  woolen  in- 
dustry, as  in  many  others,  the  tax  on  the  raw  materials  neutralizes  the  tax  on  the 
finished  fabrics,  and  taking  quality  into  account,  the  tax  always  graduates  down- 


I 


SEASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX  REVISION.  475 


-ward  against  quality  instead  of  upwards  with  it,  and  in  every  case  exceeds  by  three 
to  four  times  the  entire  labor  cost  in  the  product.  To  call  such  laws  "  protective  to 
labor"  is  a  fraud  and  deception,  and  labor  has  a  right  to  protest  against  the  perpe- 
trators of  these  wrongs  being  allowed  to  any  longer  influence  legislation  on  this 
subject. 

According  to  Bowes  &  Co.,  an  accepted  authority,  100  pounds  of  greasy  wool 
will  make  21.45  pounds  of  finished  cloth,  and  on  this  basis  it  will  require  530 
pounds  of  greasy  w^ool  to  make  100  yards  of  cloth  with  backing,  weighing  18 
ounces  to  the  yard.  Suppose  this  cloth  is  made  of  four  different  kinds  of  wool,  the 
cost  to  the  English  manufacturer  would  be — 

150  pounds  of  fourth  quality,  at  13  cents  $18.00 

130  pounds  of  third  quality,  at  24  cents 31  20 

125  pounds  of  second  quality,  at  2G  cents 32  50 

125  pounds  of  first  quality,  at  33  cents 41.25 

Total  cost  of  wool 123.95 

"With  precisely  the  same  grades  of  wool  the  cost  to  the  American  manufac- 
;urer  would  be— 

150  pounds  of  fourth  quality,  at  23.94  cents $35  91 

[30  pounds  of  third  quality,  at  37.54  cents 48.80 

125  pounds  of  second  quality,  at  39.64  cents 49.55 

.25  pounds  of  first  quality,  at  49.61  cents 62.01 

Total  cost  of  wool 196.27 

Sxcess  of  cost  to  the  American  manufacturer 73.32 

The  total  cost  for  labor  in  making  this  cloth  is  not  over  27  cents  per  yard,  or 
>27  for  the  whole,  showing  that  the  tariff- enhanced  cost  of  the  material  is  nearly 
hree  times  the  entire  expense  for  labor. 

The  importations  of  woolen  and  worsted  yarns  for  the  years  1886-87  were 
',039,448  pounds,  valued  at  $4,030,738,  on  which  duties  were  paid  amounting  to 
52,777,582.  The  amount  of  wool  required  to  make  this  yarn  is  28,157,792  pounds. 
?he  duty  on  the  wool  would  be  $2,815,779,  and  adding  the  charges  for  carrying 
he  duty  we  have  a  total  tax  burden  on  the  wool  of  $3,097,356,  or  $319,776  in  ex- 
ess  of  the  duty  on  the  yarn.  The  total  cost  for  labor  in  making  this  yarn  is  not 
ver  $700,000,  showing  that  the  tax  on  the  wool  is  nearly  four  and  a  half  times 
he  total  labor  cost  in  the  yarn.  This,  on  the  theory  advanced  by  the  modern 
i-otection  school,  can  be  called  by  no  other  name  than  protection  to  foreign  man- 
facturers  and  labor. 

The  percent,  of  duty  on  the  yarn  is  69.11,  and  on  the  cloth  70.40,  a  difference 
f  but  1.29  per  cent.;  but  as  there  is  a  loss  by  waste  and  shrinkage  in  weaving, 
yeing,  and  finishing  of  3  to  5  per  cent.,  we  find  that  this  difference  between  the 
arn  duty  and  tbat  on  the  cloth  is  more  than  neutralized, and  thus  the  "protective" 
uty  is  again  in  favor  of- the  foreign  cloth  manufacturers,  who  could  not  have  done 
etter  for  themselves  if  they  had  been  permitted  to  make  our  tariff  laws  for  us. 

Under  the  present  law  the  percentage  of  duty  on  the  finer  and  more  costly 
ibrics  is  always  lower  than  on  the  coarser  and  cheaper  grades,  thus  depriving  us 
f  the  chance  to  work  upon  the  better  class  of  goods,  upon  which  our  work  would 
e  lightest  and  our  earnings  laigest. 

The  importation  of  woolen  and  worsted  cloths  for  the  year  ended  June  30, 
?87,  was,  of  the  value  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound,  1,117,564  pounds,  valued 
:  $713,315,  on  which  duties  were  paid  amountmg  to  $640,808.  Per  cent,  of  duty, 
).84.  Value  above  80  cents  per  pound,  7,689,699  pounds,  valued  at  $9,309,054,  on 
hich  duties  were  paid  to  the  amount  of  $6,415,016.    Per  cent,  of  duty,  68.91. 

HOW  DISCRIMINATIONS  INJURE  THE  MANUFACTURER. 

This  shows  how  we  are  crippled,  both  in  our  earning  powers  and  in  the  exer- 
se  of  our  skill  by  the  infamous  discriminations  of  the  tariff,  which  at  the  eame 
tne  make  the  burdens  upon  the  rich  comparatively  lighter  than  upon  the  poor. 


I 


476  REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OP   TAX  REVISION. 

It  is  no  stretch  of  truth  to  say  that  these  discriminations  against  the  manufact 
ing  industries  have  very  materially  discouraged  the  use  of  vs^ool  and  promoted 
substitution  of  adulterants,  most  manufacturers  having  for  some  lime  given  m 
attention  to  the  manipulation  of  substitutes,  so  as  to  give  them  the  appearance  £ 
touch  of  wool,  than  to  the  matter  of  improvements  in  the  making  of  pure  wooL 
in  order  to  compete  in  quality  with  their  foreign  rivals.  This  has  given  rise  to  i 
impression  that  we  are  less  skilled  than  the  European  workmen,  yet  it  is  self  € 
dent  that  it  requires  as  much  if  not  more  skill  to  work  up  the  adulterants  so  as 
give  them  a  marketable  appearance  as  to  manipulate  the  genuine  materials. 

A  great  deal  of  stuff  is  put  upon  the  markets  now  sm  cassimeres,  etc.,  that  d 
not  contain  over  ten  per  cent,  of  wool.  Manufacturers  who  attempt  to  mi 
nothing  but  pure  woolens  are  compelled  to  close  their  mills.  To  make  staffs  tl 
shall  compete  in  the  markets  with  foreign  makes  in  texture  and  variety,  it  is  aim 
invariably  necessary  to  use  some  wools  of  foreign  growth  for  mixing  with  the  ( 
mestic ;  but  as  the  tariff  enhances  the  cost  of  these  wools  by  from  25  to  150  ] 
cent ,  there  is  no  possibility  of  the  American  manufacturer  using  them  in  comp( 
tion,and  hence  we  are  forced  to  give  over  to  the  foreign  manufticturers  the  mon( 
oly  of  all  the  markets  and  allow  them  to  supply  our  own  people  with  goods  ii 
which  not  a  pound  of  American  wool  enters.  Thus  the  woolen  manufactu 
imported  in  1887  amounted  to  49,000,000  pounds,  which,  at  4  pounds  of  raw  W( 
to  the  pound  of  finished  product,  represented  196,000,000  pounds  of  wool,  whi 
with  the  115,000,000  pounds  of  raw  wool,  makes  a  total  importation  of  311.000,( 
pounds,  or  consi/lerably  more  than  the  entire  wool-clip  of  the  United  States.  If 
this  had  come  in  free  in  the  raw  state,  it  would  have  absorbed  for  mixture  a  lai 
quantity  of  domestic  wool,  instead  of  every  pound  that  did  come  in  anyhow  c 
placing  a  pound  of  American  wool,  and  at  the  same  time  depriving  American  lal 
of  employment  and  our  poor  people  of  the  comfort  of  woolen  clothing. 

From  a  statement  recently  made  public  by  a  leading  carpet  manufacturer,  ■ 
gleam  the  fact  that  ingrain  carpets  which  formerly  were  made  largely  of  wool  i 
now  made  of  an  average  of  one-fifth  wool  and  four-fifths  adulterants,  and  in  t 
whole  of  the  carpet  industry  probably  not  a  million  pounds  of  domestic  wool  is  n( 
used.  There  is  no  carpet  wool  raised  in  this  country,  and  yet  a  tax  of  over  20  p 
cent.,  which  far  exceeds  all  the  wages  paid  in  the  manufacture  of  carpets,  is  s 
imposed  upon  the  wool  which  is  necessarily  brought  in  from  the  outside.  If  tj 
wool  were  admitted  free,  a  greater  quantity  would  be  used,  and  probably  notli 
than  10.000,000  pounds  of  domestic  wool  would  be  absorbed  for  mixture. 

For  these  reasons  we  fail  to  see  how  the  wool- growers  are  benefited  by  t 
tariff  on  wool,  as  it  inevitably  restricts  the  market  for  their  wool,  both  by  forci 
the  use  of  substitutes  and  by  promoting  the  importation  of  wool  in  the  manufs 
tured  state,  all  of  which  must  redound  to  the  injury  of  both  the  wool-grower  a 
the  wool- worker. 

HOW  TRUSTS   ABE    ENCOURAGED. 

If  protection  protects,  or  if  the  present  tariff  arrangement  is  really  benefic 
to  the  manufacturing  industries,  why  do  the  manufacturers  fiftd  it  necessary 
form  "combines,"  "arrangements,"  or  "understandings"  in  order  to  protect  the 
selves  against  what  they  term  a  demoralized  market  ?  Why  should  they  adopt  t 
suicidal  policy  of  reducing  the  wages  of  labor,  which  can  not  but  curtail  the  i 
sorption  of  their  wares  and  thus  injure  their  business?  Why  do  workingmen  fi: 
it  necessary  to  organize  for  self-protection  against  the  very  men  who  are  loudest 
their  demands  for  more  tariff  upon  the  plea  that  labor  "must  be  protected  ?"  M 
who  are  really  protected  need  not  go  to  the  trouble  and  expenses  of  protect! 
themselves.  As  "charity  begins  at  home,"  would  it  not  be  more  consistent  for  t 
protected  and  protectionist  employers  to  show  by  the  bettering  of  wages  of  th 
employes  and  by  treating  them  as  men — freemen  if  you  please— that  their  cry  1 
more  taxes  is  not  raised  solely  for  their  own  benefit,  and  that  they  are  ready 
make  true  the  oft  repeated  declaration  that  protection  to  the  manufacturer  will  i 
able  him  to  pay  high  wages  ? 

Now,  as  he  has  just  the  protection  he  wants,  and  is  still  cutting  down  wages, 
it  not  evident  that  he  is  either  wrong  in  his  protection  theory  or  is  playing  "hea 


\ 


REASONS  IN  FAVOK  OF   TAX  REVISION.  477 

[  win  and  tails  you  lose"  with  his  workingmen  ?  Surely  no  sane  man  can  see  in 
the  "trusts"  and  "arrangements"  of  the  capitalists  and  the  frantic  efforts  of  labor 
to  hold  its  own  against  the  encroachments  of  combined  capitalists  aught  else  but 
the  positive  and  practical  proof  that  protection  of  labor  by  a  tarilf,  or  by  any  other 
tax  upon  its  products,  is  worse  than  a  failure,  because  it  neutralizes  the  natural  ad- 
vantages of  our  country  and  disarranges  the  natural  course  of  trade,  and  thus  must 
result  in  the  destruction  of  labor.  When  the  manufacturer  closes  his  mill,  or 
lays  off  any  of  his  hands,  he  will  invariably  give  as  an  excuse  the  bad  state  of 
trade,  an  honest  acknowledgment  that  it  is  trade  that  keeps  the  mill  going,  and 
bence  is  a  good  thing  to  keep  labor  steadily  employed  and  give  it  a  chance  for  bet- 
ter wages.  Now,  it  is  always  the  part  of  wisdom  to  protect  ourselves  against  a  bad 
thing,  but  it  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  protectionists  to  discover  the  utility  of  pro- 
tecting ourselves  against  a  good  thing,  and  in  order  to  accomplish  this  to  tax  our- 
selves to  spite  and  impoverish  some  one  else. 

That  the  protectionist  manufacturers  do  not  altogether  believe  in  this  theory  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  they  have  here  an  association  which  has  for  its  object, 
among  others,  the  securement  of  a  higher  tariff  for  the  protection  of  American 
labor,  and  by  unity  of  action,  to  be  better  prepared  to  resist  the  demands  of  labor 
for  more  wages.  But  if  they  really  do  believe  that  people  can  become  rich  by  tax- 
ng  themselves  why  do  they  not  try  the  experiment  by  taxing  themselves  to  pay  us 
nore  wages,  or  why  do  they  resist  all  our  efforts  in  that  direction  ?  It  would  surely 
)e  as  cheap,  or  cheaper,  to  tax  themselves  to  pay  us  a  little  more  than  it  is  to  tax  them- 
lelves  to  pay  to  the  raw- ma'  eriai  men  mucli  more  than  our  entire  wages  amount  to. 
s  not  this  evidence  that  they  are  in  favor  of  those  taxes  of  which  the  largest 
hare  flows  back  into  their  pockets  and  falls  with  crushing  weight  upon  us  ?  Hence 
ve  have  just  cause  to  demand  such  a  change  of  the  laws  as  will  secure  a  more 
quitable  distribution  of  the  benefits  amongst  all  the  people. 

But  there  is  danger  in  this  theory  of  protection  in  this,  that  it  involves  the 
elegation  or  transference  of  the  taxing  power  to  individuals  and  corporations, 
aus  placing  the  greatest  and  widest  of  all  governmental  powers  and  responsibili- 
esinto  the  hands  of  irresponsible  men,  whose  greed  will  thus  be  stimulated  to  such 
degree  that  soon  classes  will  be  created  which  wall  be  specially  interested,  and 
ill  be  powerful  enough  to  override  the  will  of  the  people  and  make  ours  a  gov- 
rnment  of,  by,  and  for  the  classes.  As  we  as  a  nation  are  already  tending  to- 
ards  customs  and  conditions  indigenous  to  European  monarchical  institutions,  are 
e  not  justified  in  sounding  the  alarm  now?  And  as  these  tendencies  are  due- 
ilely  to  the  drift  of  legislation  towards  restrictions  upon  the  natural  powers  and 
ivileges  of  the  people,  is  it  not  time  to  turn  about  and  see  if  by  going  in  the  di- 
ction of  more  freedom  we  wid  not  the  more  quickly  realize  the  anticipations  of 
e  founders  of  the  Republic  of  making  this  the  most  free,  and  therefore  the  most 
•osperous,  country  on  earth,  thus  setting  an  example  to  the  world  that  will 
all  other  nations  to  imitate  us. 


use  a 


THE  BURDENS  OF    TAXATION. 


Can  it  be  said  that  the  burdens  of  taxation  are  not  excessive  when  they  are- 
ual  to  two  dollars  for  every  one  dollar  of  wealth  accumulated  by  the  whole 
ople ;  when  they  absorb  nearly,  if  not  quite,  one  half  of  the  earnings  of  labor^ 
ling  ten  to  twenty  times  heavier  upon  those  who  labor  for  a  living  than  upon 
)se  whose  income  is  from  capital,  and  when  they  are  accumulating  in  the  national 
easury  by  a  hundred  million  dollars  or  more,  taken  from  the  channels  of  trade 
i  locked  up  to  be  a  source  of  temptation  for  every  political  trimmer,  jobber  and 
)sidy  shark  in  the  country?  When  w^e  reflect  that  this  sum,  if  left  among  the 
)ple  to  fulfill  its  legitima!  e  functions  in  trade,  would  naturally  foster  the  distribu- 
iion  and  absorption  of  the  products  of  labor  to  more  than  ten  times  the  amount 
the  surplus,  we  csn  leadily  appreciate  the  full  measure  of  the  damage  done  to 
or  by  the  accumulation  and  locking  up  of  a  surplus. 

Ignoring  the  influence  of  material  conditions  upon  the  wages  of  labor,  they 
'^told  us  that  the  laying  on  of  these  taxes  was  necessary  to  keep  up  the  high 
■ftrd  of  American  wages.    If  this  were  correct  it  would  follow  that  the  propor. 

I 


478 


REASONS  IN  FAYOR  OF  TAX   REVISION. 


tion  of  wages  to  materials  should  have  increised  during  the  period  of  protect! 
But  what  are  the  facts  ? 

lu  1850  the  proportion  of  value  of  materials  to  the  wages  of  labor  in  the  ma] 
factures  was  70  to  material,  30  to  labor ;  in  1860,  74f  to  material,  2o^  to  labor ; 
1870,  76i-  to  material,  23f  to  labor;  in  1880,  78  to  material,  22  to  labor;  and  no\ 
is  about  80  to  material,  20  to  labor. 

Accepting  the  theory  of  the  modern  protection  school  these  figures  wo 
■furnish  the  indubitable  proof  that  the  tariff  has  had  the  effect  of  raising  the  cos 
the  materials  and  depressing  the  wages  of  labor;  and  when  we  take  in  connect 
with  this  the  wonderfal  advance  in  the  efficiency  of  labor  during  the  same  peri 
this  table  stands  as  a  most  terrible  indictment  against  those  whose  bungling  lej 
lation  has  wrought  the  mischief. 

The  relative  productivity  and  earnings  of  the  woolen  and  worsted  weavers 
"the  United  States  and  England  will  show,  too,  whether  the  high  standard  of  wa 
has  been  kept  up  here;  and  to  make  the  comparison  perfectly  fair,  we  will  presu 
*hat  both  weave  the  same  class  of  goods,  80  picks  to  the  inch: 

Speed  of  loom,  United  States,  average,  85  picks  per  minute. 

Speed  of  loom,  England,  maximum,  60  picks  per  minute. 

Hours  of  labor,  United  States,  60  per  week. 

Hoars  of  labor,  England,  54  per  week. 

Product  per  weaver  per  week  of  continuous  work,  United  States,  106  yai 

Product  per  weaver  per  week  of  continuous  work,  England,  68  yards. 

The  average  loss  of  time  caused  by  breakages,  etc.,  being  about  one-fifth 
met  product  per  week,  would  be  in  the — 

United  States,  85  yards. 

England,  54  yards. 

The  highest  average  rate  of  wages  paid  in  this  country  for  this  class  of  w 
is  2  mills  per  pick  per  yard,  or  16  cents  per  yard  for  80  pick  work,  and  if  the  sa 
Tate  was  paid  in  England  it  would  follow  that  the  American  weaver  can  can 
possible  wage  of  $13.60  cents  per  week  to  the  English  weaver's  possible  $8.64. 
course  the  actual  earnings  are  less  in  both  cases,  but  the  relative  difference  will 
vary  either  on  a  rise  or  fail.    The  earnings,  however,  vary  so  much  throughout  ( 
'Own  country  as  to  bring  the  time  earnings  of  our  weavers  in  some  cases  even  \o^ 
than  the  time  earnings  of  some  of  the  European  weavers,  as  will  be  seen  from 
following  table,  compiled  from  the  first  annual  report  of  the  National  Commissio 
■of  Labor,  and  the  same  rule  holds  good  for  every  other  class  of  workmen  in 
woolen  industry. 

Daily  wages  of  woolen  weavers  in  the  United  States : 


Delaware   $1  71 

Illinois 1  52 

Indiana 1  08 

Massachusetts    1  28 

Pennsylvania 1  85 


New  Jersey $1 

New  York 1 

North  Carolina 

Vermont 1 

Connecticut 1 


According  to  the  United  States  consular  reports  the  earnings  of  woolen  wea\ 
in  England  vary  from  $3.50  to  $11  per  week  If  we  keep  in  view  the  relative  p 
ductivity  of  the  labor  of  this  country  and  England,  we  cannot  avoid  the  conclua 
that  the  $4  50  per  week  in  North  Carolina  is  below  the  lowest  of  England,  and  d 
it  not  prove  ttat  the  American  manufacturer  gets  his  work  done  cheaper  than 
English  manufacturer,  and  that  therefore  the  wages  of  labor  do  not  and  can  not  i 
consideration  in  his  cry  for  more  protection?  It  also  proves  that  we  are  brou 
into  deadly  competition  with  labor  in  our  own  country  that  may  be  as  justly  cal 
^'  pauper  labor"  as  that  of  Europe.  It  further  proves  that  the  tariff  has  not  e' 
preserved  to  us  our  just  share  of  the  natural  opportunities  of  the  country;  tha 
£as  only  been  instrumental  in  building  up  colossal  fortunes  for  the  few,  and  tha 
coutinuauce  of  it  will  end  in  our  degradation  to  a  conditiou  of  serfdom. 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR   OF   TAX  REVISION.  47ft 

THE  AVERAGE  VTAGES  EARNED  IN    MILLS. 

There  are  a  number  of  mills  in  and  around  Philadelphia  where  $5  a  week  ifr 
onsidered  very  good  wages  now  for  a  weaver,  and  there  are  any  number  of  mills 
II  England  where  these  would  be  considered  starvation  wages,  and  whenever  the 
mployers  here  offer  a  reduction  of  wages  they  set  up  the  plea  that  some  of  their 
leighbors  are  paying  less,  and  hence  a  reduction  is  necessary  in  order  to  enable 
hern  to  compete.  They  seem  no  longer  to  fear  foreign  competition,  but  it  is 
lome  competition  that  is  now  the  great  "  scare  crow,"  and  we  have  to  suffer 
rom  it  all.  Is  it  not  self-evident  that  a  uniform  rate  of  wages  should  have 
esulted  from  the  "protective"  tariff  if  it  had  the  virtues  claimed  for  it  by  it&. 
dvocates  ? 

WHAT   THE  TARIFF  BENEFICIARIES  HAVE  DONE. 

Heretofore  labor  has  had  no  direct  or  independent  voice  in  the  arrangement 
if  tariff  laws,  these  matters  having  been  entirely  left  to  the  bosses  and  monopo- 
ists,  who  were  naturally  prompted  by  selfish  and  conflicting  motives,  which  is  best 
videnced  by  the  fact  that  they  have  found  it  profitable  to  spend  vast  sums  of 
loney,  and  much  time,  in  maintaining  expensive  lobbies  at  Washington  and  costly 
rganizations  all  over  the  country,  some  of  which  have  as  one  of  their  objects  and 
urposes  the  keeping  of  the  workingmen  from  getting  any  share  of  the  "  protection  '* 
y  an  advance  of  w^ages. 

They  have  subsidized  newspapers  and  maintained  literary  bureaus  in  order  to 

ifluence  public  opinion  and  defame  the  few  men  who  dare  to  voice  our  cause.. 

hese  sums  are  largely  made  up  of  money  that  should  consistently  have  gone  to- 

ards  the  betterment  of  our  wages,  and  we  are  thus  placed  in  a  condition  which 

jprives  us  of  the  ways  and  means  to  be  heard  before  Congress  upon  an  equal 

oting  with  those  who  for  the  protection  of  labor  spend  the  parings  of  our  wages. 

ven  now,  finding  that  the  desire  to  hear  from  the  workingmen  is  growing,  they 

e  organizing  some  of  their  employees  into  clubs  and  associations  under  the  direc- 

)n  of  the  bosses,  the  expenses  being  met  by  outsiders,  in  order  to  prepare  them 

r  an  expression  of  sentiment  and  the  making  of  demands  that  are  to  be  paraded 

fore  the  world  as    those   of   the   free   and    untrammeled    workingmen.    The 

use  which  requires  such  work  to  bolster  it  up  can  not  be  less  than  an  unholy 

e.    The  very  means  condemn  the  end.    Protection  means  the  enslavement  of 

)or,  and  nothing  proves  this  more  emphatically  than  the  fact  that  there  are  work- 

ymen,  whether,  forgetful  of  the  natural  dignity  of  labor,  they  do  it  voluntarily, 

whether,  driven  by  the    force    of   circumstances  brought   up   by   protection, 

3y  are  compelled  to  submit  to  the  command    to  rivet   the   chains   still   more 

htly  about  themselves. 

But  why  should  we  find  it  necessary  to  make  costly  efforts  in  our  behalf  in 

s  matter?    Are  we  not  represented  by  those  to  whom  we  gave  our  votes,  and  to 

lom  we  have  aright  to  look  for  efforts  in  our  behalf  and  for  justice?    It  we  were 

spend  money  or  keep  up  a  lobby  would  it  not  be  an  acknowledgment  that  we 

ognize  the  power  of  money  to  be  superior  to  the  will  of  the  people?    Shall  we 

asked  to  subscribe  to  the  infamous  and  un-American  idea  that  a  well-filled  purse 

es  one  man  greater  rights,  powers  and  privileges  than  poverty  connected  with 

does  to  the  other?    To  do  this  would  be  to  confess  our  loss  oi  faith  in  a  repre- 

tative  free  government  and  our  belief  that  the  old-time  spirit  of  fair  play  and 

.ality  has  entirely  departed  from  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

The  fact  is,  there  is  no  government  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  however  despotic,. 

t  is  so  unmindful  of  the  interests  of  labor  as  to  tax  the  raw  materials  of  industry, 

ch  tax  must  inevitably  come  out  of  labor  in  that  it  neutralizes  its  opportunities 

Jepriving  it  of  the  means  to  compete  with  the  labor  of  other  countries,  notwith- 

I     iding  its  superior  productivity,  thus  forcing  down  its  wages  and  speeding  its 

I '    avement.    But  it  does  more.    It  builds  up  colossal  fortunes  for  the  few  at  the 

'    ense  of  our  toil  and  its  natural  rewards,  and  is  already  bearing  its  legitimate 

[■    :  in  the  aping  of  European  aristocracy  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  com- 

J    log  the  mass  to  make  piteous  appeals  for  leave  to  toil;  ay,  forcing  them  even  to 

some  men  the  permission  to  obey  the  command  of  the  Creator  "to  eat  bread 


^t80  REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OP  TAX  REVISION. 

in  the  sweat  of  their  brow."  Shall  we  stand  by  with  folded  arms  and  abated  brea 
whilst  we  see  this  "land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave"  transformed  to  a  "lai 
©f  the  master  and  home  of  the  slave"  by  a  process  which  even  the  most  despol 
government  dares  not  attempt? 

Hence  "we  demand  the  repeal  of  all  taxes  upon  the  raw  materials  of  industi 
•so  that  we  may  be  no  longer  handicapped  by  costs  other  than  those  of  productio 
and  that  we  may  be  relieved  from  those  depressions  of  wages  which  arise  fro 
enhanced  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  which  is  due  to  taxation  independent  of  t 
■cost  of  production. 

In  fixing  the  duties  upon  manufactured  articles  care  should  be  taken  to  measu 
the  duties  by  the  diflerence  there  may  be  in  wages  between  this  country  and  Europ 
not  forgetting  to  take  into  account  the  relative  productivity  of  labor  compared  wi 
its  earnings,  and  ia  all  cases  the  duties  should  be  so  graded  as  to  correspond  wi 
the  amount  and  quality  of  labor  bestowed  upon  the  article  in  the  various  stages 
manufacture.  That  this  has  never  been  done  in  any  tariff  law  called  protect! 
has  been  shown  above,  and  it  clearly  demonstrates  the  falsity  of  the  claim  of  th( 
iramers  that  they  considered  the  interests  of  labor  at  all  in  this  work. 

Under  the  present  law  the  duty  on  cloth  weighing  16  ounces  to  the  yard  ai 
valued  at  80  cents  per  yard  is  63  cents,  while  the  duty  and  charges  on  the  amount 
wool  required  to  make  this  cloth  will  be  53  cents,  leaving  for  protection  but  10  cer 
per  yard.  Under  the  most  radical  tariff-reform  measure  ever  offered  in  Congress  t] 
•case  would  be  thus: 

Per  yai 

Duty  on  the  cloth,  85  per  cent $0. 

Duty  and  charges  on  the  wool Nothir 

Clear  protection 

There  is  not  a  woolen  or  worsted  worker  in  the  country  who  is  so  blind  asn 
to  see  that,  even  on  the  theory  of  protection,  the  tariff  reformer  who  is  willing 
give  him  28  cents  against  the  foreign  cloth  is  a  better  friend  than  the  protection: 
who  gives  him  but  10  cents.  Under  the  present  law  the  duty  on  a  piece  of  clo 
worth  45  cents  per  yard  is  140  percent.,  whilst  the  duty  on  a  piece  worth  $3.50  p 
yard  is  ju3t  50  per  cent.  How  unselfishly  careful  the  protectionists  are  to  make  tl 
workingman  rich  by  taxing  his  cloth  90  per  cent,  more  than  the  rich  man's,  and 
the  same  time  depriving  him  of  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  making  the  finer  gradi 
of  cloth 

THE  WAGE   ACCOUNT  IN  THE  WOOLEN    INDUSTRY. 

We  learn  from  the  census  of  1880  that  the  total  wage  account  of  the  wool( 
industry  was  17.70  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  product,  and  we  have  reason 
believe  that  the  percentage  is  even  smaller  now  and  gradually  sinking.  Now,  su 
pose  with  Tfool  free  the  duty  was  fixed  at  18  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  import 
article,  varying,  of  course,  with  those  features  which  indicate  the  degree  of  lab 
expended,  would  it  not  fully  and  absolutely  protect  labor,  even  though  the  forei^ 
workmen  would  work  for  nothing  and  find  themselves?  When,  therefore,  a  du 
of  more  than  twice  that  amount  is  proposed  it  can  surely  not  be  objected  to  1 
the  woolen-worker  on  the  ground  of  offering  too  little  protection,  because  it  w 
give  him  33  cents  per  yard  on  the  same  cloth  on  which  the  present  law  gives  hi 
but  10  cents. 

An  excess  of  duties  over  differences  in  the  wages  of  labor  can  have  no  oth 
effect  than  to  nullify  the  efforts  of  labor,  organized  or  unorganized,  to  better  its  co 
•dition  by  placing  it  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  the  employer,  who,  by  having  1 
market  secured  to  him  by  law,  can,  under  the  tariff  duties,  free  from  the  fear 
competition,  exact  from  the  consumers,  who  are  in  large  part  the  workingm^ 
themselves,  much  more  than  the  wages  of  labor  amount  to,  while  labor,  exposed  ( 
every  side  to  open  competition,  is  thus  forced  to  pay  tribute  to  the  employers,  ai 
through  them  to  the  controllers  of  the  raw  materials,  both  by  suffering  a  reductl 
of  its  time  wages  and  by  increased  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  This  is  the  shi 
ing  of  the  taxing  power  which  gives  the  employers  privileges  that  are  incompatil 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF   TAX   REVISION.  481 

nth  our  form  of  Government,  and  must  thus  end  in  the  destruction  of  our  liber- 
ies. It  encourages,  and  sometimes  forces,  the  formation  of  "  trusts,"  "  arrange- 
aents,"  and  "  understandings,"  drawn  together  under  the  fostering  influence  of 
protection  "  in  order  to  be  the  better  able  to  bleed  the  people  and  build  up  gigantic 
^rtunes  for  the  beneficiaries  of  the  law. 

It  has  been  fashionable  to  "take  all  the  traffic  will  bear,"  and  now  it  is  "  take 
11  the  law  will  allow,"  and  laws  framed  under  the  dictation  of  the  favored  moaopo- 
sts  themselves  are  always  sure  to  give  them  a  wide  enough  margin  to  take  the 
last  pound  of  flesh."  Thus,  while  the  wage  account  in  the  product  is  but  17.70 
er  cent,  the  bosses  are  protected  by  a  tax  of  70.40  percent.,  an  advantage  of  52.70 
ler  cent,  which  is  the  field  within  which  they  have  free  play  by  "trusts"  and 
^understandings"  to  exact  special  profits  and  make  us  pay  back  to  them  with 
ouble  compound  interest  all  that  may  be  given  us  as  an  advance  of  wages. 

We  do  not  fear  the  antagonism  of  the  agricultural  interests,  because  there  is 
lOthing  in  our  demands  that  will  not  at  the  same  time  promote  the  interests  of  the 
irmer.  The  natural  market  for  American  wool  is  America ;  and  as  the  cheapening 
f  the  products  will  necessarily  promote  their  consumption  and  curtail  importations, 
i^hilst  it  will  at  the  same  time  encourage  the  use  of  wool  instead  of  adulterants, 
re  can  not  see  why  a  change  of  the  law  which  would  vouchsafe  to  us  steadier  em- 
loyment  could  fail  to  be  a  benefit  to  the  wool  grower. 

The  removal  of  tho  dulies  would  also  open  the  foreign  markets  to  greater 
.merican  competition,  which  would  so  measurably  drive  up  prices  there  as  to 
eutralize  the  advantage  the  foreign  manufacturer  has  from  cheap  wool.  We  have 
)0  good  an  opinion  of  the  intelligence  and  acumen  of  the  farmers  to  believe  tor  a 
loment,  as  the  protectionists  profess  to  do,  that  they  would  antagonize  their  own 
iterests  by  asking  for  the  removal  of  duties  from  those  things  which  consume  their 
col  if  such  duties  were  necessary  to  maintain  the  woolen  industry  of  the  country. 

A  return  to  the  tariff  of  1867  would  in  no  wise  be  a  remedy  for  the  evils  we 
iffer  from,  as  the  same  incongruities,  inequalities,  and  discriminations  against 
bor  characterized  every  feature  of  that  law,  and  in  some  respects  it  was  even 
orse. 

A  TETITION  FOR  FREE  WOOL. 

•  Hence  we  request  that  wool  and  all  other  raw  materials  be  placed  on  the  free- 

t,  and  that  in  arranging  the  schedule  of  duties  on  the  finished  or  partly  manufac- 

red  articles  labor  should  be  duly  considered.    Yarns,  for  instance,  are  the  raw 

iterials  of  the  cloth-maker,  and  if  both  yarn  and  cloth  are  placed  under  the  same 

ty  it  will  be  a  discrimination  against  the  cloth,  because  in  the  manufacture  of  the 

>th  the  yarn  will  lose  by  waste  and  shrinkage  in  weaving,  dyeing  and  finishing, 

1  hence  the  duty  per  pound  on  the  yarn  will  somewhat  exceed  the  duty  per  pound 

the  cloth,  and  there  would,  therefore,  be  an  inducement  to  import  the  cloth  in 

iference  to  the  yarn,  as  it  is  now  preferable  to  import  the  yarn  instead  of  the  wool, 

i  the  yarn  spinner  would  have  all  the  protection  and  the  cloth  weavers,  dyers  and 

ishers  none  at  all  as  against  the  yarn  importations. 

While  it  is  as  yet  difficult  to  obtain  positive  data  as  to  the  differences  in  the  wages 

ween  this  country  and  Europe  whereon  to  base  a  scientific  schedule,  it  is  yet  safe 

bllow  the  line  here  indicated,  and  if  the  duties  are  fixed  to  equal  the  entire  labor 

i    t  in  the  product,  no  interest  will  have  any  cause  to  complain  if  we  wish  to 

\    16  nearer  to  justice. 

I     With  free  raw  materials  we  will  soon  demonstrate  our  superiority  in  the  indus- 

l  field,  and  do  our  share  in  making  this  country  what  nature  appears  to  have  des- 

d  it  to  be — the  workshop  of  the  world  and  the  ruler  of  the  seas. 

Hence  patriotism  jeins  with  national  pride  in  appealing  to  the  lawmakers  of  the 

!  ■    on  to  give  to  labor  those  measures  of  fair  play  and  justice  to  which  it  is  entitled 

'    le  foundation-rock  of  our  national  greatnf  ss  and  prosperity. 

the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  textile  workers  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

F.  A.  HERWIG. 

[LADELPHiA,  March  26,  1888 . 


483  REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX   REVISION. 

We,  the  unaersigned,  committee  of  the  Workingmen's  Tariff  Reform  Asso 
tion,  No.  1,  of  Philadelphia,  principally  composed  of  textile  workers,  upon  due  i 
deliberate  consideration  of  the  foregoing  memorial,  do  hereby  fully  and  freely 
dorse  the  same,  and  request  that  its  recommendation  be  granted  as  a  simple  ac 
justice,  not  only  to  us,  bat  to  the  whole  people,  and  we  "v^ill  ever  pray. 

Joseph  Smith,  2414  North  Third  street ;  William  L.  Wild,  1334  Hope  strc 
John  Moore,  2188  Huntingdon  street;  E.  H.  Murphy,  1715  North  Fourth  stn 
Wm.  Stewart,  2633  Braddock  street;  Wm.  Hudson,  1610  North  Front  street;  ( 
nehus  Carr,  106  Jefferson  street;  Jos.  Hagerty,  1504  North  Fourth  street;  Pati 
Glavey.  2912  Kipp  street ;  Daniel  Donovan,  1912  Hazzard  street ;  Edward  J.  O'Br 
2414  North  Third  street ;  Frederick  H.  Mackerell,  2306  Geiss  street ;  John  Si 
2015  Palethorpe  street ;  Joseph  Stott,  2026  North  Front  street ;  Thomas  Dronsfi 
1443  Hanover  street;  John  Brogan,  2008  Howard  street;  James  Donogue,  2 
Hope  street;  John  McCloskey,  1841  North  Seventh  street;  Thomas  S.  McCaffi 
2404  Holmans  street ;  BeDJam  L.  Yarnall,  912  Sterner  street ;  James  McCauley,  2 
North  Fourth  street ;  John  Harle,  2671  Braddock  street ;  James  Delaney,  1513  H' 
ard  street;  Harry  T.  Delaney,  1513  Howard  street ;  Joseph  G.  Downing,  1752  H 
ard  street ;  G.  Greul,  616  Callowhill  street;  James  Magonigle,  1740  Waterloo  stn 
John  H.  Cannon,  1742  Waterloo  street;  Edward  Coyle,  4241  Green  street;  M 
Gorman,  1730  Howard  street;  John  A.  Pasley,  1617  Hope  street;  Thomas  Grant,  2 
Reese  street;  James  Turner,  103  West  Montgomery  avenue;  George  McGeo\^ 
2002  Abigail  street. 


11. 
A  MANUFACTURER'S  OPINION. 

MR.  BEACH,  IN  A  CAREFUL  ARGUMENT,  SHOWS  HOW  WOOL  DUTIES  HAVE 
RETARDED   MANUFACTURES. 

The  following  article  on  the  relation  of  the  woolen  manufacturers  to  the  du 
on  raw  wool  was  read  in  the  House  on  July  3,  by  Mr.  Breckinridge,  of  K 
tucky : 

You  will  notice  this  list  does  not  bear  out  the  assertion  of  the  wool-grovt 
that  a  high  duty  on  wool  has  by  any  means  resulted  in  better  prices.  Upon 
whole,  so  far  as  it  has  had  any  effect,  it  appears  to  be  quite  the  contrary.  But  tL 
are  so  many  other  elements  which  regulate  market  prices  that  it  is  difficult  to  m: 
a  very  strong  argument  for  either  side  out  of  the  statistics,  unless  we  take  into  c 
sideration  other  matters  affecting  the  business  at  the  several  periods.  The  rema 
of  Mr.  Harris,  reported  by  Old  Carder,  were  made  under 'very  different  conditl 
from  those  now  ruling.  Australian  imports  into  Europe  have  increased  50  perc( 
since  1878,  an  increase  of  400,000  bales,  about  160,000,000  pounds,  in  that  short  ti 
from  Australasia  alone ;  also  a  very  large  increase  from  Cape  of  Good  Hope  { 
River  Plate,  mostly  of  fine  merino  wools.  In  fact,  the  quantity  available  is  -sis 
seven  times  as  much  as  it  was  in  1860,  806,000,000  pounds  in  1886  against  112,01 
000  in  1860. 

This  enormous  production  has  to  be  consumed.  Of  course,  the  number 
consumers  must  be  very  greatly  enlarged.  In  order  to  reach  the  ability  of  t 
increased  number,  prices  must  be  reduced.  You  can  see  this  in  every  article 
merchandise.  Prices  abroad  are  reduced  as  much  as  they  are  here,  even  more 
many  articles,  without  regard  to  our  tariff.  In  wool-growing  countries  the  bi 
ness  has  been  constantly  getting  better  systematized,  and  they  are  enabled 
produce  cheaper  and  cheaper.  In  this  country,  if  wool-growing  is  to  be  mad 
business  by  itself,  the  same  general  principles  must  be  adopted,  but  the  probabi' 
is  that  in  the  older  States  our  farmers  will  look  more  and  more  to  the  product 


I 


REASONS  IN   FAVOR   OP   TAX  REVISION.  488 

f{  food  lamb  and  mutton,  with  less  and  less  regard  for  the  wool.  This  will  put 
,he  business  upon  the  footing  adapted  to  our  circumstances.  Old  Carder  wants  to 
inow  why  silks  are  so  cheap  here.  It  is  because  the  free  raw  material  has  allowed 
)ur  manufiicturers  to  go  into  the  business  upon  somewhtre  near  an  equal  footing 
?rith  foreign  countries. 

HOW   INVENTION   HAS  CHEAPENED  MANUFACTURE. 

Steel  rails  are  cheap  because,  in  the  first  place,  of  the  discovery  of  the  Besse- 
Qer  process  and  still  later  improvements;  and  then,  the  patents  on  these  being  now 
ree  to  the  world,  there  is  more  competition.  Probably  steel  rails  can  be  made  for 
38S  than  one-quarter  the  cost  of  a  few  years  ago.  It  is  the  same  with  soda  ash 
ince  the  discovery  of  the  ammonia  process.  This  decreases  the  cost  wonderfully, 
nd  Oi  course  all  other  makers,  by  whatever  process  they  manufacture,  must  meet 
his  competition.  The  price  may  or  may  not  be  lower  if  manufactured  this  side  of 
be  water.  It  should  be,  on  account  of  the  saving  in  freight,  if  for  no  other  reason. 
Jut  where  there  is  competition  to  sell  at  the  point  of  consumption,  from  whatever 
uarter  it  may  come,  prices  are  usually  reduced  to  a  point  of  only  moderate 
rofits.  To  illustrate  this,  take  the  article  of  tin  plates,  where  the  competition  is 
wholly  that  of  the  foreign  manufacturers  between  themselves. 

Still  it  has  caused  a  constant  reduction  in  price,  nearly  25  per  cent,  since 
882;  so  that  although  the  duty  that  year  was  1.1  cents  per  pound,  it  was  only 
9  per  cent ,  whereas  the  nominally  reduced  rate  to  1  cent  in  1887  was  actu- 
Uy  33  80  per  cent.  Consumption  of  the  United  States  increased  from  489,746,895 
ounds  to  570,643,389  pounds  in  the  five  years.  The  duty  was  a  tax  on  our 
idustries  of  over  $5,700,000  in  each  of  the  last  two  years,  of  which  the  can- 
ing business  alone  paid  over  $1,000,000  in  1887.  We  are  making  great  progress 
1  this  country,  as  we  certainly  ought,  for  we  have  more  advantages  and 
dmulus  than  any  other  on  the  globe.  We  claim,  too,  that  we  are  the  smartest 
nd  most  industrious  people  in  the  world.  But  we  should  not  load  our  indus- 
ries  down  with  unnecessary  burdens.  There  are  other  countries  progressing 
Iso,  and  when  we  handicap  ourselves  we  must  expect  them  to  take  advantage 
f  our  folly. 

Our  efforts  are  mainly  directed  to  the  saving  of  labor  and  to  inventions  which 
ill  enable  us  to  make  it  more  productive,  so  that  we  can  produce  the  largest 
aantity  with  the  smallest  number  of  operatives.  In  foreign  countries  the  aim  is 
)  get  their  materials  at  the  lowest  possible  cost,  then  to  saving  them  and  by  im- 
roved  processes  getting  the  best  quality  of  product,  to  get  the  most  money  from 
le  materials  used.  They  have  a  surplus  of  labor.  If  they  should  leave  half  the 
3ople  unemployed  by  the  use  of  machinery,  they  must  still  support  them  all ;  and 
would  cost  as  much  to  do  this  if  half  were  idle  as  to  have  all  at  work,  each  eam- 
g  his  portion  of  the  money  that  can  be  allotted  to  the  labor  cost  of  the  productions, 
he  price  of  labor  is  a  matter  of  locality,  and,  like  eveiy thing  else,  based  upon  the 
ipply  and  demand.  Legislation  cannot  govern  this.  In  different  localities  in  this 
>untry,  under  the  same  tariff  laws,  and  in  different  towns  in  the  same  States  there 
often  one-half  difference  paid  for  doing  the  same  work. 

All  of  us  who  have  had  much  experience  know  this,  but  we  have  heard  so  much 
)Out  what  is  called  protection  making  the  price  of  wages  that  we  frequently  accept 
e  statements  without  much  examination  as  to  what  is  really  protection  and  as  to 
hat  are  the  actual  effects  of  measures  so  named.  It  is  easy  enough  to  figure  that 
:cept  for  the  duty  of  30  cents  per  bushel  on  wheat,  the  East  Indian  working  at  3 
nts  per  day  would  supply  our  markets ;  and  to  say  this  duty  protects  the  farmer, 
hen  the  fact  remains  that  we  can  and  do  overcome  this  difference  in  the  nominal 
ice  of  labor ,  and  meet  the  wheat  markets  of  the  whole  world  successfully.  So  on 
arse  undyed  cottons  and  on  many  other  goods  the  tariff  does  not  give  our  mills  a 
iction  of  1  per  cent,  better  price.  We  can  export  these  in  competition  with  other 
untries,  and  could  do  so  to  even  better  advantage  without  the  tariff.    It  is  impossi- 

(it  it  can  help  us  to  better  wages  for  making  articles  of  export. 


READY  TO  COMPETE  WITH  THE  WORLD. 


484  REASONS   IX    FAVCm   OP   TAX    RRVISION. 

When  we  come  to  woolea  goods,  the  state  of  th«  case  changes.  We  have  only  a 
half  supply  of  wool  in  this  country,  and  we  must  procure  it  from  elsewhere  or  we 
have  to  import  the  goods  ready  made.  For  a  large  portion  of  the  deficit  we  can 
get  a  supply  of  cheap  material  from  the  cottoa  fields  and  the  crop  of  old  clothes, 
rags,  etc.,  but  this  would  confine  our  manufacture  to  the  lower  grades  of  goods.  To 
make  the  better  grades  that  our  people  demand,  we  must  have  foreign  wools.  It 
would  take  more  than  a  hundred  million  pounds  above  what  we  now  import,  if  we 
would  control  our  home  market  for  fine  woolens,  in  additiim  to  every  pound  t*'at 
we  raise  ia  this  country.  We  have,  ho  wever,  cut  ourselves  off  from  getting  this 
supply  by  a  prohibitory  tiriff  on  nine  tenths  of  that  which  is  available  to  our  foreign 
comi^etitorfe.  What  is  the  consequence  ?  They  supply  our  own  markets,  and  of 
course  have  full  control  of  tlie  other  markets  of  the  world. 

We  protect  the  European  manufacturer  from  our  competition  in  the  markets 
where  they  get  their  supply  of  raw  material.  This  does  not  help  our  factory  lab  ir ; 
it  hurts  by  transferring  t  le  work  to  other  countries.  We  could  only  meet  this  com 
petition  by  reducing  the  price  of  labor  or  taking  off  the  tax  on  m  itt-rials,  so  that, 
we  should  be  upon  somewhere  near  the  same  footing  with  our  competitors,  the  same 
as  we  are  in  the  silk  business,  or  else  a  much  higher  duty  on  fine  fabrics.  Which  ia 
the  best  course?  The  effort  to  07<-rcome  this  difforence  by  a  h'gh  tiriff  on  fabrics 
has  proved  a  failure  so  far  as  the  medium  and  finer  grades  are  affected.  It  wo  aid 
need  to  be  ai  least  100  per  cent,  to  give  us  a  fxir  show  with  the  prepent  duties  on 
materials.  Probably  the  consumers  of  fabrics  would  object  to  this.  In  our  opinion 
it  would  be  useless  to  ask  for  increased  duties.  It  appears  verv  much  as  if  the  only 
cure  for  the  present  trouble,  if  the  present  rates  remain,  must  come  through  stil! 
lower  prices  for  fine  wools,  nearly  down  to  the  import  cost,  free  of  duty.  If  not, 
what  ? 


III. 
"IT  HAS  SET  US  TO  THINKING." 

THE     CONCLniON    TO   WHICH    ONE    OF   THE     BE^T   TECHNICAL    .JOURNALS    IN     THE 
COUNTRY    HAS    BEEN    FORCED. 

In  Fiber  aiid  Fabric  of  April  14,  page  5Ij,  Old  Carder  asks  some  questions,  and 
thinks  there  should  be  more  study  of  the  tarifl".  The  inclosed,  on  the  other  side  ol 
the  quefetion  from  the  one  on  wuich  most  manufacturers  appear  disposed  to  d». 
their  thiuking,  may  at  least  serve  to  throw  light,  and  we  hope  bring  out  the  tiuth 
Tnese  figures  are  not  theories,  but  actual  facts,  to  whicli  a  theory,  to  be  good  foi 
anything,  must  be  fitted.  The  proposed  tarift"  would  reduce  revenue  by  taking  ofl 
the  duty  on  wool.  That  is  clear.  There  is  no  doubt  it  would  reduce  revenue  no-^ 
obtained  ly  duties  on  woolen  goods,  because  there  would  be  made  here  a  largt 
quantity  of  such  as  are  now  imported. 

That  is  theory  in  part ;  but  it  is  based  so  strongly  on  the  actual  workings  of  th^ 
business  til  at  it  cannot  help  being  pretty  nearly  correct.  ■  The  proposed  bill  no  ^1 
before  Congress  we  consider  more  really  protective  to  the  manufacturing  interest; 
than  any  tariff  we  have  ever  had.  Certainly  New  England  should  be  the  last  sec 
tion  of  the  country  to  oppose  it.  Friends  of  the  present  tariff  claim  that  compoun( 
duties  on  woolen  goods,  and  the  specific  rates  in  particular,  are  the  only  safeguard; 
upon  which  we  can  rely  to  prevent  importations  from  undervaluation.  This  clain 
has  been  made  so  persistently  that  manufacturers  have  pretty  generally  accepted  i 
as  being  correct,  with  little  or  no  examination  as  to  its  merits. 

TKls  compound  principle  has  been  held  to  be  something  sacred.  Its  friend 
vvould  not  allow  there  were  two  sides  to  the  question.  Dissenters  have  been  con 
signed  tc  purgatory,  or  to  still  lower  depths,  to  have  their  place  wiih  "  free-traders. 


I 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX  REVISION. 


485 


Those  who  hare  complained  that  the  finer  and  most  expensive  all-wool  fabrics  were 
not  fairly  treated  in  the  deal,  having  from  only  half  to  no  protection,  when,  if  there 
was  to  be  any  discriminaMon,  they  really  needed  and  were  entitled  to  double,  have 
not  been  listened  to,  or  have  been  told  that  to  ask  for  their  fair  share  would  en- 
danger the  whole  system.  It  has  been  in  vain  that  they  have  pointed  out  that  after 
a  time  the  trouble  must  reach  beyond  their  own  particular  specialties,  and  that  the 
next  grades  must  take  their  turn  in  depression. 

They  were  sneered  at  for  supposing  that  there  was  any  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  a  worsted  cloth  valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound,  or  even 
that  fine  worsted  yarns  could  be  imported  at  so  low  cost  as  to  seriously  interfere 
with  the  home  manufacture.  Their  numbers  were  insignificant,  and  they  were  not 
listened  to  when  they  showed  that  the  legitimate  efiect  of  the  schedule  was  to  dis- 
courage the  manufacture  and  improvement  of  fine  fabrics,  and  to  drive  all  the  mills 
into  the  increased  use  of  cotton,  shoddy,  and  other  substitutes  for  making  poods 
sold  as  woolens.  Neither  were  they  given  any  more  attention  when  they  pointed 
out  the  fact  that  so  far  from  being  a  preventive  of  fraud  on  the  part  of  importers, 
the  specific  duty,  more  than  all  else,  made  it  an  object  to  undervalue,  as  it  gave 
them  from  six  to  eight  times  as  much  profit  on  the  operation  as  it  would  if  the 
duties  were  only  ad  valorem. 

For  example,  take  a  piece  of  worsted  cloth,  for  which  the  true  value  is  85 
cents.  Under  the  present  duty  if  invoiced  honestly  the  duty  would  be  69  cents  per 
pound,  if  undervalued  only  5  cents  and  invoiced  at  80  cents  the  duty  will  be  only 
52  cents,  a  saving  to  the  importer  of  17  cents  per  pound,  or  20  per  cent,  on  the  bus  • 
iness,  a  handsome  profit  in  itself  Under  the  proposed  bill,  which  is  stated  by  the 
opposition  to  open  the  door  to  fradulent  importations,  the  saving  to  the  importer 
for  the  same  undervaluation  would  be  only  2  cents  per  pound ;  not  enough  to  pay 
him  for  running  the  risk. 

The  actual  working  of  this  tariff"  for  the  past  six  years  is  shown  by  the  inclosed 
figures  of  imports  of  worsted  yarns  and  cloths.  If  there  has  been  any  such  under- 
valuation going  on,  as  has  been  asserted  by  some  of  our  manufacturers,  who  have 
been  trying  to  explain  what  is  the  matter  with  the  woolen  business,  a  study  of  these 
figures  will  show  the  reason  and  the  temptation.    Is  it  not  time  for  a  reform? 

IMPORTS  OF  WORSTED  YARNS. 


iports  of  worsted  cloths  entered  for  consumption  for  fiscal  yeo.rs  ending  June  30. 


i 

Above  60| 
cts.  andiExeeeding 
not    ex-l      80  cts. 
ceeding'    per  \h. 
80  cts.    1 

1882 

Pounds.   !    Pounds 
114,928 1      433,195 
374,523 ;      438,75.5 
777  327  1  1  234  677 

1883 

1884               .            . .          

1885 

1,407,0.51  1  1,274,736 
2,795,244  [  1,483,811 
3,785,987  |  1,343,256 

1886 

1887 

1 

lo'SS 


« 

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<«><o  to  ?  *"S  C-2  I'SS  =oi3  3  0, 


Sop.  MP. 


bi     ci? 


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;  PiPi  >H  p.4^  :«  P.03  Ur=  t.iS^  osc^woSp-v 


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tfl  QQ  00  r 


REASONS  IN   FAVOR  OF   TAX  REVISION.  487 


IV. 

HUGH  MCCULLOCH'S  OPINION. 

[E  LAST   REPUBLICAN    SECRETARY  OF  THE    TREASURY  GIVES    STRONG    SUPPORT 
TO    THE    DEMOCRATIC    POSITION. 

[A  Letter  to  a  Tariff  Reform  Meeting  in  Philadelphia.'] 

Washington,  January  25, 1888. 

Dear  Sir  :  Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation  to  be  present  at  the 
lassmeeting  which  is  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the  27th  instant,  "to  enforce 
and  indorse  the  recommendations  of  President  Arthur  and  President  Cleveland  on 
revenue  reform."  I  shall  not  be  able  to  avail  myself  of  the  invitation,  but  I  have 
pleasure  in  saying  that  I  heartily  approve  of  the  object  for  the  promotion  of  which 
the  meeting  is  called,  and  that  I  am  very  glad  that  the  call  is  addressed  not  to 
Republicans  or  Democrats,  but  to  citizens  irrespective  of  their  political  party 
relations. 

The  tariff  question  is  an  economical  question,  and  it  would  be  an  immense 
gain  to  the  people  if  it  were  lifted  out  of  politics  and  considered  as  such  a  question 
ought  to  be  with  regard  to  its  bearings  upon  great  national  interests.  The  present 
tariff  was  created  when  the  Government  was  engaged  in  a  war  of  unparalleled 
magnitude  for  the  mamtenance  of  ita  rightful  authority.  It  has  accomplished  the 
object  for  whic^  it  was  created,  and  now  needs  careful  revision  to  accommodate  it 
to  the  present  conditions  of  the  country.  The  surplus  which  it  produces  and  locks 
up  in  the  treasury,  to  the  detriment  of  business,  is  only  one  of  the  many  serious 
objections  to  it. 

It  is  greatly  prejudicial  to  our  great  farming  interests  by  gradually  but  effect- 
ively diminishing  the  foreign  demand  for  our  agricultural  productions  at 
remunerative  prices.  It  stands  in  the  way  of  the  restoration  of  our  shipping 
interests  by  duties  upon  many  articles  which  are  needed  in  ship  building.  It  is 
anti-republican  in  its  character  and  its  intluences,  it  fosters  monopolies  and  it  "en- 
riches the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many."  It  violates  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  inasmuch  as  upon  many  articles  duties  are  imposed  for  protection,  not 
for  revenue. 

What  is  now  imperatively  required  for  the  promotion  of  the  best  interests  of 
the  country,  and  the  whole  country,  are  such  changes  in  the  tariff  as  will  make  it 
a  tariff  for  revenue,  with  incidental  protection — a  tariff  by  which  the  highest  duties 
consistent  with  revenue  will  be  imposed  upon  the  articles  that  come  into  competi- 
tion with  our  own  manufactures;  such  a  tariff  as  was  advocated  half  a  century  ago 
by  the  supporters  of  what  was  known  as  the  "American  system;"  such  a  tariff  as 
Henry  Clay,  whose  disciple  I  was,  would  advocate  if  he  were  living.  Large  rev- 
enues must  always  be  derived  from  duties  upon  imports,  and  these  duties,  if  judi- 
ciously imposed,  would  never  fail  to  give  to  home  manufacturers  all  the  protection 
which  they  might  need  to  enable  them  to  compete  with  foreigners  in  our  own  mar- 
kets, and  at  the  same  time  to  open  the  way  for  a  free  trade  with  other  nations, 
especially  with  the  South  American  States. 

Hoping  and  believing  that  this  mass  meeting  will  be  productive  of  good  results 
by  strengthening  the  public  sentiment  which  is  everywhere  being  awakened  to  the 
importance  of  revenue  reform,  and  favorably  influence  the  action  of  Congress  at  the 
present  session,  I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

HUGH  Mcculloch. 


I 


488  REASONS  IN  PAVOK  OF  TAX  REVISION. 

V. 
HOW  THE  AVERAGE  IS  COMPUTED. 

LIGHT     ON     THE     QUESTION— HOW    WAR     RATES    HAVE   BEEN  PRESERVED— WHAT" 
LEADING   PROTECTIONISTS  USED  TO  THINK  ENOUGH. 

lF?'om  the  New  yo7k  Journal  of  Commerce.'] 
It  is  evident  that  the  tariff  question,  as  now  presented  in  Congress,  is  widely 
misunderstood  by  many  persons  throughout  the  country,  as  well  as  grossly  mis- 
represented for  partisan  purpoees.  We  have  a  large  number  of  letters,  some  of 
them  from  very  intelligent  correspondents,  asking  us  "  what  nations  have  prospered 
under  a  free  trade  policy,"  and  whether  "Great  Britain  and  Sweden,  that  once 
favored  free  trade,  have  not  gone  back  to  the  policy  of  protection,"  and  other  like 
questions,  the  only  pertinency  of  which  is  in  the  assumption  that  some  one  in  this 
country  has  proposed,  virtually,  to  abandon  the  present  system  of  raising  revenue 
from  customs. 

No  man  who  has  a  sound  head  will,  in  our  day,  propose  anything  for  this  coun- 
try but  a  revenue  derived  chiefly  from  the  customs  service.  The  only  real  question, 
now  at  issue  in  Congress  is  whether  the  excessive  rates  established  under  the  pr«  s- 
sure  of  a  heavy  debt  created  by  the  war  and  now  producing  an  excess  of  revenue  of 
over  one  hundred  millions  per  annum,  shall  be  modified  so  as  to  bring  the  taxation 
down  to  the  current  needs  of  the  Treasury. 

If  the  proposed  modification  of  the  tariff  menaced  any  of  the  great  manufacturing 
interests  of  the  country  we  would  sound  the  alarm  as  quickly  as  any  one.  But  the 
pretense  that  it  does  this  is  a  falsehood  made  out  of  whole  cloth,  and  those  who 
started  the  cry  know  that  their  assertion  is  altogether  untrue.  Many  who  are 
echoing  that  cry  are  not  so  well  informed,  and  are  really  dis  urbed  lest  there  is 
some  plan  afoot  to  interfere  with  these  prosperous  industries.  We  stated  some  days 
ago  that  the  pj-esent  tariff  averaged  for  the  year  1887  just  47.10  per  cent,  on  all 
dutiable  imports,  and  that  the  proposed  Mills  tariff,  on  the  same  reckoning,  would 
bring  this  average  down  to  about  4(H-  per  cent. 

As  the  duties  only  average  18|  per  cent,  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  the  average 
from  1830  to  1863,  a  period  of  82  years,  was  on  y  81.42,  or  about  31i  per  cent.,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  Mills  bill,  with  its  40i  per  cent.,  is  still  a  very  high  rate  of  tax- 
ation, with  no  suggestion  of  free  trade  in  it,  an  ample  protection  for  every  manu- 
facti  rer  in  the  country.  The  highest  range  of  the  old  protective  tariff,  so  dear  to 
the  disciples  of  the  Carey  school,  was  35  per  cent.,  and  we  heard  Mr.  Carey  say  in 
one  of  his  most  earnest  pleas  in  behalf  of  protection,  that  85  per  cent,  for  an  infant 
industry  and  25  per  cen?;.  after  a  few  years  of  progress  was  all  that  any  manufac- 
turer ought  to  desire.  What  shall  be  thought  of  a  mm  who  asserts  that  a  40|  per 
cent,  tariff  is  an  attempt  to  establish  free  trade,  simply  because  it  follows  an  exces- 
sive war  tariff  averaging  47.10  per  cent.  ? 

In  regard  to  this  "average"  we  find  that  the  word  is  very  mucn  misunderstood.. 
A  very  intelligent  gentleman  has  written  us  a  letter  upon  it,  from  which  we  make 
the  following  extract :  "  I  have  frequently  noticed  in  the  press  the  statement  that 
the  so-called  war  tariff'  imposes  an  average  duty  of  47-J  per  centum.  Will  you  be 
kind  enough  to  explain  the  meaning  of  this,  how  the  '  av'  rage '  is  asceriaiued,  and 
whether  the  conversion  of  specific  duties  into  their  ad  valorem  equivalents  enters 
into  the  statement?  Are  the  articles  in  the  free  list  taken  into  the  account?  Finally, 
do  you  know  anything  that  lies  like  an  average?  "  There  has  been  much  said  to 
which  the  word  in  italics  may  fitly  apply,  but  the  statement  of  the  '  average '  of  the 
duty  is  free  from  that  charge. 

Our  correspondent  evidently  supposes  that  some  one  has  taken  a  copy  of  the 
tariff  and  thtrefrom  mode  an  average  of  the  charges  to  be  collected.  But  the 
percentage  has  been  obtained  by  a  much  simpler  process.  Suppose  a  merchant 
sells  a  great  variety  of  goods  during  a  day,  some  at  10  per  cent,  profit  and  some 
at  100  per  cent,  gain,  and  at  night  he  finds  he  has  sold  by  strict  account  goods  that 


I 


REASONS   IN  FA  TOR  OP  TAX   REVISION.  4S9 


cost  him  just  $1,000  and  has  received  for  them  $1,500,  which  he  has  in  the  drawer. 
He  does  not  get  at  his  average  profit  by  adding  the  10,  20  and  100  percentages  to- 
gether, but  by  a  shorter  calculation.  If  goods  costir.g  $1,000  bring  $1,;")00,  he  has 
made  an  average  profit  of  50  per  cent.,  and  there  is  no  "  lying"  about  it. 

*This  is  precisely  the  way  the  average  rate  of  duty  is  ascertained.  No  free 
kJs  are  included,  but  only  the  goods  that  pay  a  duty  and  pass  into  consumption. 
Iipon  a  dutiable  value,  as  summed  up  in  the  entries  at  the  Custom  House, 
ounting  to  $600,000,000  cash  duties,  reaching  in  all  the  sum  of  $300,000,^^00,  had 
been  collected,  the  average  would  be  50  per  cent  ;  but  if  only  $28i,600,000  had 
been  received  the  r  verage  is  precisely  47. 1 0  per  cent.  The  entries  of  dutiable  goods 
are  all  added  together.  The  total  of  dutiable  goods  entered  directly  fi>r  consump- 
tion, and  the  total  withdrawn  from  warehouse  for  the  market,  make  together  the 
total  value  on  which  the  duties  are  levied.  By  adding  these  together  and  finding 
at  the  end  of  the  year  how  much  money  they  have  all  paid  in  tlie  way  ot  duty,  we 
know  to  a  cent  what  the  average  duty  has  been.  There  is  no  guessing  and  there  is 
no  **  lying"  about  it,  unless  some  one  starts  up  and  says  that  40i  per  cent,  collected 
in  this  way  is  free  trade ! 

The  net  free  imports  into  the  United  States  for  the  f  seal  year  1887  were  $228,- 
515,977,  upon  which,  of  course,  no  duty  was  levied.  The  net  dutiable  imports 
which  passed  into  consumption,  and  upon  which  the  duties  were  levied,  were 
$454,b24,436,  upon  which  an  average  duty  of  47.10  per  cent,  brought  $314,222,309 
in  customs,  which  wns  received  into  the  public  treasury  in  actual  cash.  This  is  the 
way  the  '*  average"  is  ascertained,  and  as  the  governnient  received  the  money,  and 
must  account  for  it,  the  amount  cannot  be  overstated. 


VI. 
DESERTS  THE  CAUSE  OF  HIGH  TAXES. 

IIEPUBLICAN   MEMBER  OF   CONGRESS  WHO  WILL    NOT    SUPPORT  I'REE   WHISKEY 
AND   HIGH   NECESSARIES  OF  LIVING. 

P^iRE  Island  Beach,  August  13,  1888. 

The  iToN.  Donald  McLean,  Presideut  Twenty  third 

t  Assembly  District  Enrolled  Republicans: 

*Mt  Dear  Sir — I  herewith  resign  my  membership  in  the  Republican  Associa- 
of  this  district.  This  resignation,  under  the  rules,  carries  with  it,  without 
further  action  on  my  part,  that  of  my  place  in  the  District  Comniittee  and  on  the 
delegation  to  the  County  Committee  and  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  and  Membership  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  County  organiza- 
tion. 

My  reason  for  tliis  resignation  is  that  I  am  not  willing  to  advocate  or  support 
the  new  doctrines  upon  which  the  party  raw  agers  have  decided  to  make  this  cam- 
paign. I  am  in  favor,  as  were  Garflt  Id.  Arthur  and  Folger,  of  a  reasonable  revision 
of  the  present  tariff  in  the  direction  of  decreasing  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  and  of  supplying  American  workmen  with  cheaper  raw  materials  for  manurac- 
ture.  I  believe  that  such  a  revision  will  increase  wages  and  production  in  this 
country  and  will  lighten  somewhat  the  heavy  load  of  poverty  and  hardship  which  so 
many  people  in  our  city  carry  hopelessly  from  year  to  year.  I  am  also  absolutely 
opposed  to  any  reduction  of  the  taxou  whiskey.  In  a  few  moths  after  the  repeal  of  the 
internal  revenue  tax  there  would  be  more  distdlerics  than  there  are  schoolhouses  in 
Harlem,  and  on  every  business  block  in  our  district  a  bucket  shop  would,  with 
profit,  sell  whiskey,  bought  at  wholesale  for  25  cents  a  gallon,  for  3  cents  a  glass. 


490  REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF   TAX  REVISION. 

The  Republican  Party  leaders  have  determined  to  raake  a  campaign  in  whic 
the  expression  of  views,  such  as  those  above  indicated,  shall  be  described  as  "fre( 
trade  attacks  upon  American  industry,"  and  those  who  hold  them  shall  be  credite 
with  a  burning  desire  to  aid  the  British  workingmen,  whom  they  have  never  seei 
as  against  their  own  friends  and  countrymen.  Mr.  Blaine's  keynote  for  the  can 
paign,  applied  to  our  district,  is  that  we  are  from  now  till  November  to  accuse  tl 
Democratic  and  revenue  reform  business  men  in  Harlem,  who  in  private  lite  are  i 
partnership  with  us  in  all  commercial,  charitable,  social  and  religious  affairs,  ( 
being  engaged  in  a  conspiracy,  inspired  by  England,  to  ruin  their  own  country  an 
degrade  their  fellow-citizens.  I  have  no  desire  to  take  part  in  such  a  campaign.  I  fane 
that  England  has  in  this  district  about  as  many  adherents  as  China  has,  and  ihi 
the  voters  who  will  vote  this  fall  in  Harlem  and  Yorkville  for  a  revision  of  ti 
tariff  are  as  sincere  friends  of  American  industry  as  any  of  us  are.  And  I  ver 
much  prefer,  if  necessary,  to  be  in  a  minority  for  the  rest  of  my  life  rather  than  t 
make  a  successful  campaign  on  what  seems  to  me  to  be  ridiculous  and  unfounde 
misrepresentation  of  the  efforts  and  motives  of  my  neighbors.  I  am,  with  sincei 
regard  and  respect,  your  friend, 

ASHBEL  P.  FITCH. 


vn. 

JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

THE   "boston  pilot"   SPEAKS  OUT  PLAINLY  ON  THE  ATTEMPT  TO  MTSREPRESEN 
THE   REDUCTI0N-0F-TAXK8  ISSUE. 
[From  the  Boston  Pilot,  July  14, 1888.] 

The  average  American  working  man  and  woman  are  to-day  receiving  fa: 
wages  when  compared  with  the  earnings  of  their  fellows  in  Europe.  But  oi 
expenses  are  almost  as  much  higher  than  theirs  as  their  wages  are  lower  than  our 

If  we  could  keep  the  present  scale  of  American  wages,  with  the  present  rate  ( 
European  prices,  the  condition  of  American  labor  would  be  the  best  the  world  hs 
known. 

Protection,  as  it  has  operated  for  over  twenty  years,  has  mainly  protected  th 
profits  of  manufacturer.^.  For  the  benefit  of  2  per  cent,  of  our  people  we  hav 
mad«^  98  per  cent,  pay  a  tax  of  $  00,000,000  a  year. 

"  But  you  must  protect  American  industries,"  says  the  Republican  politician. 

Nonsense.  Industries  will  protect  themselves.  All  we  want  to  protect  i 
wages.     This  protection  involves  the  other ;  but  the  other  does  not  involve  this. 

In  the  national  treasury  to-day  there  is  the  vast  sum  of  $135,000,000,  the  pr( 
deeds  of  unnecessary  taxation ;  and  this  huge  amount  is  growing  at  the  rate  c 
$100,000,000  a  year. 

We  have  tried  protection  and  all  other  Republican  methods  for  twenty-fiv 
years.  Have  they  succeeded  in  making  the  people  satisfied  and  prosperous  ?  Tak 
the  answer  fr^m  the  farmers,  who  are  not  helped  by  the  high  tariff  to  a  better  pric 
for  their  produce,  while  they  are  compelled  to  pay  double  for  their  necessaries 
Take  it  from  the  mechanics,  the  miners,  the  raillworkers,  on  strike  or  locked-ou 
half  their  time.  Take  it  from  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  and  girls  in  th 
cities,  living  on  wages  that  are  a  constant  threat  of  starvation,  death  or  disgrace. 

This  is  no  political  campaign  speech,  but  the  plain  truth  as  we  see  it.  And  w 
would  speak  it  as  directly  if  its  protest  struck  the  Democratic  party  instead  of  th 
Republican. 

President  Cleveland's  proposal  is  to  reduce  the  tariff  by  which  most  of  thi 
enormous  sum  of  $100,000,000  per  annum  is  ra'sed  admitting  free  all  those  ra\ 
materials  and  other  things  t'at  will  enable  us  to  inc;ease  our  wealth,  both  by  us 
and  n)anufacture,  taxing  still  everything  that  might  reduce  wages  by  competitioi 
with  European  or  Asiatic  production. 

The  Democratic  proposal  is  not  free  trade,  as  the  manufacturers  and  corpora 
tions  say  ;  it  is  freer  trade. 


I 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX  REVISION.  491 


VIII. 

A  NEW  INDEPENDENT. 


The  Republican  principle  is  a  continuance  of  the  present  protection  of  manu- 
facturers' profits. 

.The  Democratic  principle  is  a  protection  of  the  people's  wages,  with  an  im- 

^ie  reduction  in  their  living  expenses. 

^  ''e  should  like  to  see  the  tax  taken  off  tobacco ;  but  we  should  prefer  to  see  it 
cen  off  food  and  clothing. 

The  I^lot  speaks  for  the  good  of  the  industrious  people,  farmers  and  city 
workers;  and  in  supporting  the  Democratic  party  we  earnestly  believe  tkat  we  are 
helping  to  bring  about  a  happy  and  prosperous  era,  with  comfort  and  independence 

I  generous  living  lor  the  whole  American  people. 
ETH    LOW,    REPUBLICAN    EX-MAYOR    OF    BROOKLYN,    CANNOT    STAND    THE 
PLATFORM. 
Ex-Mayor  Seth  Low  announced  in  an  interview,  held  on  June  26,  the  day  fol- 
lowing Harrison's  nomination,  that  he  would  not  vote  for  a  party  whose  principles 
were  established  upon  a  platform  like  unto  the  Republican. 

I  discover  myself  to  be  unhappily  in  the  dilemma  which  T  feared  at  the  time 
when  I  made  my  Lincoln  dinner  speech,  in  line  with  my  party  friends  on  State  and 
local  issues,  but,  I  am  sorrj'  to  say,  completely  out  of  line  with  them  upon  the 
tariff  question.  If  that  were  but  a  side  issue,  it  would  be  easy  to  overlook  the  dif- 
ference, but  as  it  is  the  battle-ground  between  the  great  parties,  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  remain  blind  to  it.  Last  September,  in  a  speech  I  delivered  in  Saratoga,  and 
in  February  at  the'Llncoln  dinner,  I  outlined  my  views  upon  the  subj'^ct  of  the 
tariff.  No  one  who  cares  to  refer  to  them  can  fail  to  perceive  that  my  conviction 
of  what  is  wise  policy  for  the  nation  is  not  consistent  with  a  support  of  the  Repub- 
lican platform.  I  believe,  as  Garfield  did,  in  a  protection  which  leads  to  frpe  trade. 
The  declaration  of  the  Chicago  pktform  is,  however,  utterly  opposed  to  this  ten- 
dency and  is  a  determined  onslaught  upon  free  trade.  As  I  understand  it,  the  chief 
line  of  change  in  the  present  tariff,  as  promised  bv  the  Republican  party,  is  to 
increase  duties  where  any  articles  made  at  home  are  imported. 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  entirely  new  ground  for  the  party  whose  principles  I 
have  so  long  acted  and  so  consistently  voted,  but  whether  this  be  bo  or  not,  the 
policy  ouilined  in  the  platform  is  a  policy  in  which  I  firmly  do  not  believe,  and  in 
behalf  of  which  I  can  make  no  fight.  Of  course  I  cannoi,  nor  do  I  desire,  to  claim 
the  privileges  of  p^ny  fellowship  when  I  am  unable  to  support  the  creed  of  the 
party.  Therefore,  I  i)rop()se  to  send  my  resignation  to  the  ward  association  to 
which  I  belong  and  so  regain  my  individual  relation  to  political  affairs.  I  have 
given  this  matter  the  most  painstaking  consideration  ever  since  the  platform  came 
to  my  notice,  and  I  can  say  with  positiveness  that  I  have  been  able  to  find  no 
other  way  in  which  to  be  true  to  mv  duty  as  a  citizen,  without  falling  far  short 
of  my  party  obligations  to  the  Republicans  on  national  issues,  were  I  to  continue 
in  the  fellowship. 

My  own  belief  in  regara  to  the  tariff  reform  is  substantially  set  forth  in 
my  address  at  Saratoga  before  the  Republican  State  Convention  September  14, 
1887.    The  passage  referred  to  is  as  follows: 

"Whatever  views  men  may  hold  in  regard  to  protection,  whether  they  look 
at  it  as  a  means  to  an  end  or  in  itself  a  good  thine:,  the  present  situation,  whereby 
vast  sums  of  money  in  excess  of  our  needs  go  into  the  national  Treasury,  forbids 
theories  and  demands  action.  The  Demo  ratic  party  during  two  sessions  of  Con- 
gress has  shown  itself  incompetent  to  act  as  to  this  surplus  in  any  direction.  The 
Republican  party  which,  finding  the  country  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  an 
empty  Treasury,  has  left  it  thus  full  to  overflowing,  no  doubt  will  find  in  our 
present  dilemma  some  practical  way  of  reducing  the  revenues  of  the  nation  to  the 
measure  of  its  necessities,  and  this  consistently  with  a  wise  protection,  where  pro- 
tection may  be  needed." 


I 


48Z  BEASOI^S  IN  FAVOR  OP  TAX   REVISION. 

IX. 
THE    WOOL    MANUFACTURERS    MAKE     AN     ARGUMENT    IN      FAVOR    OF    FKEE   R.^ 
MATERIAL   FOR   THEIR   OWN   INTEREST. 

In  1885  the  National  Assoclaiion  of  Wool  Manufacturers  made  a  Biateme 
to  Daniel  Manning,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  which  the  argument  1 
untaxed  raw  material  was  thus  stated  : 

Tlie  American  manufacturer  is  engaged  in  a  perpetual  struggle  with  the  man 
facturers  of  Europe  for  the  possession  of  the  markets  of  this  country.  In  this  str 
the  European  manufacturer  pos-.es?e3the  advantnge,  which  would  be  overwheliiiii 
if  not  couuteracted  hj  special  legislation,  of  having  the  raw  material  of  liis  manufi 
ture  free  from  duty — r,o  duties  on  wool  exis  ing  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Belgiu: 
the  Netherlands  and  very  slight  duties,  if  any,  in  other  manufacturing  nations,  O 
European  couipelitors  are  exempt  from  the  dire<  t  enhancement,  by  a  duty,  of  t 
cost  of  M^ool,thu8  requiring  less  capital  to  supply  their  mills,  and  no  cost  ot'inten 
on  the  duty  required  in  carrying  their  t-tocks  of  wool  and  goods.  They  are  fr 
from  the  apprehension  of  changes  in  the  value  of  wool,  such  as  have  taken  place 
this  country  m  consequence  of  no  less  than  seventeen  changes  in  the  tariff  on  wo< 
within  the  memory  of  living  manufacturers.  They  ai  e  exempt  from  the  duties  ( 
wool  substitutes,  so  us(  fully  employed  to  mix  with  wool  in  the  manufacture  of  t 
cheaper  and  hf  avier  cloths— duties  which  with  us  are  absolutely  prohibit(  ry.  Th 
are  able,  from  the  lower  cost  of  their  raw  n  at<  rial,  to  rilieve  themsf  Ives  f  om  ov< 
product  on  by  consigning  their  surplus  stocks  at  comparatively  slight  sacrifice 
foreign  markets,  to  which  their  cheapness  has  already  inti  oduced  lh(  m.  They  a 
not  compelled,  as  we  are,  to  discriminate  in  their  choice  of  w  ool  to  avoid  the  etf( 
of  the  duty,  and  are  able  to  select  their  wools  in  any  condition,  whether  unwashe 
washed  or  scoured,  with  reference  only  to  their  desirable  qualities.  Through  fn 
dom  of  importation  they  have  near  markets— as  at  London,  Havre,  Antwerp  a 
Berlin — offering  vast  assortments  and  a  steady  supply  of  all  kinds  of  wool— adva 
tages,  specially  favorable  to  the  small  manufacturer.  This  exemption  from  i 
restrictioES  in  the  selection 'of  raw  materinl,  t(^g<ther  with  the  facilities  for  supr 
and  the  certainty  that  valu'S  will  not  be  disturbed  by  k-gislation,  is  believed  to 
the  chief  cause  of  a  characteristic  of  the  Kurope  n  woolen  industry — namely,  th 
the  manufacturer  abroad  obtains  success  by  adhering  with  steady  attention  to  t 
special  fabrics  he  has  undertaken  to  mtike  and  in  which  he  has  acquired  excellem 
while  diversification  of  manufacturers,  so  necessary  to  prevent  overproduction, 
encouraged  by  the  equ^l  availability  of  all  varieties  and  c<  nditions  of  raw  matcri 
The  effect  of  this  polxv  upon  the  agricultural  interests,  and  the  labor  of  the  cou 
tries  which  adopt  it,  we  are  not  at  present  called  upon  to  consider. 

HOW   THE  DIFFICULTY   MAY  BB   MET. 

This  high  duty  is  not  the  only  difficulty  with  which  our  manufacturers  requiri: 
foreign  wools  have  to  contend.  It  is  held  that  complete  protection  to  the  m( 
important  branch  of  our  wool-growing  industry,  the  merino  sheep  husbandry  requii 
that  washed  wools  in  class  1  should  be  subject  to  double  the  duty  of  unwashed  wc 
and  the  duty  on  scoured  wool  should  be  three  times  the  amount  upon  the  unwash 
wools — an  arrangement  which  compels  the  importations  of  class  1  wools  to  be  in  t 
greasy  state,  necessitating  the  transportation  charges  on  from  two  ard  a  quarter 
three  pounds  of  grease  and  dirt  in  the  wool  required  for  a  pound  of  cloih.  T 
effect  of  the  compulsion  to  buy  greasy  wool,  and  pay  a  heavy  sp'.  cific  duty  on 
impurities  is  that  the  American  manufacturers  are  thereby  obl'geil  to  give  und 
preference  to  light  condition  over  fineness  and  the  other  valuable  qualities  of  wo( 
offering  in  foreign  markets.  Our  manufacturers,  moreover,  are  obliged  by  tl 
restriction  to  concentrate  their  competition  in  foreijji  markets  upon  the  alwa 
small  proportion  of  the  lightest  unwashed  wools,  while  our  foreigo  competito 
having  to  pay  duty  neither  upon  wool  nor  on  grease  and  dirt,  can  buy  the  hea 
wools  in  the  market  to  much  bett«  r  advantage. 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF   TAX   REVISION.  493 

"b  these  coneiderations  it  should  be  added  that  the  high  specific  duty  on  cloth- 
g  wools— a  duty  irrespective  of  the  cost— practically  excludes  the  cheap  and 
lundant  clothing  wools  of  South  America,  and  by  freeing  them  from  our  competi- 
)n  for  their  purchase  makes  them  much  cheaper  than  they  would  otherwise  be  to 
e  manufacturers  of  France,  Belgium  and  Germany,  who  work  them  up  int9  clothes 
d  stuffs  by  the  cheapest  labor  in  Europe. 

It  may  be  said  that  a  remedy  for  these  difficulties  is  to  be  found  iu  the  exclusive 
e  of  the  domestic  wools,  which  will  be  abundantly  supplied  under  due  protection. 
)  this  we  reply  that  neither  our  own  country  nor  any  other  in  the  world  does  or 
a  produce  to  advant  age  wools  of  all  kinds  and  grades.  Experience  under  high 
otection  of  wool  in  this  country  for  over  thirty  years  had  demonstrated  that  our 
•mestic  wool  growers  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  produce  only  the  staple  wools 
quired  for  the  ordinary  range  of  woolen  fabrics ;  and  as  these  fabrics  will  always 
in  demand,  they  build  up  their  flocks — a  work  of  time — for  the  production  only 
the  fleeces  which  will  be  profitable  for  a  long  series  of  years.  This  system, 
hough  providing  admirable  raw  material  for  common  goods,  is  incompatible  with 
J  variety  required  for  the  diversified  and  highly  advanced  manufacture  which 
)uld  be  our  aim.  The  American  manufacturer,  to  compete  with  the  fabrics  of 
ler  nations  in  the  endless  variety  demanded  by  our  times,  must  have  the  power 
selecting  a  portion  of  his  raw  material  from  all  the  world's  sources  of  supply. 
e  sudden  and  exceptional  demand  for  more  or  new  raw  material  must  be  supplied 
irtation. 


m 


OTHER    MANUFACTURER     IN    AN    IMPORTANT    BUSINESS    CENTRE    WHO    WANTS 
FREER  RAW  MATERIALS. 

Edwin  Q.  Sanford,  of  the  hat- manufacturing  firm  of  Glover,  San  ford  &  Sons, 
de  the  principal  address  at  a  political  meeting  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  recently. 

He  paid  he  wanted  free  wool ;  that  with  free  wool  they  could  compete  with  any 
mtry  in  the  world  and  give  the  employes  work  300  days  in  the  year,  because 
lir  ability  to  compete  with  other  countries  would  open  new  markets  where  they 
lid  sell  enough  goods  to  keep  their  factory  running  lull  time  the  year  round, 
len  the  duty  was  20  per  cent.,  before  the  war,  their  business  was  never  so  pros- 
ous,  and  now  since  1873  it  has  been  steadily  diminishing  under  an  excessive 
ifl".  The  wool  needed  in  felting  wool  hats  is  foreign  wool.  Our  wool  was  not 
table  for  the  purpose,  and  there  was  about  as  much  sense  in  trying  to  raise 
lanas  and  elephants  in  this  country  as  the  Australian  wool.  Possibly  both  eould 
done,  but  not  at  a  profit. 

In  his  own  business,  Mr.  Sanford  said  his  firm  used  500  to  600  pounds  of  wool 
'■eek,  which  would  cost  at  Cape  Town  $900.  The  duty  on  this  was  |5U0.  Why 
aid  it  not  be  a  boon  to  the  manufacturer  to  remove  the  duty  ?    The  Govtrnment 

not  need  the  money.  The  manufaciurer  would  then  make  his  product  cheaper, 
I  cheaper  product  means  more  markets;  more  markets  meant  steadier  work» 
ater  annual  wages,  and  increased  comfort  and  prosperity  to  the  journeyman 
ter.  At  the  same  time  a  cheaper  product  from  free  raw  materials  meant  a  cheaper 
:  to  every  consumer  of  wool  hats. 

"Suppose  it  is  so,"  said  Mr.  Sanford,  "though  I  do  not  believe  it,  that  the  Ohio 
d1  grower  is  injured,  is  the  Connecticut  mechanic  to  think  more  of  the  Ohio 
nerthan  he  does  of  himself?  Do  you  consumers  think  more  of  Ohio's  farmers 
n  you  do  of  your  own  prosperity  and  ihe  prosperity  of  your  own  Connecticut 
lufacturers  ?  Before  the  war  our  profit  was  $1  a  d<  -zen  on  hats ;  now  I'd  be  glad 
ake  the  contract  of  the  whole  factory  at  one  cent  a  hat.  A  year  ago  we  b<  gan 
dng  Scotch  hats  at  .75  profit ;  to-day  we  get  10  cents  a  dozen.    Now,  will  they 

the  Mills  bill  has  done  that? 

"Since  1876  we  have  not  exported  any  hats  because  we  can't  get  free  wool, 
e  us  free  wool  and  we'll  beat  the  world  at  making  wool  hats.  And  I  believe  in 
rly  a"l  our  manufacturing  we  can  successfully  compete  with  any  country  on  the 
)Of  the  globe,  if  only  we  can  have  our  raw  materials  that  enter  into  our  manu- 


494  REASONS  IN    FAVOR  OP  TAX  REVISION. 

factures  free.  It  has  been  said  that  an  American  could  earn  his  dollar  before 
Englishman  had  smoked  his  pipe  and  tied  his  shoes,  and  there  was  a  great  dei 
truth  in  the  statement.  Our  labor  was  more  efficient,  smarter,  more  willing  ar 
the  same  time  produced  greater  results  than  any  underpaid  pauper  labor  of  Eui 

"The  amount  of  wool  we  raised  in  the  United  States  was  265,000,000  pou 
We  used  600,000,000,  and  owing  to  the  duty  our  manufacturers  had  to  pa] 
increased  price  upon  the  whole  amount  of  wool  we  used  and  our  consumers 
increased  price  for  every  dollar  of  the  manufactured  product  they  used.  "W 
said  Mr.  Sanford,  "do  you  want  a  wall  built  around  this  country  to  prevent 
trading  with  other  countries  ?  We  make  more  than  we  use.  We  ought  to  pel] 
surplus  abroad,  but  you  place  the  tariff  so  high  that  it  can't  be  done.  Trade 
only  exist  between  two  or  more  parties  ?  we  would  make  money  from  the  foreig: 
they  would  take  what  we  could  make  better  than  they,  and  we  would  take  \ 
they  could  make  cheaper  than  we  could,  so  the  trade  would  be  mutually  benei 
to  each. 

"Build  a  wall  about  a  town  raising  tobacco  and  forbid  trading  with  ou 
towns  and  the  only  thing  left  to  the  inhabitants,  as  an  old  fellow  said,  is  to  cl 
So  long  as  we  can't  have  free  raw  materials  we  too  have  got  to  chaw.  Since  ] 
land  has  had  free  raw  material  her  manufacturing  has  increased  100  fold.  The  i 
has  nothing  to  do  with  regulating  wages,  they  are  governed  by  the  law  of  su 
and  demand.  In  my  business  free  wool  would  not  injure  our  labor,  but  would 
it  and  would,  as  I  said,  put  in  a  position  where  duty  or  no  duty  we  could  ( 
pete  with  the  world." 

XI. 

A.  CALIFORNIA   MANUFACTURER  WHO  IS    STRONGLY  IN   FAVOR    OF    FREE  WOO: 
ORDER  TO   ENCOURAGE  BOTH   THE   GROWING   AND  THE  MANUFACTURE. 

William  Harney,  secretary  of  the  Golden  Gale  Woolen  Manufacturing  Comp 
of  San  Francisco,  thus  gave  his  endorsement  to  the  proposition  to  put  raw  wo( 
the  free  list.  His  interview  was  first  published  in  the  Alta  California^  of 
Francisco : 

I  am  an  avowed  protectionist  and  always  have  been.  In  no  sense  can 
classed  as  a  free-trader.  I  look  upon  this  question  of  the  wool  tariff  from 
standpoint  of  years  of  experience  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen  fabrics,  and  I 
find  no  reasonable  ground  on  which  to  base  the  assertion  that  the  interesi 
manufacturer  and  wool-grower  clash  on  the  tariff  question  so  far  as  this  matt( 
concerned.  As  I  look  at  it  their  interests  are  identical,  and  it  is  not  a  matt< 
Which  politics,  so  called,  should  cut  any  figure.  I  think  I  can  show  you  that 
position  is  eminently  correct.  This  country  does  not  produce  the  fine  qualit 
wool  that  we  import  from  Australia.  And  to  make  a  certain  line  of  goods  we  i 
have  some  of  that  wool,  tariff  or  no  tariff.  I  can  see  no  reason  why  duty  sh 
be  imposed  on  a  raw  material  our  own  country  does  not  produce. 

To  show  how  the  tariff  on  wool  operates  against  the  manufacturer,and  do 
tic  wool  grower  as  well,  just  for  a  moment  consider  these  figures.  The  best 
tralian  wool  costs  us  down  there  in  the  colonies  say  14  pence  per  pound  ;  tl: 
about  28  cents  of  our  money.  Now,  to  this  must  be  added,  for  freight,  broke 
and  similar  expenses,  from  3  to  4  cents.  Say  4  cents.  That  brings  the  cost  o 
wool  up  to  32  cents  a  pound.  The  wool  under  the  scouring  will  shrink  any\\ 
from  65  to  70  per  cent.  Let  us  say  68  per  cent.,  that  would  bring  the  cost  o 
wool  up  to  $1  per  pound,  and  to  this  must  be  added  10  cents  per  pound  duty,  i 
ing  a  total  of  $1.10.  Supposing  the  wool  cost  us  30  cents,  and  the  shrinkage 
68  per  cent.,  then  with  the  duty  added,  the  total  cost  would  foot  up  to  $1.06 
pound.  These  figures  are  liable  to  fluctuation  of  course,  according  to  natural 
of  trade,  but  the  fluctuations,  however  great,  would  not  materially  affect  the  av( 
as  already  stated  by  me.  You  can  easily  understand  that  with  such  costly  c 
material  we  cannot  produce  a  manufactured  article  to  compete  with  the  Euro 
or  foreign  production. 


Traet 


REASONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  TAX  REVISION.  495 


KEPT   PROM  MAKING   THE   BEST   CLASS   OP   GOODS. 


best  grades  of  our  domestic  wool  come  from  Southern  Oregon,  Honey  Lake 
f  ey  and  Mendocino  county,  and  constitute  the  fall  clip.  This  wool  costs  us,  ready 
3  ise,  about  flfiyeight  cents  per  pound,  as  a  general  average  against  the  Australian 
^  1  of  ninety-six  cenls  and  one  dollar  per  pound  without  the  duty.  By  this  you 
b  :he  domestic  wool  can  be  sold  and  is  sold  far  below  the  price  commanded  by  the 
i.  tralian  product. 

I  contend  that  if  the  duty  on  wool  were  removed,  it  would  put  the  American 
1  lufacturer  on  an  equality  with  the  foreign  manufacturers,  because  the  duty,  &s  it 
(  stands,  hampers  the  American  manufacturers  in  exactly  the  same  ratio  that  the 
)  cost  of  labor  and  motive  power  abroad  favors  the  foreign  manufacturer.  In 
t  )T  words  if  the  duty  on  wool  were  removed  to-morrow  it  would  operate  to  the 
L  jrican  manufacturer  as  an  advantage  quite,  if  not  more  than,  offsetting  the  for- 
I  .  manufacturers'  advantage  in  the  cost  of  labor  and  motive  power.  When  I 
:  :e  that  assertion  I,  of  course,  suppose  that  the  duty  will  not  be  removed  from  the 

I  tared  article.  I  hold  that  the  wool  grower  is  not  protected  by  the  tax  on 
wool,  but  by  the  tax  on  the  importation  of  the  manufactured  article. 
; 
ve  a;lready  shown  you  how  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  have  the  best  Australian 
les  of  wool  to  manufacture  superior  fabrics.  The  tariff  prevents  us  going  into 
ixtensive  manufacture  of  cassimeres  and  diagonals.  Could  we  get  the  wool 
us  the  duty,  and  have  the  tax  remain  on  the  imported  manufactured  articles,  we 
d  compete  with  and  drive  out  the  foreign  product.  This  we  could  do,  for  we 
Id  blend  the  Australian  wool  with  the  home  product  in  the  proportion  of  about 
part  Australian  wool  to  two  parts  home  wool.  This  would  result  in  an  immense 
mmption  of  the  domestic  wool,  far  greater  than  at  present,  and  would  prove  a 
'erful  stimulus  to  the  wool-growing  industry  of  America.  We  have  all  the 
hinery  in  this  country  and  the  skill  to  make  cloths  as  good  as  the  best,  but  our 
gies  are  crippled  and  our  enterprise  dwarfed  by  the  unnecessary  cost  of  the  raw 
erial.  Could  we  go  ahead  and  work  our  mills  to  their  best  advantage,  millions 
oUars  would  annually  find  their  way  into  the  pockets  of  our  wage- workers  that 
'  either  remain  idle  or  are  disbursed  in  the  support  of  foreign  industries.  I 
k  the  consumer  would  equally  benefit  with  the  producer. 

The  wool-grower  may  advance  as  an  argument  the  assertion  that  if  the  tariff  on 
)1  was  removed  the  market  would  be  flooded  with  the  low  grade  foreign  wools. 
3  assertion  has  no  weight  when  you  consider  a  moment  the  relative  cost  of  the 
grade  foreign  and  low  grade  domestic  wool.  Tue  lowest  grade  wools  in  Aus- 
a  cost  there  say  8  pence  or  10  cents  per  pound,  add  three  cents  for  freight  and 
cerage  and  the  cost  is  nineteen  cents.  Ten  cents  per  pound  for  duty  increases 
r  value  to  twenty-nine  cents.  Say  the  shrinkage  is  sixty  per  cent.,  and  we  find 
total  cost  is  no  less  than  72^  cents  per  pound.  Our  own  low  grade  wools  cost 
eady  for  use,  anywhere  from  forty -two  to  forty-five  cents  per  pound,  so  that  you 
see  that  if  the  duty  was  removed  the  cost  of  the  foreign  article  would  still  be  far 
scess  of  the  home  product. 

If  the  door  was  thrown  wide  open  to-morrow  by  the  abolition  of  the  duty,  we 
tld  not  be  able  to  get  very  much  more  of  the  foreign  wool  than  we  do  now,  the 
ply  being  less  than  what  the  w^rld  demands ;  but  at  the  same  time  we  would  use 
enormously  increased  quantity  of  the  domestic  wool.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
)08ition  to  remove  the  tariff  on  wool  to  prompt  the  wool  grower  to  feel  that  he 
.  any  hazard. 

I  think  that  in  time  we  may  be  able  to  raise  as  good  wool  in  this  country  as  can 
nported,  but  at  present  such  is  not  the  case.  In  the  Colonies  great  care  is  taken  to 
D  the  ranges  clean,  the  grass  is  of  good  quality  and  the  sheep  are  sheared  but 
e  a  year.    Climate  and  other  conditions  have  marked  effect  on  the  quality  of  the 

In  one  of  his  reports,  while  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  late  Daniel  Manning 
1  the  following  very  significant  language :  "Any  tax  on  the  raw  wool  will  always 
te  domestic  wool-raising  a  bad  business,  for  in  our  dry  climate  some  varieties  of 
)1  required  in  the  manufacture  of  fine  fabrics  are  not  possible." 


496  REASONS  IN   FAVOR  OB'   TAX   REVISION. 


XII. 

JAMES   RUSSELL   LOWELL    ON   CLEVELAND,   AS  EXPRESSED  WHEN   PRESIDING  A' 
REVENUE  REFORM   MEETING   IN   BOSTON,  DECEMBER  29,  1887. 

One,  certainly,  of  the  reasons  that  have  brought  us  hither — one,  at  least,  of  th 
that  chiefly  suggested  the  opportuneness  of  our  coming  together  here — has  been 
President's  message  at  the  opening  of  the  present  Congress.  Personally,  I  con 
that  I  feel  myself  strongly  attracted  to  Mr.  Cleveland  as  the  best  representativi 
the  higher  type  of  Americanism  that  we  have  seen  since  Lincoln  was  suatched  ft 
us.  And  by  Americanism  I  mean  that  which  we  cannot  help,  not  that  which 
flaunt — that  way  of  looking  at  things  and  of  treating  men  which  we  derive  from 
soil  that  holds  our  fathers  and  waits  for  us.  I  think  we  have  all  recognized  in  1 
a  manly  simplicity  of  character  and  an  honest  endeavor  to  do  all  that  he  coul( 
duty,  where  all  that  he  would  was  made  impossible  by  difiiculties,  to  the  hoi 
trials  and  temptations  of  which  we  have  fortunately  never  been  expos  d.  But 
are  not  here  to  thank  him  as  the  head  of  a  party.  We  are  heie  to  felicitate  ei 
other  that  the  PresiJential  chair  has  a  man  in  it,  and  this  means  that  every  word 
says  is  weighted  with  what  he  is.  We  are  here  t  >  lelicitute  each  other  triat  this  n 
understands  politics  to  mean  business,  not  chicanery;  pliiu  speaking,  not  palter 
with  us  in  a  double  sense;  that  he  has  had  the  courage  to  tell  the  truth  to 
country  without  regard  to  personal  or  party  c  >nse<iuonces,  and  t'lus  to  remind 
that  a  country  not  worth  telling  the  truth  to  is  not  worth  living  in ;  nay,  deser 
to  have  lies  told  it  anl  to  take  the  inevitable  consequences  in  calmly. 

If  it  be  lamentable  that  acts  of  ofiicial  courage  should  have  become  so  i 
among  us  as  to  be  noteworthy,  it  is  consoling  to  believe  that  they  are  sometii 
contagious.  "So  shines  a  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world."  As  courage  is  pre-e 
nently  the  virtue  of  men,  so  it  is  the  virtue  which  most  powerfully  challenges 
respect  and  emulation  of  men.  We  thank  the  Piesident  for  having  taught  a  nc 
pertinent  object  lesson,  and  from  a  platform  lofty  enough  to  be  seen  of  all 
people.  We  should  be  glad  to  think,  though  we  hardly  dare  to  hopp,  that  some 
the  waiters  on  popular  providence,  whom  we  liumorously  call  statesmen,  wo 
profit  by  it.  As  one  of  the  evil  phenomena  which  are  said  to  mark  the  advanc< 
Democracy  is  the  decay  of  civic  courage,  we  should  be  grateful  to  Hie  President 
giving  us  reason  to  think  that  this  is  rather  one  of  its  accidents  than  of  itspropert 

Whatever  be  the  eflect  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  action  on  his  personal  fortunes,  lei 
rejoice  to  think  that  it  will  be  a  stimulating  thorn  in  that  august  chair  for  all  t 
may  sit  in  it  after  him.  Would  that  all  our  Presidents  might  see  and  lay  to  h( 
that  vision  which  Dion  saw,  that  silent  shape  of  woman,  sweeping  and  ever  swe 
ing  without  pause.  Our  politics  call  loudly  for  a  broom.  There  are  rubbish  he 
of  cant  in  every  corner  of  them  that  should  be  swept  out  for  the  dustman.  Timi 
cart  away  and  dump  beyond  sight  or  smell  of  mortal  men.  Mr.  Cleveland,  I  thi 
has  found  the  broom  and  begun  to  ply  it. 

But,  gentlemen,  the  President  has  set  us  the  example,  not  only  of  courage, 
of  good  sense  and  moderation.  He  has  kept  strictly  to  his  text  and  his  purp* 
He  has  stated  the  facts  and  marshalled  the  figures  without  drawing  further  in 
encesfrom  them  than  were  implicitly  there.  He  has  confined  himself  to  the  e 
nom'cqiiestion,  to  that  which  directly  concerns  the  national  housekeeping.  .  He 
not  a"  lowed  himself  to  be  lured  from  the  direct  forthright  by  any  temptation  t  >  ( 
cuss  the  more  general  and  at  present  m  inly  academic  questions  of  free  trade  or  p 
tection.  He  has  shown  us  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  being  protected  too  mi 
and  that  we  had  protected  our  shipping  interests  so  effectually  that  tiiey  had  cea 
to  need  protection  by  ceasing  to  exist.  In  thus  limiting  the  field  of  his  warning  i 
his  counsels,  he  has  done  wisely,  and  we  shall  do  wisely  in  following  his  exam] 
His  facts  and  his  figures  will  work  all  the  more  efiectualiy.  But  we  must  be  pati 
with  them  and  expect  them  to  work  slowly.  Enormous  interests  are  involved,  i 
must  be  treated  tenderly.    It  was  sixty  years  before  the  leaven  of  Adam  Sa 


I 


REASONS  IN   FAVOR  OP  TAX   REVISION.  497 


ipregnated  the  whole  sluggish  lump  of  British  opinion,  and  we  are  a  batch  of  the 
me  dough. 

lean  remember  the  time  when  bounties  were  paid  for  the  raising  of  wheat  in 
assachusetts.  Bounti'  s  have  fallen  into  discredit  now.  They  have  taken  an  alias 
id  play  their  three-card  trick  as  subsidies  or  as  protection  to  labor,  but  the  com- 
on  sense  of  our  people  will  find  them  out  at  last.  If  we  are  not  to  expect  any 
her  immediate  result  from  the  message  than  that  best  result  of  all  human  speech, 
at  it  awaken  thought,  we  can  at  least  already  thank  it  for  one  signal  and  unques- 
mable  benefit.  Ii  is  dividing,  and  will  continue  more  and  more  to  divide,  our 
irties  by  the  lines  of  natural  cleavage,  and  will  close  the  artificial  and  often  mis- 
lievous  lines  which  followed  the  boundaries  of  section  or  the  tracings  of  bygone 
•ejudice.  We  have  here  a  question  which  equally  concerns  every  man,  woman 
id  child,  black  or  white,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
the  Bay  of  Fundy .  We  havts  here  a  topic  which  renders  nugatory  all  those  prob- 
ms  of  ancient  history  which  we  debated  and  settled  more  than  twenty  years  ago 
r  manly  wager  of  battle,  and  that  so  definitely  that  we  welcome  here  to-night  with 
ecial  pleasure  some  of  the  brave  men  with  whom  we  argued  then,  and  whom  we 
sisted  all  the  more  on  keeping  as  countrymen  that  they  had  taught  us  how  to 
ilue  thein. 


^K'  XIII. 

CTBACT  FROM  A  SPEECH  BY  THE  LATE  EMORY  A.  STORRS,  AT  AN  AGRICULTURAL 
^K  FAIR  IN   SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,   SEPTEMBER,  1870. 

^X  surplus  so  gigantic  demonstrates  better  than  any  argument  could  possibly 
',  that  taxation  is  unnecessarily  high.  Still  there  stands,  in  a  time  of  profound 
ace,  an  enormous  tariff,  the  effect  of  which  is  felt  in  every  department  of  business, 
d  the  maintenance  of  which  enhances  the  cost  of  living  to  every  man  in  the  land, 
hy  should  that  tariff  be  continued  ?  The  fact  of  the  surplus  demonstrates  that  it 
not  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  Government,  and  so  those  who  are  interested 
maintaining  it  are  compelled  to  place  their  demands  upon  what  they  call  the 
irotection  of  American  industry." 

I  will  inquire  precisely  what  is  meant  by  protecting  American  industry  ? 
;ainst  what  or  against  whom  is  American  industry  to  be  protected  ?  Who  attacks  o? 
oposes  10  attack  American  industry  ?  How  is  the  attack  made  ?  Is  American 
iustry  so  feeble  that  it  cannot,  without  assistance  from  the  Government,  protect 
elf?  These  are  all  vital  questions.  If  no  one  is  attacking  American  industry,  it 
eds  no  protection.  The  forms  of  American  industry  are  wonderfully  diversified. 
le  great  body  of  the  farmers  of  the  country  constitute  a  large  element  of  what  may 
called  American  industry,  aad  I  know  of  no  attack  upon  ihem  so  serious  in  its 
aracter  as  that  made  by  the  tariff ;  and  if  the  farmers  need  protection  against  any- 
ing  it  is  against  protection. 

There  are  thousands  of  printers  in  the  country ;  who  attacks  or  proposes  to 
ack  them  ?  No  one,  except  it  be  the  tariff,  which  enhances  the  cest  of  material 
th  which  their  industry  is  carried  on,  of  the  clothes  which  they  wear,  of  the  coal 
lich  they  burn,  of  the  lumber  with  which  their  homes  are  built,  of  the  salt  which 
3y  consume,  and  of  the  books  which  they  read.  There  are  thousands  of  shibbuild- 
}  in  the  country  ;  who  attacks  them  and  their  interests,  and  from  what  enemy  do 
3y  need  to  be  protected?  The  deserted  ship-yards  of  the  East  answer  this  ques- 
n— they  need  to  be  protected  against  protection,  and  that  is  all  the  protection 
By  need  The  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  carpenters  and  joiners, 
ot  and  shoemakers,  blacksmiths,  and  the  daily  toilers  with  their  hands,  upon  the 
id  or  upon  the  sea,  are  threatened  with  an  attack  against  which,  for  their  own 
otection,  the  intervention  of  the  Government  is  necessary. 

I  apprehend  that  should  the  Government  levy  a  direct  tax  upon  all  the  property 
the  country,  to  be  paid  over  directly  to  iron  manufacturers,  so  that  they  might  be 


I 


498  REASONS  IN  FAVOli  OF  TAX  REVISION. 

enabled  to  hold  their  own  against  the  competition  of  the  foreign  manufacturers,  bu 
a  few  would  be  found  who  would  justify  such  an  exercise  of  the  power  of  tixatioi 
"When  reduced  to  its  exact  practical  operations,  the  protection  of  American  industrj 
so  called,  is  simply  the  forcible  taking  from  the  consumer  of  a  portion  of  his  earr 
Ings  and  handing  it  over  to  the  manufacturer.  The  proposition  to  the  consumer  i 
simply  this :  We,  the  Government,  will  take  from  you  10  or  15  or  20  per  cent,  c 
your  earnings  and  give  it  to  the  manufacturer,  and  he  will  spend  it  so  much  mor 
judiciously  than  you  would ;  that  ultimately  and  in  the  process  of  time  it  will  in  som 
curious  and  circuitous  manner  which  we  have  not  the  time  to  explain  now,  redoun 
more  greatly  to  your  advantage  than  it  would  had  you  spent  it  yourself  and  fc 
yourself. 


THE  TAXES  OF  THE    RICH. 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 
THE  TAXES  OF  THE  RICH. 


10 W    THESE    HAVE    BEEN    RELEASED    FROM    TIME  TO   TIME  SINCE 

1866 — NOW  THE   REPUBLICANS   FAVOR  THE   FREEING 

OF    WHISKEY. 


[From  a  Speech  by  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  July  8.] 

^^  le  Republican  party  claim  the  credit  of  large  and  repeated  reductions  of 
itSnal  taxation.  That  the  exact  facts  may  be  a  matter  of  record,  I  ask  leave  t© 
ive  printed  the  letter  from  Mr.  Miller,  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue,  to 
peaker  Carlisle. 

During  the  years  in  which  these  reductions  "were  being  made  no  burden  has  been 
moved  from  our  tariff  taxation,  and  the  increased  rates  of  duties  imposed  because 
'  these  internal  taxes  have  not  been  removed,  though  the  internal  tax  has  been 
pealed. 

And  as  this  history  given  in  this  letter  is  carefully  studied  it  will  be  perceived 
at  as  a  rule  these  reductions  removed  burdens  from  capital  and  wealth,  and  ren- 
jred  more  improbable  and  diflEicult  a  revision  of  the  tariff  and  a  reduction  of  tariff 
xation,  and  more  firmly  riveted  the  present  system  of  excessive  protective  duties 
)on  the  tax-payers  and  consumers. 

»  Treasury  Department, 

Office  of  Internal  Revenue, 

Washington,  May  3, 1888. 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  herewith,  in  compiianne  with  your  request,  a  state- 
9nt  of  the  amount  of  internal  taxes  abolished  under  the  several  acts  of  leg-lslatlon  from 
ily  13, 1866,  when  the  first  act  was  passed  "to  reduce  internal  taxation,"  to  March  3, 1883, 
e  date  of  the  last  act  to  reduce  such  taxation,  as  shown— 

First.  By  ascertaining  the  differences,  when  practicable,  between  the  receipts  from  tho 
veral  sources  affected  by  the  legislation  for  the  years  in  which  the  acts  were  passed, 
the  rates  of  tax  in  force  immediately  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  acts,  and  the  receipts 
at  the  new  rates  imposed  by  these  acts  would  have  yielded  for  the  same  years  had 
ey  been  in  force. 

Second.  When,  from  want  of  necessary  data,  the  foregoing  method  is  imprac- 
able,  by  giving  the  differences  in  the  receipts  for  the  years  immediately  preceding  and 
lowing  the  years  in  which  the  acts  were  passed  effecting  the  reduction  or  repeal  of  said 
ces,  except  in  cases  where  an  act  had  not  gone  into  full  operation  the  first  year  after  its 
3sage,  when  the  receipts  for  the  next  succeeding  year  are  taken  instead  of  those  for  the 
ar  before  it,  and— 

Third.  In  cases  where  the  tax  is  wholly  abolished  by  giving  the  largest  amount  of  reve- 
e  collected  from  that  source  in  any  year  as  the  measure  of  reduction. 

Taxation  under  the  present  internal  revenue  system  culminated  in  18C6,  the  receipts 
•  that  year  amounting  to  f  310,906,984.17.    Under  the  laws  then  in  force  taxes  were  levied 

raw  products,  upon  all  manufactures ;  upon  nearly  all  professions,  trades  and  occupa- 


500  THE  TAXES  OF  THE    EICH. 

tions,  upon  the  entire  receipts  of  transportation,  express,  insurance  and  telegraph  co 
panics,  of  advertisements,  bridsres  and  toll  roads,  and  of  lotteries,  theatres  and  other  pla( 
of  amusement,  upon  auction  sales  and  brokers  sales  of  merchandise,  stocks,  bonds,  forei 
exchange,  promissory  notes,  gold  and  silver  bullion  and  coin  (and  later  upon  sales  of  mat 
facturers,  dealers,  liquor  dealers,  etc.;,  upon  the  income  of  individuals,  upon  bank  profl 
dividends  and  additions  to  surplus  funds,  upon  canal,  railroad  and  turnpike  compani 
dividends,  interest  on  bonds  and  additions  to  surplus  funds,  upon  insurance  compani 
dividends  and  additions  to  surplus  funds,  and  upon  the  salaries  of  United  States  oflBa 
and  employes,  upon  articles  of  luxury  kept  for  use,  such  as  billiard  tables,  carriages,  piai 
fortes  and  other  parlor  musical  instruments,  gold  watches,  yachts,  gold  and  silver  plate,  up 
nearly  every  kind  of  legal  instrument,  upon  promissory  notes,  bank  checKS,  fricti 
matches  and  proprietary  medicines,  upon  legacies  and  successions,  upon  passports,  up 
slaughtered  cattle,  sheep  and  swine,  and  upon  the  capital,  circulation  and  deposits 
banks,  private,  State  and  narional.  In  a  word,  every  available  source  of  revenue  was  h 
under  contribution  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  and  to  meet  the  other  necessa 
expenses  of  the  Government.  This  system  was  probably  more  far-reaching  and  compi 
tensive  than  any  system  of  taxation  ever  before  devised. 

The  work  of  reducing  internal  taxation  began  August  1,  1868,  and  went  on  more  or  1( 
rapidly  until  1883.  when,  according  to  the  following  statement,  taxes  to  the  amount 
$320,717,187  per  annum  had  been  abolished,  and  the  system  relieved  of  its  most  burdensoi 
provisions. 

TAXES  REPEALED  FROM  JULY  18,  1886,  tO  JtJLY  14,  1870. 

First.  Manufactures  and  products :  The  largest  and  most  important  class  of  articl 
taxed  during  the  fiscal  year  1866  was  that  of  manufactures  and  productions.  Exclusive 
the  tax  on  distilled  spirits,  fermented  liquors,  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco,  snuff,  a: 
cigars  it  yielded  that  year  S137,230,6U9.  The  articles  included  in  it  were  almost  innumerab 
One  hundred  and  twenty-five  were  enumerated  in  the  "schedule  of  articles  subject  to  taj 
One  other  heading— "manufactures  not  enumerated"— included  the  rest.  Under  this  els 
taxes  were  duplicated  and  reduplicated.  Among  the  articles  that  yielded  the  large 
amount  of  revenue  may  be  mentioned  the  raw  products— coal,  cotton,  crude  petroleui 
and  sugar;  and  the  manufactures— boots  and  shoes,  cloths  and  other  fabrics  made  of  cc 
ton,  same  made  of  wool,  ready-made  clothing,  illuminating  gas,  manufactures  of  iron,  ( 
•distilled  from  crude  petroleum,  and  coal. 

Taxesin  this  class  were  reduced  by  acts  of  July  13,  1866,  and  March  2,  1867.  and  we 
finally  abolished  by  acts  of  February  3,  1868,  March  31,  1868,  and  July  20,  1868,  with  t] 
exception  of  the  tax  on  gas.  This  was  not  repealed  until  August  1. 1873.  As  a  substitu 
lor  the  tax  on  manufactures  a  tax  of  one-fifth  of  1  per  cent,  was  imposed  on  the  sales 
manufactures  in  excess  of  .f  5,000  per  annum.    Largest  receipts  in  1866 :  amount,  $137,230,61 

Second,  Gross  receipts:  Taxes  varying  from  1^  to  5  per  cent,  were  imposed  on  tl 
gross  receipts  of  canal,  railroad,  steamboat,  express  and  insurance  companies,  of  adv« 
tisements,  bridges,  ferries,  stage  coaches,  etc  Taxes  reduced  by  acts  of  July  13,  18i 
March  2,  1867,  and  finally  repealed  by  act  of  July  14,  1870.  Largest  receipts  in  fiscal  ye 
1866  ;  amount,  f  11,262,430.' 

Third.  Sales:  Sales  of  brokers  on  merchandise,  produce,  stocks,  bonds,  foreij 
exchange,  gold  and  silver  bullion  and  coin,  auction  sales,  sales  of  dealers  and  liquor  deale 
over  150,000  per  annum  were  taxed  at  rates  varying  from  one- twentieth  to  one-fourth  o1 
per  cent,  up  to  1870.  Repealed  by  act  of  July  14, 1870.  Largt  st  receipts  in  fiscal  year  IS^ 
amount,  f8,837.3P5. 

Fourth.  Special  taxes  not  relating  to  spirits,  beer,  and  tobacco :  An  annual  tax  var 
ing  from  ^5  to  $500  was  imposed  on  nearly  all  professions  and  occupations.  Few  redu 
tions  were  made  in  these  taxes  b  f  ore  their  repeal.  Abolished  May  1,  1871,  by  act  of  Ju 
14, 1870.    Largest  receipts  in  fiscal  year  1866 »  amount,  $14,144,418. 

Fifth.  Income:  The  tax  on  incomes  from  individuals  was  reduced  by  acts  of  Man 
2, 18ft7,  and  July  14, 1870.    It  expired  by  limitation  Decemb  r  31, 1871. 

The  tax  of  5  per  cent,  on  dividends  and  additions  to  surplus  of  banks,  insurance,  ra 
road,  and  other  corporations  was  reduced  by  act  of  July  14, 1870,  to  2K  per  cent,  and  expir 
by  limitation  at  the  same  time  as  the  tax  on  incomes  from  individuals.  Largest  receip 
in  fiscal  year  1866 :  From  individuals,  $60,547,883 ;  from  corporations,  $13,434,277 ;  tot 
$72,982,159. 

Sixth.    Legacies  and  successions :  No  reduction  in  this  class  before  its  repeal  by  act 
July  14, 1870.    Largest  receipts  in  fiscal  year  1870 ;  amount,  $3,081,825. 

Seventh.  Articles  of  luxury  kept  for  use :  Reduction  by  act  of  July  13,  1866;  tax 
repealed  by  act  of  July  14,  1870.    Largest  receipts  in  fiscal  year  1867 ;  amount  $3,116,674. 

Eighth.  Slaughtered  animals :  No  reduction  under  this  class ;  repealed  by  act  of  Ju 
13, 1866.    Largest  receipts  in  fiscal  year  1866;  amount,  $1,291,571. 

Ninth.  Passports:  The  tax  on  passports  was  repealed  by  act  of  July  14, 1870.  Large 
receipts  in  fiscal  year  1866 ;  amount,  $31,149. 

Tenth.  Stamp  taxes :  The  stamp  tax  imposed  on  promissory  notes  for  a  less  sum  thi 
$100,  and  on  receipts  for  any  sum  of  money  or  for  the  payment  of  any  debt,  and  the  stan 
tax  imposed  on  canned  and  preserved  fish  were  repealed  October  1,  1870,  by  act  of  Ju 
14,  1870. 

Total  receipts  from  stamp  taxes  for  the  fiscal  year  1870 $16,544,043, 

And  for  the  fiscal  year  1872 16,177.321. 

Apparent  reduction 366,733 


THE   TAXES  OF   THE    RICH.  501 

Secapifiilation  of  taxes  repealed  under  the  foregoing  named  acts. 


Taxes  repealed  on— 


Amount. 


nufactures  and  products 

ross  receipts 

Special  taxes  not  relating  to  spirits,  tobacco  and  beer. 

Income 

Legacies  and  successions 

Articles  of  luxury  kept  for  use 

fghtered  animals 
ports 
, 


$127,230,609.00 

11, 202, 4^30.00 

8,837,;J95.00 

14,144,418.00 

73,983,159.00 

3,091,825.00 

2,116,674.00 

1,291,571.00 

31,149.00 


Total  abolished 

Add  stamp  taxes  reduced 

And  for  increase  on  gas  from  1866  to  1872 

d  for  increase  on  raw  cotton  from  1866  to  1867. 


S^Xn, 


1240,988,230  00 

366,723.00 

989,076.00 

5,;359,424,00 


Total  repealed  and  reduced. 


$347,708,453.00 


The  receipts  from  the  tax  on  gas  in  1866  were  $1,822,643,  and  in  1872,  the  year  of  largest 
receipts  from  this  source,  $2,831,719,  showing  an  increase  in  the  tax  during  this  time  of 
$989,076.  So,  also,  the  receipts  from  raw  cotton  in  1866  were  $18,409,65.'),  and  in  1867,  the  year 
when  the  largest  receipts  were  returned  from  this  source,  $23,769,079,  showing  an  increase 
of  $5,a59,424  over  the  receipts  of  the  previous  year.  The  sums  then  of  $989,076  and  of 
$5,359,424  have  been  added  to  the  total  of  taxes  repealed  in  accordance  with  the  principle 
enunciated  in  paragraph  3,  page  3. 

f  REMOVAL  or  TAXES  ON  INCOMES  AND  OTHER  LUXURIES. 

The  following  is  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  leading  provisions  in  the  above-named  acts  that 
effected  this  reduction : 

First.  An  act  of  July  13, 1866 :  The  largest  reductions  under  this  act  were  made  on  man- 
ufactures and  products,  by  the  repeal  of  the  provisions  in  section  5,  act  of  March  3, 1865, 
which  imposed  a  tax  of  20  per  cent,  on  all  articles,  with  few  exceptions,  enumerated  In  sec- 
tion 94,  act  of  June  30, 1864,  in  addition  to  the  rates  imposed  in  that  section,  and  by  repeal- 
ing the  tax  altogether  on  certain  articles  in  this  class.  The  rate  of  tax  on  gross  receipts  of 
telegraph  companies  was  reduced  from  5  to  3  per  cent.,  and  on  auction  sales  from  one- 
fourth  to  one-tenth  of  1  per  cent.,  and  on  brokers'  sales  of  merchandise  from  one-eighth  to 
one-twentieth  of  1  per  cent.  The  tax  of  one-twentieth  of  1  per  cent,  on  brokers'  sales  of 
stocks,  bonds,  foreign  exchange,  promissory  notes,  or  other  securities,  and  of  one-tenth  of 
1  per  cent,  on  sales  of  gold  and  silver  bullion  and  coin  was  reduced  to  one-hundredth  of  1 
per  cent.,  when  such  sales  were  made  by  a  broker,  bank,  or  banker  who  had  paid  a  special 
tax  as  such.  The  tax  was  repealed  on  the  gross  receipts  of  railroad  and  other  companies  for 
transportation  of  freight,  on  slaughtered  animals,  on  carriages  valued  at  $300  and  less,  on 
piano-fortes  and  other  parlor  musical  instruments,  and  on  yachts,  pleasure  and  racing  boats 
kept  for  use. 

Second.  Act  of  March  2,1867:  The  list  of  articles  added  to  the  free  list  by  act  of  July 
13, 1866,  was  considerably  increased  by  this  act.  The  tax  was  repealed  on  the  gross  receipts 
of  advertisements  and  toll  roads,  and  was  reduced  on  the  gross  receipts  of  bridges  and  fer- 
ries from  3  to  2}i  per  cent.    A  few  additional  taxes  were  imposed  on  sales. 

The  income  tax  of  individuals  was  reduced  by  raising  the  exemption  from  $(100  to  $1,000, 
and  by  imposing  a  uniform  rate  of  5  per  cent,  on  all  taxable  incomes  over  that  amount,  in 
lieu  of  the  rates  5  per  cent,  on  incomes  over  $600  and  not  over  $5,000,  and  10  per  cent,  on 
incomes  over  $5,000,  an  excess  of  $5,000  imposed  by  act  of  March  3, 1865. 

Third.  Act  of  February  3, 1868:  By  this  act  the  tax  on  cotton  grown  in  the  United  States 
after  the  year  1867  was  repealed. 

Fourth.  Act  of  March  31, 1868 :  All  taxes  on  manufactures  and  productions,  except  dis- 
tilled spirits,  fermented  liquors,  cigars,  cigarettes,  snuff,  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco,  not 
before  repealed,  were  abolished  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  except  the  tax  on  gas,  and 
mineral  oils  distilled  from  coal  and  crude  petroleum.  In  lieu  of  these  taxes  repealed,  how- 
ever, a  tax  of  one-fifth  of  1  per  cent,  was  imposed  on  manufacturers'  sales  in  excess  of 
$5,000  per  annum. 

Fifth.  Act  of  July  2, 186?:  The  remainder  of  the  tax  on  mineral  oil  distilled  from  crude 
petroleum,  coal,  etc.,  which  was  reduced  one-half  by  the  act  of  March  31, 1868,  was  repealed 
by  this  act. 

Sixth.  Act  of  July  14, 1870 :  By  the  provision?  of  this  act  tax  was  repealed  on  special  taxes 
not  relating  to  spirits,  fermented  liquors,  and  tobacco,  on  gross  receipts,  sales,  legacies,  and 
successions,  articles  of  luxury  kept  for  use,  not  before  abolished,  and  on  passports. 

The  tax  on  income  from  individuals  was  reduced  by  raising  the  exemption  from  $1,000  to 
$2,000,  and  by  imposing  a  tax  of  2K  per  cent,  on  all  taxable  incomes  over  $3,000,  in  place  of 
5  per  cent,  on  all  taxable  incomes  over  $1,000,  under  act  of  March  2, 1867.  This  act  also 
reduced  the  tax  from  5  to  3>^  per  cent,  on  the  dividends  and  additions  to  surplus  funds  of 


I 


503  THE  TAXES  OF  THE    RICH. 

banks,  canal,  insurance,  railroad,  and  turnpike  companies,  and  on  the  interest  on  bonds  of 
canal,  railroad,  and  turnpike  companies,  and  provided  that  the  Income  taJC  should  be  levied 
and  collected  annually  for  the  years  1870  and  1871,  and  no  longer.  It  also  reduced  the  stamp 
tax.    (See  paragraph  10,  page  13.) 

The  amount  of  reduction  in  the  several  classes  named  under  each  of  the  foregoing  acts 
cannot  be  exactly  determined  for  lack  of  necessary  data  in  the  returns.  The  largest 
receipts  for  any  one  year  have,  therefore,  been  taken  as  the  measure  of  reduction. 

RKMOVAIi  OF  TAXES  ON    DRINKING  AND  SMOKING. 

Act  of  July  20, 1868,  as  amended  by  Act  of  April  10, 1869:  Among  the  more  Important 
provisions  of  this  act  were  those  reducing  the  rates  of  tax  on  distilled  spirits  from  $3  to  50 
cents  per  gallon,  modifying  the  special  taxes  of  distillers,  and  imposing  a  capacity  lax  on 
their  distilleries  and  a  tax  of  $4  per  barrel  on  the  annual  production  of  spirits  in  excess 
of  100  barrels  by  each  distiller.  •  ^ 

Under  these  changes  in  the  law  the  quantities  of  distilled  spirits  returned  for  taxa- 
tion increased  from  7,224,809  gallons  in  1868  to  62,093,417  gallons  in  1869,  and  78,490.198  gallons 
in  1870,  and  the  receipts  from  $18,655,631  in  1868  to  $45,071,231  in  1869,  and  $55,606,094  in 
1870. 

The  most  Important  changes  made  in  the  rates  of  tax  on  tobacco  and  snuff  were  the 
reduction  of  the  tax  on  snuff  and  the  finer  grades  of  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco,  con- 
stituting about  two-thirds  of  the  quantity  of  tobacco  taxed,  from  40  to  32  cents  per  pound,^ 
and  the  imposition  of  a  tax  of  one-flfth  of  1  per  cent,  on  sales  of  cigars  over  $5,000  per 
annum,  of  manufactured  tobacco  over  $1,000  per  annum,  of  leaf  tobacco  over  $10,000  per 
annum,  and  on  the  excess  over  $5,000  of  the  penal  sum  of  bonds  of  manufacturers  of 
tobacco. 

Under  the  operation  of  these  and  other  modifications  in  the  law  the  quantities  of 
manufactured  tobacco  and  snuff  returned  for  taxation  increased  from  46,764,150  pounds  in 
1868  to  64,305,036  pounds  in  1869,  and  90.288.082  pounds  in  1870,  and  the  receipts  from  all 
sources  relating  to  tobacco  from  118,730,095  in  1868  to  123,430,708  in  1869,  and  $31,350,708  in 
1870. 

This  act  provided  that  the  tax  on  distilled  spirits,  snuff,  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco 
should  be  paid  by  stamps.  The  tax  on  distilled  spirits  was  accordingly  first  paid  by  stamps 
November  1,  1868,  and  on  manufactured  tobacco  and  snuff  November  33, 1868. 

Act  of  June  6, 1872:  Under  spirits  this  act  repealed  the  special  tax  of  distillers,  the 
capacity  or  per  diem  tax  on  their  distilleries,  and  the  tax  of  |4  per  barrel  on  every  barrel 
produced  by  any  distiller  over  100  barrels  a  year,  but  increased  the  rate  of  tax  per  gallon 
from  50  to  70  cents.  These  changes  were  not  probably  made  to  affect  the  revenue  from 
spirits,  but  to  make  the  tax  less  burdensome  to  distillers. 

The  changes  made  by  this  act  in  the  rates  of  tax  on  tobacco  were  the  substitution  of 
a  uniform  rate  of  20  cents  per  pound  on  all  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  for  the  two  rates, 
16  and  32  cents,  imposed  by  act  of  July  20,  1868,  the  repeal  of  the  tax  on  sales  of  cigars 
over  $5,000  per  annum,  of  manufactured  tobacco  over  $1,000  per  annum,  of  leaf  tobacco 
over  $10,000  per  annum,  and  on  excess  of  $5,000  of  the  penal  sum  of  bonds  of  manufacr  rers 
of  tobacco,  and  the  imposition  of  a  special  tax  on  retail  dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  and  on 
peddlers  of  tobacco. 

Estimated  reduction  under  tobacco:  The  quantity  of  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco 
returned  for  taxation  during  the  fiscal  year  1872  was  93,655,905  pounds.  The  actual  receipts 
from  this  tobacco  at  16  and  33  cents  per  pound  imposed  by  act  of  July  20, 1868,  were: 

At  32  cents $18,177,476  77 

At  16  cents 5,896,206  33 

Total $24,073,683  10 

Estimated  receipts  on  93,655,905  pounds  at  20  cents 18,731,181  00 

Showing  a  reduction  of $5,342,502  10 

Add  for  receipts  from  sales  of  cigars,  manufactured  tobacco,  etc.,  in  1872 363,137  00 

Total $5,705,639  10 

"Deduct  receipts  of  retail  dealers  in  leaf  tobacco  and  peddlers  of  tobacco  in 
1873 58,698  00 

Actual  reduction  in  receipts  from  tobacco $5,646,941  10 

This  act  also  repealed  all  stamp  taxes  imposed  under  Schedule  B  (documentary  stamps), 
act  of  June  30, 1864,  except  the  2  cent  stamp  on  bank  checks,  drafts  or  orders.  Date  of  repeal 
October  1, 1872.  The  receipts  for  the  first  entire  fiscal  year  after  the  date  of  repeal  were 
those  for  1874. 

Receipts  from  stamp  taxes  in  1872 $16,177  321 

Receipts  from  stamp  taxes  in  1874 6,136  845 

Showing  a  reduction  of 810.040,476 

This  act  raised  the  exemption  on  all  sums  deposited  in  savings  banks;  etc  ,  in  the  name 
of  one  person  from  $500  to  $2,000,  and  exempted  certain  borrowed  capital.  The  annual 
reduction  in  the  receipts  from  bank  capital  and  deposits  in  consequence  of  these  changes 
In  the  law  was,  as  appears  from  a  comp  arison  of  the  receipts  from  them  in  1873  and  1873» 
«873,111. 


I 

Tnl 

I 

On 

I 


THE   TAXES   OP   THE    RICII.  503 


Amount  of  tax  returned  on  bank  capital  and  deposits: 

In  fiscal  year  1873 ^ $4,619,364 

^-  fiscal  year  187.^ v 3,746,253 

Reduction „ ."^87:^.111 

The  tax  on  illuminating'  gas  was  repealed  by  this  act. 

Amount  of  reduction : 

f'  On  the  stamp  tax $10,040,476 

On  bank  capital  and  deposits 873,111 

,  On  tobacco 5,643^941 


Total,  exclusive  of  gas $16,560,1 

FURTHER  ErrORTS  TO  TREE  WHISKEY  FROM  TAX. 


Act  of  March  1, 1879 :  This  act  imposed  a  uniform  rate  of  16  cents  per  pound  on  all  snuff, 
•chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  in  lieu  of  32  cents  per  pound  imposed  on  snuff  by  act  of  July 
20, 1868,  and  24  cents  per  pound  on  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  imposed  by  act  of  March  3, 
1875.  This  act  took  effect  May  1, 1879.  hence  the  greater  part  of  the  receipts  lor  the  last  two 
months  of  the  fiscal  year  1879  was  collected  at  the  new  rates  of  tax. 

The  total  quantity  of  manufactured  tobacco  and  snuff  returned  for  taxation  during  the 
fiscal  year  ended  J  une  30, 1879,  was  120,398,458  pounds,  as  follows : 

Pounds.     Pounds. 

Snuff  at  32  cents ^    2,215,111 

Snuff  at  16  cents 1 ,208,124 

3,423,335 

Manufactured  tobacco  at  16  cents 42,127,203 

Manufactured  tobacco  at  20  cents 57 

Manufactured  tobacco  at  24  cents 74,847,963 

116,975,223 

Total 120,398,458 


■ 


Estimates  of  tax  on  snuff  and  manufactured  tobacco : 

At  new  rates,  120,398,458  pounds  at  16  cents $19,263,753 

At  old  rates,  snuff  3,423,235  pounds  at  32  cents $1,095,4:35 

At  old  rates,  manufactured  tobacco  116,975,223  pounds  at  24  cents 28,074,054 

29,069,489 

Reduction 9,906,736 


t 


Act  of  May  28, 1880 :  This  act  abolished  warehousp,  rectifiers,'  wholesale  liquor  dealers', 
special  bonded  warehouse  and  imported  spirit  stamps,  and  the  provision  for  the  payment 
of  5  per  cent,  interest  under  joint  resolution  of  March  28,  1878,  on  the  tax  upon  spirits  that 
had  remained  in  warehouse  more  than  one  year,  and  provided  certain  allowances  for  leak- 
,age  in  packages  of  spirits  when  they  were  withdrawn  from  warehouse. 

The  receipts  from  the  sale  of  the  above-named  stamps  in  1880  were : 

Interest  amounted  to $330,689 

Leakage,  taking  the  average 158,994 

"  llowed  for  1881, 1882  and  1883 1,300,144 


i 


Total .• $1,789,827 

Act  of  March  3, 1883 :  This  act  reduced  the  tax  on  tobacco  and  repealed  the  stamp-tax 
on  checks,  friction-matchep,  patent  medicines,  etc.,  and  the  tax  on  the  capital  and  deposits 
of  all  banks  and  bankers,  private,  State,  and  national. 

Under  tobacco,  the  tax  on  cigars  was  reduced  from  $6  to  $3  per  thousand,  on  cigarettes 
from  $1.75  to  50  cents  per  thousand,  and  on  snuff,  chewing,  and  smoking  tobacco  from  16  to 
Scents  perfpound,  andthe  speeial  taxes  of  manufacturers  of  and  dealers  in  tobacco  were 
reduced  on  an  average  nearly  50  per  cent. 

ESTIMATE  OF  THE  REDUCTION  ON  TOBACCO. 

As  this  act,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  tobacco,  took  effect  May  1, 1883,  most  of  the  collections 
■on  tobacco  during  the  last  two  months  of  the  fiscal  year  1883  were  made  under  this  act. 

The  quantities  of  cigars,  cigarettes,  snuff,  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  returned  for 
taxation  during  the  fiscal  year  I8b3  were  as  follows  : 

€igars  and  cheroots -. number  2,227,888,962 

Cigarettes number    640,021,653 

Snuff  and  manufactured  tobacco pounds    170,361,5ii8 


504  THE  TAXES  OP  THE    RICH. 

The  number  of  special  tax-payers  were  as  follows:  Manufacturers  of  cigars,  16,734; 
manufacturers  of  tobacco,  1.060  ;  dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  3,383 ;  dealers  in  leaf-tobacco,  not 
over  25,000  pounds,  1,208;  retail  dealers  in  leaf-tobacco,  3  :  dealers  in  manufactured  tobacco, 
449,613 ;  peddlers  of  tobacco,  first  class,  7  ;  second  class,  538  ;  third  class,  647 ;  fourth  claes,  331. 

ESTIMATE    OF    RECEIPTS    UNDER    RATES    OF    TAX    IN    FORCE    IMMEDIATELY    PRIOR 
TO    MAY    1,    1883. 

Cigars,  3,237,888,9?3,  at  $6  per  1000 $19,367,333  95 

Cigarettes,  weighing  not  over  3  pounds  per  1.000, 639,903,503,  at  $1.75  per  1,000 1,119,839  38 

Cigarettes  weighing  over  3  pounds  per  1,000, 119,150,  at  $6  per  1,000 714  90 

Tobacco  and  snuff,  170,361,558,  at  16  cents 27,357,849  28 

Total  manufactured  tobacco,  cigars,  etc $47,745,727  51 

SPECIAL  TAXES. 

Manufacturers  of  cigars,  16,724,  at  $10 $1  7,240  Ofl 

Dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  3,383,  at  825 84,550  OO 

Dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  not  over  34,000  pounds,  1,308,  at  $5 6,040  OC 

Betail  dealers  In  leaf  tobacco,  3,  at  $500 1,500  OO 

Dealers  in  man uf  actured  tobacco,  449,613,  at  $5 2,348,060  OC 

Manufacturers  of  tobacco,  16,060,  a:  $10 10,600  OO 

PEDDLERS  OF  TOBACCO. 

First  class,  7,  at  $50 a50  OO 

Second  class,  528,  at  $35 13,300  Ofl 

Third  class,  647,  at  $15 9,705  W 

Fourth  class,  231,  at  $10 2,210  OO 

Total  special  taxes $2.543,455  00 

Total  from  all  sources  at  old  rates $50,239,183  51 

Estimate  of  receipts  under  rates  of  tax  imposed  by  act  of  March  3, 1883. 

Cigars  and  cheroots,  3,227,888,992,  at  $3 $9,683,656  95 

Cigarettes,  weighing  not  over  3  pounds  per  1,000,  639,902,503,  at  50  cents  per  1,000  319,951  21 

Cigarettes,  weighing  over  3  pounds  per  1,000, 119,150,  at  $3 357  4." 

Tobacco  and  snuff,  170,361,558,  at  8  cents 13,638,934  64 

Tot  al  manufactured  tobacco,  cigars,  etc $33,633,900  3S 

SPECIAL  TAXES. 

Manufacturers  of  cigars,  16,724,  at  $6 $100,344  OC 

Dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  3,382,  at  $12 40,584  0( 

Dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  not  over  25,000  pounds,  1,208,  at  $5 9,040  C( 

Retail  dealers  in  leaf  tobacco,  3,  at  $250 750  0( 

Dealers  in  manufactured  tobacco,  449,612,  at  $2.40 1,079,068  8( 

Manufacturers  of  tobacco,  1,060,  at  $6 6,360  0( 

PEDDLERS  OF  TOBACCO. 

First  class,  7,  at  $30 $210  0( 

Second  class,  528,  at  $15 ; 7.930  0( 

Third  class,  647,  at  $7.20 4,658  4( 

Fourth  class,  221,  at  $3.60 795  6( 

Total  special  taxes $1.246,730  8( 

Total  from  all  sources  at  new  rates $24,879,631  1* 

Total  from  all  sources  at  old  rates 50,289,183  5] 

Reduction $25,409,551  3J 

TAXES  ABOLISHED. 

Receipts  in  fiscal  year  1882  from  stamp  taxes $8,139,218  0( 

Capital  and  deposits  of  State  banks  and  private  bankers 5,349, 173  0( 

Capital  and  deposits  of  national  banks 5,959,703  0( 

Total  taxes  reduced  and  repealed $44,757,644  35 


THE  TAXES  OF  THE    RICH. 


505 


L.^„._ 

!  ^rer  of  tbe  UnitPd  states  instead  of  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue,  so  that  they 
were  never  included  in  the  receipts  of  this  office.  They  w  re,  however,  strictly  an  internal 
tax  and  should  be  included  in  the  list  of  internal  taxes  repealed. 


RECAPITULATION. 


Date  of  approval  of  repealing  and  reducing  acts. 


Amount 
of  taxes  re- 
duced and 
repealed. 


July  i4, 1870 
June  6,  1873.. 
March  1,1879. 
May3*»,  1880.. 
March  3,  1883. 


March  2, 1867 ;  February  3, 1868 ;  March  31, 1868 ;  July  20, 1868,  and 


1347,703,453 
16,560,528 
9,905,736 
1,789,837 
44,757,644 


Total $320,717,187 


Respectfully  yours, 


JOSEPH  S.  MILLER,  Commissioner. 


606  WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS 


CHAPTER.  XLV. 
WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 


A    COMPLETE    SHOWING    BY    SCHEDULE    OF    THE    EEDUCTION    PRO 
POSED   IN   THE   BURDENS   OF   TAXATION. 


Tlie  Free  List  Enlarged  for  the  Benefit  of  WorMngmen  ant 

Manufacturers^  with  few  Slight  Reductions  on 

Goods  which  are  Made  in  this  Country. 


The  free  list  of  the  present  tarifl  includes  325  paragraphs  of  the  law  of  1883 
In  the  Mills  Bill  139  additional  paragraphs  are  devoted  to  the  free  list,  including 
only  a  very  few  more  than  this  number  of  articles.  The  carrying,  therefore,  of  thes< 
articles  to  the  free  list  is  simply  an  enlargement  of  the  same,  and  not  a  making  o 
it  anew. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  country  in  constructing  tariff  laws,  even  those  car 
rying  the  highest  rate  of  duty,  to  include  in  the  free  list  a  large  number  of  articles 
the  importation  of  which  is  small,  and  the  necessaries  of  life  produced  in  othei 
countries  and  not  in  this.  This  same  principle  has  been  carried  into  the  present 
bill,  with  the  addition  that  certain  raw  materials  of  industry  have  been  added  tc 
the  free  list.  The  section  given  below  represents  all  the  additions  made  under  the 
present  bill : 

The  following  tables  show  in  the  first  column  the  amount  of  tariff-tax  paid  on  eacl 
1100  worth  of  imported  goods  in  1887.  The  second  column  shows  the  amount  to  be  paid 
under  the  Mills  bill.     Where  no  rate  is  given  there  were  no  importations  last  year  or 


Tariff-tai 


which  to  calculate. 

Tariff-tax 

ARTICLES.  gW'^^rth    ;^^^ 

in  1887.        ^"'^  ""'• 

Wood  and  manufactures  of : 

Timber- 
Used  for  spars  and  in  building  wharves $  20  00        Free. 

Hewn  and  sawed . . 30  00  " 

Square  and  sided,  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for 10  36  " 

Wood,  unmanufactured 30  00  " 

Lumber — 
Boards,  planks,   deals,  and  other  sawed  timber,  of  hemlock,  white- 
wood,  sjxamore  and  basswood — 
Not  planed  or  iinished 11  73  " 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  507 

Tariff-tax 

per 

.00  woii 

in  1887. 


ARTICLES.  aioo'^woTih   ''•5'^he^ 

'in  i««7  ^   Mills  bill. 




^HKot  planed  or  flnished $  16  18  Free 

^K)E{ubs  for  wheels  ;  posts ;  last,  wagon,  oar,  gun,  and  heading-blocks, 

^■F    and  all  like  blocks  or  sticks,  rough-hewn  or  sawed  only 20  00  •' 

^^fetaves  of  all  kinds 10  00  " 

Pickets  and  palings 20  00  " 

Laths li  87  " 

Shingles IG  89  " 

ipboards — 

*ine 7  98  " 

Spruce 10  98  " 

Salt  in  bags,  etc 39  30  " 

Salt  in  bulk 79  68  " 

Flax  straw 10  73  .  '« 

Flax,  not  hackled , 9  05  " 

Flax  tow 5  21  *' 

Hemp  tow 6  37  " 

Hemp 16  59  <' 

Manila  and  substitutes 21  06  " 

Jute  butts 19  13  " 

Jute ■ 20  00  " 

Sunn 15  45  *' 

Sisal  grass 14  80  *' 

Other  vegetable  substances .  -   13  66  " 

burlaps,  not  exceeding  60  inches 30  00  *' 

Jute  machinery,  not  enumerated  in  present  tariff 45  00  " 

Tin  plates,  terne  plates,  and  taggers  tin,  of  iron  or  steel 33  80  " 

Beeswax 20  00  " 

Glycerine,  crude,  brown  or  yellow 24  78  " 

Phosphorus 19  .52  " 

Crysilic  wash  or  Sheep-dip 20  00  " 

Soap,  hard  and  woft ...   ; 20  00  " 

Hemlock,  extract,  tanning,  etc 20  00  " 

Indigo,  extract 10  00  " 

Indigo,  carmine 10  00  " 

Oil,  croton 62  ^0  " 

Hemp-seed  and  rape-seed  oil 27  07  " 

Petroleum  (included  in  oils) 10  00  " 

Alumina,  alum,  etc 40  96  " 

Mineral  waters,  imitation 30  00  " 

Baryta,  etc.,  manufactured 10  00  " 

Borax,  crude 26  05  " 

Borax,  refined 42  49  " 

Boracic  acid,  commercial 80  51  " 

Boracic  acid,  pure .59  48  " 

Copper,  sulphate  of,  blue  vitriol 77  11  " 

Iron,  sulphate  of,  copperas 56  67  " 

Potash- 
Crude 20  00  " 

Carbonate  of,  or  fused '. 20  00  " 

Caustic 20  00  " 

Chlorate 24  93  '' 

Nitrate  (crude) 85  30  " 

Sulphate 20  00  '< 

Soda — 

Sulphate,  salt  or  nitre  cake 20  00  " 

Sulphate,  Glauber's  salts 20  00  " 

Nitrite  of,  not  enumerated " 

Sulphur,  refined,  in  rolls 35  06  " 

Wood-tar 10  00  " 

Coal-tar — 

Crude 10  00  « 

Products,  benzine,  etc 20  00 

Not  colors  or  dyes 20  00  " 


508  WHAT   THE   MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tariff-tax 
ARTICLES.  $looP^.'orth 

in  1887. 

Coal-tar — continued — 

Pitch  of S    20  00 

Logwood  and  other  dye-woods,  extracts    and  decoctions  of 10  00 

Alizarine,  natural  or  artificial — now  free. 

Turpentine,  spirits  of 11  77 

Earths— 

Ocher,  etc.,  dry 50  11 

Umber,   etc.,   dry 63  20 

Sienna,  dry 23  05 

Oils- 
Olive    oil 25  00 

Cotton  seed  oil 62  50 

Salad 25  00 

Neats-foot  oil 25  00 

Seal  oil 25  00 

Whale  oils 25  00 

Barks,  beans,  etc 10  00 

Crude  minerals,  etc 10  00 

Clays  or  earths,  unwrought 18  09 

Opium,  crude 43  76 

Cotton  ties  or  hoops  for  baling  or  other  purposes,  etc 35  00 

Needles,  sewing,  darning,  knitting,  etc 25  00 

Ores,  copper 49  63 

Ores,    copper,   regulus 70  57 

Copper,  old 51  57 

Antimony  as  regulus,  etc 10  00 

Quicksilver 10  00 

Chromate  of  iron 15  00 

Metals,  unwrought 20  00 

Mineral  substances,  crude 20  00 

Brick,  other  than  flre-brick 20  00 

German  looking-glass  plates  of  blown  glass , 

Vegetables,  fresh  or  brine 10  00 

Chicory 65  17 

Acorns  and  other  substitutes  for  coffee 33  57 

Cocoa,  manufactured 7  13 

Currants,  Zante  or  other 27  48 

Dates 26  84 

Figs 35  83 

Meats,  game,  and  poultry 10  00 

Milk,   fresh 10  00 

Egg  yelks 20  00 

Beans  and  pease 10  00 

Split  pease 20  00 

Bibles,  and  books  and  pamphlets,  not  English,  not  enumerated 25  00 

Bristles 15  08 

Bulbs  and  roots,  not  otherwise  provided  for 20  00 

Feathers,  crude,  ostrich 25  00 

All  other 25  OC 

Finishing  powder 20  00 

Grease,  not  elsewhere  specified 10  00 

Grindstones 14  73 

Curled  hair 25  00 

Human  hair,  raw 20  00 

Hempseed 15  07 

Rape  and  other  oil  seeds 7  50 

Garden  seeds 20  00 

/  Osier,  or  willow  for  baskets 25  00 

Broom-corn — not  enumerated 10  00 

Brush  wood 10  00 

Rags 10  00 

Rattans  and  reeds 10  00 

Stones,  free,  granite,  etc.,  rough 21  22 

Gut  strings,  except  musical 25  00 

Tallow 26  29 

Waste,  not  otherwise  provided  for 10  00 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  50& 


>  Tarift-tax 


Tariff-tax 


ARTICLES.  ,10f|rth    .^^^.the^ 

hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat  and  other  like  animals,  and  manufactures  of : 
Jnmanufactnred — 

Class  1,  clothing  wools:  That  is  to  say,  merino,  mestiza,  metz 
or  metis  wools,  other  wools  of  merino  blood,  immediate  or 
remote,  Down  clothing  wools,  and  wools  of  like  character 
with  any  of  the  preceding,  including  such  as  have  been  here- 
tofore usually  imported  into  the  United  States  from  :3uenos 
Ayres,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Russia, 
Great  Britain,  Canada  and  elsewhere,  and  also  including  all 
wools  not  hereinafter  described  or  designated  in  classes  2 
and  3— 

Value  30  cents  or  less  per  pound S54  78       Free. 

Value  over  30  cents  per  pound 35  92  " 

"Washed  wool — 

Value  (before  washing)  30  cents  or  less  per  pound 58  51  " 

Value  (before  washing)  over  80  cents  per  pound 69  71  " 

Scoured  wool — 

Value  (before  scouring:)  30  cents  or  less  per  pound 74  11  " 

Value  (before  scouring)  over  30  cents  per  pound 60  92  "^ 

Class  2,  combing  wools :  That  is  to  say,  Leicester,  Cotswold, 
Lincolnshire,  Down  combing  wools,  Canada  long  wools,  or 
other  like  combing  wools  of  English  blood,  and  usually 
known  by  the  terms  herein  used,  aud  also  hair  of  the  alpaca, 
goat  and  other  like  animals — 

Value  30  cents  or  less  per  pound 43  23        Free. 

Value  over  30  cents  per  pound 28  78  " 

Scoured  wool — 

Value  (before  scouring)  30  cents  or  less  per  pound 66  18  '^ 

Class  3,  carpet  wools,  and  other  similar  wools :  Such  as 
Donskoi,native  South  American,  Cordova,  Valparaiso,  native 
Smyrna,  and  including  all  such  wools  of  like  character  as 
have  been  heretofore"  usually  imported  into  the  United 
States  from  Turkey,  Greece,  Egypt,  Syria,  and  elsewhere— 

Value  13  cents  or  less  per  pound 24  98       Free. 

Value  over  12  cents  per  pound 27  69  " 

^ficoured  wool — 

Value  (before  scouring)  12  cents  or  less  per  pound 41  77  " 

Value  (before  scouring)  over  12  cents  per  pound 22  79  " 

Wools  on  the  skin,  not  enumerated " 

Rags,  shoddy,  mungo,  waste 26  41  " 

Total  wools,  etc §  36  OS  " 

Dutiable  List,    Schedule  A. — Chemicals. 

lycerine,  refined f 47  18 

.cid,  acetic,  acetous,  or  pyroligneous  acid,  exceeding  1.047  sp.  gr 88  46 

astor  beans  or  seeds ^^  W 

astor  oil ^^^11 

laxseed  or  linseed  oil 54  79 

icorice,  paste  or  rolls 56  18 

icorice  juice,  not  enumerated 

ai-ytes,  manufactured 50  17 

hromate  of  potash *.  42  95  -J 

ichromate  of  potash •  • .  >  \  ( 

cetate  of  lead,  white 131  11 

^hite  lead,  when  dry )        

i^hite  lead,  mixed  in  oil 5  40  19 

'range,  mineral 70  00 

,ed  lead '^'6  96 

ithaige  83  .54 

:itrate  of  lead 63  .34 

lagnesia,  medicinal  carbonate 57  93 

mesia,  calcined - 40  36 


m  30 

44  2S 

27  85 

97  38 

33  00 

37  00 

35  00 

25  09 

35  80 

65  05 

26  80 

35  00 

38  48 

41  77 

42  23 

34  75 

28  25 

510  WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL   IS. 

,»  Tariff-tax 

ARTICLES.  Sioo'worth 

in  1887. 

Magnesia,  sulphate  of S  3S  74 

•Prussiate  of  potash,  red 35  26 

Prussiate  of  potash,  yellow  35  35 

Nitrate  of  potash,  retiaed 33  70 

Sal  soda 39  01 

Bicarbonate  of  saleratus,  pearlash 61  16 

Hydrate  or  caustic  soda 53  13 

Soda,  silicate ^ 39  57 

Sulphur,  sublimed 55  82 

Ultramarine 51  76 

Paris  green — not  enumerated 25  00 

All  other  colors  and  paints 

Smalts  or  frostings 

Prussian  blue 

Spanish,  Indian  red 

Venetian  red 

Vandyke,  cassel  brown \-  25  00 

Vermilion 

Water  colors,  in  cakes , 

Satin,  white,  blanc  fixe 

Oils  and  colors,  in  tubes 

Lampblack 

Zinc,  oxide  of,  dry .'.  32  37 

Zinc,  oxide  of,  ground  in  oil 35  34 

Cerates,  etc 25  00 

Kaolin,  crude 45  00 

Kaolin,  manufactured 45  00 

All  ground  spices 50  12 

Proprietary  preparations 50  00 

Perfumery,  cosmetics  and  toilet  preparations 

Morphia  or  morphine 58  52 

Acid,  tannin  or  tannic 196  97 


Schedule  B.— Earthent^^are  and  Glassware. 

China,  etc.,  omaraented $60  00 

China,  etc.,  plain 55  00 

Brown  earthenware,  etc 25  00 

All  other  earthenware 55  00 

Encaustic  tiles 35  00 

■Glazed  tiles,  ornamented,  not  enumerated  (dutiable  as  earthenware) ... .  55  00 

Slates,   etc 30  00 

Cylinder  and  crown,  polished,  above  24  by  30  to  24  by  60 61  59 

All  above  that,  none  imported 

Cvlinder  and  crown,  unpolished,  10  by  15 60  71 

Cylinder  and  crown,  10  by  15  to  16  by  24 93  11 

Cylinder  and  crown,  16  by  24  to  24  by  30 106  21 

Cylinder  and  crown;  above  24  by  30 108  50 

Cast,  polished,  silvered  plate — 

Above  24  by  30,  not  above  24  by  60 78  40 

All  above  that ; .54  70 

Porcelain,  Bohemian,  chemical  glassware,  etc 45  00 

All  other  manufactures 45  00 


Total  earthenware  and  glassware S  59  55    $ 

Schedule  C. — Metals. 
Iron,  in  pigs  and  kentledge — 

All  other  (except  spiegeleisen) S  56  60    $ 

Bars  or  rails  for  railways — 

Other  railway  bars,  weighing  more  than  25  pounds  to  the  yard — 

Iron 93  00 

Steel,  or  in  part  of  steel 84  33 


WHAT   THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  511 

Tariff-tax    r^^y^g  tn_ 

r  iron — 

Bars,  bloome,  billets,  or  sizes  or  shapes  of  any  kind,  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  which  charcoal  is  used  as  fuel $  51  06    $  46  43 

Eolled  or  hammered,  comprising — 

Flats  not  less  than  1  inch  wide  nor  less  than  ^  of  1  inch  thick...    58  34        51  05 
Flats  less  than  1  inch  wide  or  less  than  K  of  1  inch  thick  ;  round 
iron  less   than  %  of  1  inch  and  not  less  7-16  of  1  inch  in  di- 
ameter ;  and  square  iron  less  than  %  of  1  inch  square 69  86        62  10- 

rs  or  rails  for  railways — 
Flat  rails,  punched — 

Iron 58  01        48  61 

Tee-rails,  weighing  not  over  35  pounds  to  the  yard — 

Steel 74  48        51  70 

Bars  or  shapes  of  rolled  iron,  not  specially  enumerated  or  pro- 
vided for,  and  round  iron  in  coils  or  rods,  less  than  7-16  of  1 

inch  in  diameter 55  36        45  00 

2ets,  plates  and  taggers'  iron — 
Sheet-iron,  common  or  black — 

Thinner  than  l'J4  inch  and  not  thinner  than  No.  20,  wire  gauge. .     46  38        42  17 

Thinner  than  No.  20  and  not  thinner  than  No.25,  wire  gauge 36  40        33  37 

Thinner  than  No.  25  and  not  thinner  than  No.  29,  wire  gauge. . .     42  15        35  12 
;ets  and  plates,  pickled  or  cleaned  by  acid,  or  by  any  other  material 
r  process,  and  cold-rolled — 
Sheets — 

Thinner  than  1}4  inch  and  not  thinner  than  No.  20,  wire  gauge. .     36  58        33  85 

Thinner  than  No.  20  and  not  thinner  than  No.  25,  wire  gauge 

Thinner  than  No.  25  and  not  thinner  than  No.  29,  wire  gauge 78  55        67  32 

ets  or  plates  of  iron  or  steel  (except  what  are  commercially  known 
5  tin-plates,  terne-plates  and  taggers'  tin),  galvanized  or  coated  with 
nc  or  spelter,  or  other  metals,  or  any  alloy  of  these  metals — 

Thinner  than  1}^  inch  and  not  thinner  than  No.  20  wire  gauge 82  39        55  67 

Thinner  than  No.  20  and  not  thinner  than  No.  25  wire  gauge 64  09        52  61 

Thinner  than  No.  25  and  not  thinner  than  No.  29  wire  gauge 10  78         9  57 

ets  of  iron  or  steel,  cold-rolled,  cold-hammered,  or  polished  in  any 
ay,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  process  of  hot  rolling  or  hammering — 
Sheet- iron,  common  or  black — 

Thinner  than  1}4  inch  and  not  thinner  than  No.  20  wire  gauge 

Thinner  than  No.  20  and  not  thinner  than  No.  25  wire  gauge 

Thinner  than  No.  25  and  not  thinner  than  No.  39  wire  gauge. . . .     19  43        16  67 
band,  scroll,  or  other  iron,  8  inches  or  less  in  width — 

ot  thinner  than  No.  10  wire  gauge 39  00        39  00 

Thinner  than  No.  10  and  not  thinner  than  No.  20  wire  gauge 47  21        42  49 

Thinner  than  No.  20  wire  gauge 

t-iron  pipe  of  every  description 28  88        17  33 

Is,  spikes,  tacks,  brads,  or  sprigs — 

Cut  nails  and  and  spikes  of  iron  or  steel 43  07       34  46 

tacks,  brads,  or  sprigs — 

Not  exceeding  16  ounces  to  the  thousand 

Exceeding  16  ounces  to  the  thousand 80  21        35  00- 

way-tish  plates  or  splice-bars  of  iron  or  steel 92  75        59  35 

5  and  washers  of  wrought-iron  or  steel 28  40        21  30 

5e,  mule,  or  ox  shoes 54  95        41  21 

es  of  wrought-iron  or  steel 53  55       40  16 

lis 33  91        23  69 

lors,  and  parts  thereof,  etc -    68  26        51  20^ 

ts,  bolts,  with  or  without  threads  or  nuts,  or  bolt-blanks,  and  finish- 
ed hinges  or  hinge-blanks,  of  iron  or  steel 59  78        35  88 

ksmiths'  hammers,  sledges,  etc 15  81         9  49 

s,  parts  thereof,  axle-bars,  axle-blanks,  or  forgings  for  axles,  without 
•eference  to  the  stage  or  state  of  manufacture,  of  iron  or  steel,  and 
brgings  of  iron  and  steel,  or  forged  iron  of  whatever  shape,  or  in 
vhat  stage  of  manufacture,  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided 

or 62  29        37  3& 

eshoe  nails,  hob  nails,  wire  nails,  etc 76  26       47  67 


■S'c 


I 


512  WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tariflf-tax 
ARTICLES.  SlOoTorth 

in  1887. 

Tubes  or  flues,  or  stays,  of  wrought-iron  or  steel— 

Boiler-tubes,  or  flues,  or  staj'S $  70  97 

Other  tubes 20  12 

Chain  or  chains  of  all  kinds,  made  of  iron  or  steel — 

Not  less  than  M  of  1  inch  in  diameter 47  1.5 

Less  than  %  cf  1  inch  and  not  less  than  %  of  1  inch  in  diameter 47  S3 

Less  than  ^  of  1  inch  in  diameter 44  37 

Saws,  hand,  back,  etc 40  00 

Files,  file-blanks,  rasps,  and  floats  of  all  cuts  and  kinds — 

4  inches  in  length  and  under 51  85 

Over  4  inches  in  length  and  under  9  inches 64  97 

9  inches  in  length  and  under  14  inches 53  30 

14  inches  in  length  and  over 63  39 

Beams,  girders,  joists,  angles,  channels,  car-truck  channels,  TT  columns 
and  posts,  or  parts  or  sections  of  columns  and  posts,  deck  and  bulb 
beams,  and  building  forms,  together  with  all  stnictural  shapes  of 

iron  or  steel ; 102  75 

Wheels  of  steel,  and  steel-tired  wheels  for  railway  pui-poses,  whether 
wholly  or  partly  finished,  and  iron  or'steel  locomotive,  car,  and  other 

lailway  tires,  or  partb  thereof,  wholly  or  partly  manufactured 78  26 

Bars,  billets,  blooms,  blanks,  ingots,  etc.,  of  steel,  ingots,  clogged  ingots, 
blooms,  or  blanks,  for  railway  wheels  and  tires,  without  regard  to 

the  degree  of  manufacture 101  22 

Wire  of  iron,  galvanized,  5  to  10 66  67 

Smaller  than  No.  26 89  94 

Wire  of  steel,  galvanized,  10  bv  16 Ill  18 

Wire  of  iron  rope,  galvanized,  l6  by  26 62  38 

Wire  cloth  and  wire  nettings,  made  in  meshes  of  any  form,  of  iron  or 
steel  wire — 

Smaller  than  No.  16  and  not  smaller  than  No.  26  wire  gauge 100  75 

Smaller  than  No.  26  wire  gauge 69  95 

Galvanized — 

Smaller  than  No.  16  and  not  smaller  than  No.  26  wire  gauge 114  21 

Not  separately  enumerated. 

Copper  in  plates,  bars,  etc 41  50 

Cop  per  brazier  plates 35  00 

Lead,  and  manufactures  of— 
Molten  and  old   refuse  lead,  run  into  blocks  and  bars,  and  old  scrap 

lead,  fit  only  to  be  remanufactured 48  32 

Lead  ore  and  lead  dross 59  27 

Pigs  and  bars 68  97 

Sheets,  pipes  and  shot 60  82 

Sheathing  metal..- 35  00 

Nickel,  in  ore,  matte,  or  other  crude  form,  etc.,  not  enumerated 

Zinc,  spelter  or  tutenegue  : 

In  blocks  or  pigs 46  35 

Old  worn  out,  tit  only  to  be  remanufactured 57  65 

In  sheets 70  99 

Hollow-ware,  coated,  glazed  or  tinned 47  36 

Needles — 

For  knitting  or  sewing  machines 35  00 

Pens,  metallic 43  10 

Type  metal 20  00 

New  type  for  printing 25  00 

Manufactures  of  copper 45  00 

Manufactures  of  iron  and  steel,  not  elsewhere  specified — 

Machinery,  not  elsewhere  specified 45  00 

Wire  rods  of  steel,  not  elsewhere  specified 45  00 

All  other  manufactures  of  iron 45  00 

All  other  manufactures  of  steel 45  00 

Manufactures  of  lead 45  00 

Manufactures  of  nickel 45  00 

Manufactures  of  pewter 45  00 

Manufactures  of  tin , , 45  00 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  513 

Tariff-tax  TaHfftaT 

ARTICLES.                                                                jlJ^^orth  ^T'^^ 

Hafiufacturcs  of  zinc $  45  OO  $  40  00 

Manufactures  of  gold  and  silver 45  00  40  00 

Manufactures  of  platinum 45  00  40  00 

Manufactures  of  brass 45  00  40  00 

Maniifactures  of  bronze 45  00  40  00 

Iufacturcs  of  metal,  not  elsewLiere  specified 45  00  40  00 

j          Total  metals,  etc ^  40  77  I  38  47 
Schedule  D.— Woodenware. 

se  or  cabinet  furniture,  finished $  35  00  §  30  00 

,r,  granadilla,  etc.,  manufactures  of 35  00  30  00 

Lumber — 
Boards,  planks,  deals,  and  other  sawed  lumber,  of  hemlock,  white- 
wood,  sycamore  and  basswood — 

Planed  or  finished  on  one  side 21  77  7  26 

Planed  or  finished  on  two  sides 15  14  7  57 

Planed  on  two  sides,  and  tougued  and  grooved 8  00  4  40 

other  articles  of  sawed  lumber,  not  elsewhere  specified — 

Planed  or  finished  on  one  side 26  10  5  23 

Planed  or  finished  on  two  sides 23  53  7  51 

Planed  on  one  side  and  tongued  and  grooved 26  65  8  88 

Planed  on  two  sides  and  tongued  and  grooved 28  95  13  83 

other  manufactures  of  wood 35  00  30  00 

Total  wood  and  woodenware $  18  00  $  17  40 

it  above—  Schedule  E.— Sugar. 

75  degrees f  60  29  $  49  50 

76  degrees 55  60  45  64 

77  degrees 68  28  55  91 

78  degrees 60  59  49  .51 

79  degrees 61  70  50  31 

80  degrees 80  43  65  44 

81  degrees 68  97  56  03 

83  degrees 73  ."^ 7  58  68 

83  degrees 70  41  56  98 

84  degrees 88  73  71  69 

85  degrees 79  91  64  46 

86degrees 70  59  56  85 

87  degrees 73  26  58  93 

88  degrees 76  26  61  31 

89deirrees 73  24  58  74 

90  degrees 84  03  67  31 

91  degrees : 79  49  63  59 

93  degrees 77  46  61  90 

93  degrees 73  76  58  09 

94  degrees ....     78  33  63  44 

95  degrees 84  36  67  10 

96  degrees 78  73  63  63 

97  degrees 79  65  63  31 

98  degrees 83  45  66  36 

99  degrees 86  17  68  35 

Above  No.  13  and  not  above  No.  16  degrees 86  97  70  75 

Above  No.  16  and  not  above  No.  20 89  43  71  54 

Above  No.  20 83  91  66  14 

Total  sugar •  .|J3£4  +6£2 

Molasses  not  above  56  degrees 28  04  20  00 

Molasses  above  56  degrees 47  26  35  45 

Confectionery,  above  30  cents 50  40 

Confectionery,  all  other 71  40 

Total  sugar,  molasses,  etc $78  15  $  63  00 


514  "WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tariff-tax  Tariff-taa 

ARTICLES.                                                                    Sioo'^worth  j^by  th^. 

in  1887.  ^"^^  ^^^^ 

Schedule  G.— Provisions. 

Starch- 
Corn  or  potato f  94  54  $  47  Z 

Rice,  and  otlier 97  90  39  1( 

Rice- 
Cleaned... 113  03  100  4^ 

Uncleaned 71  53  59  6( 

Rice,  flour  or  rice  meal 20  00  15  0( 

Paddy 134  50  107  6( 

Raisins 35  40  26  5{ 

Nuts— 

Pea-nuts,  not  shelled 78  05  58  5^ 

Pea-nuts,  shelled 106  44  70  9( 

Mustard,  ground  or  preserved 38  75  23  2' 

Total  provisions I  24  33  $  23  3S 


Schedule  I.— Cotton  and  Cotton  Goods. 

Cotton,  manufactures  of— 
Thread- 
Thread,  yarn,  warps,  or  warp  yarns,  whether  single  or  advanced 
beyond  the  condition  of  single  by  twisting  two  or  more  single 
yarns  together,  whether  on  beams  or  in  bundles,  skeins,  or 
cops,  or  m  any  other  form — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  25  cents  per  pound $44  10 

Valued  at  over  25  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  pound 43  30 

Valued  at  over  40  and  not  exceeding  50  cents  perJIpound 45  38 

Valued  at  over  .50  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 45  31 

Valued  at  over  60  and  not  exceeding  70  cents  per  pound 50  89 

Valued  at  over  70  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 49  55 

Valued  at  over  80  and  not  exceeding  $1  per  pound .53  49 

Valued  at  over  $1  per  pound 50  00 

Cloth— 

Not  exceeding  100  threads  to  the  square  inch,  counting  the  warp 

and  filling — 
Not  bleached,  dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed, 

valued  at  8  cents  or  less  per  square  yard square  yards. .     48  94        40 

Bleached,  valued  at  10  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 75  28        40 

Dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed,   valued  at  13 

cents  or  less  per  square  yard 73  31        40 

Exceeding  100  and  not  exceeding  200  threads  to  the  square  inch, 
counting  the  warp  and  filling — 
Not  bleached,  dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed, 

valued  at  8  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 56  19       40 

Bleached,  valued  at  10  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 55  76       40 

Dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed,  valued  at  IS  cents 

or  less  per  square  yard 49  23        40 

Exceeding  200  threads  to  the  square  inch,  counting  the  warp  and 
filling— 
Not  bleached,  dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed— 

Valued  at  10  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 57  54       40 

Bleached — 

Valued  at  12  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 5188        40 

I  Dyed,  colored,  stained,  painted,  or  printed — 

Valued  at  15  cents  or  less  per  square  yard 48  40       40 

Thread  on  spools — 

Of  100  yards  each  spool dozens 53  82       40 

j  Total  cottons ^39  99    $39 

1 
) 


WHAT  THSC  MILLS  BILL  IS.  515 


iln  iSS 
SOHEBTjLE  J.—HBMP,  JtTTE,   AXD  Fl.Ay  GrOODS. 

Hackled,  knotm  as  dreissed  line—                                        •  §  7  06  S2  00 

own  and  bleached  linens. ^ 35  (XJ  25  OO 

Tarn , ...» -M  00  15  (X) 

Hemp  yam...^ ,, 85  0()  15  OO 

Jate  yam... ,.«....... 35  00  15  00 

Flax,  thread,  or  twine.......... 40  00  25  00 

Flaxmannfactnres.* 40  00  25  00 

Oil-cloth  foundations , , . .  40  00  35  00 

Oil-cloth  for floonj........ 40  00  35  00 

Gunny  cloth 25  00 

Bags  and  bagging 40  00  15  00 

Bagging,  under  7  cents ,. 54  13  14  00 

Tarred  cables,  etc ...- , 30  13  25  00 

XJntarred manllhj- ,.,. 33  89  25  00 

Untarred  cordage,  all  other ,. 30  08  25  00 

Sail  dack  or  canvas  for  sails 80  00  25  00 

Buseia  and  other  Bheetingfi 35  00  25  00 

GrasB  cloth,  etc 85  00  25  00 

Burlaps,  exceedii^  60  inches , 40  00  25  00 

Manufactures  of  mx^  hemp,  etc :. 85  00  35  00 

ManufactureB  of  grass  . . » 30  00  25  00 

Total  flaji:,  hemp  and  jute $28  10  $22  00 

M 

^^-  SCHBDULE  K.— WOOLES  GOODS. 

imufacturefi — 

Clothi?,  woolen— 

"Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound ^9  84  f 40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cenfe  per  pound 68  91  40  00 

Shawls,  woolen — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound.... 88  44  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 65  41  40  00 

Composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat, 

or  other  animal....... 6158  40  00 

U  manufactures  of  every  description  not  spedally  enumerated  or  pro- 
vided for,  made  wholly  or  in  part  of— 

Wool- 
Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 88  81  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cenfe  per  pound 64  46  40  00 

Flannels 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound 73  42  40  00 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  pound 66  20  40  00 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 67  69  40  00 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cents*per  pound 67  65  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 73  02  40  00 

Blankets- 
Valued  at  not  exceeding  2Q  cents  per  pound 79  66  40  00 

Valued  at  above  30  andnot  exceeding  40  cents  per  pound 6385  4000 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 69  56  40  00 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 69  36  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 70  30  40  00 

BLats  of  wool- 
Valued  at  above  80  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  poimd 40  00 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 73  04  40  00 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 66  32  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound. —  58  07  40  00 

Sjait  goods,  and  all  goods  made  on  knitting  frames — 

Valued  a£  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 88  38  40  00 

Valued  at  abovo  80  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  poxmd 65  30  40  0C> 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 69  14  40  00 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  ^  cents  per  pound C9  63  40  00 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound <®  58  40  00 


I 


516  WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tariflf-tax 

ARTICLES.  jieo^orth 

In  1887. 

Balmorals- 
Valued  at  above  SO  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  pound $67  73 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound 65  59 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 68  1* 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 66  85 

Tarns,  woolen  and  worsted — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound 69  40 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  pound 67  90 

Valued  at  abo.ve  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound .,    68  08 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 69  08 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 68  79 

All  manufactures  of  every  description  not  specially  enumerated  or  pro- 
vided for,  made  wholly  or  in  part  of— 
Worsted, the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  animals  (except  such 
as  are  composed  in  part  of  wool) — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound 76  49 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cents  per  poimd 69  38 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  pound. 68  28 

Valued  at  above  6G  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound 68  15 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 71  99 

Bunting 80  75 

Dress  goods,  women's  and  children's  coat  linings,  Italian  cloths,  and 

goods  of  like  description — 
Composed  in  part  of  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat  or 
other  animals — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  20  cents  per  square  yard 67  89 

Valued  at  above  20  cents  per  square  yard 59  06 

Composed  wholly  of  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat  or 
other  animals,  or  of  a  mixture  of  them,  and  all  such  goods  of  like 
description,  with  selvedges  made  wholly  or  in  part  of  other  mate- 
rials, or  with  threads  of  other  materials  introduced  for  the  purpose 
of  changing  the  classification — 

Weighing  4  ounces  or  less  per  square  yard 82  96 

All  weighing  over  4  ounces  per  square  yard 69  63 

Clothing,  ready-made,  and  wearing  apparel  of  every  description  not 

specially    enumerated  or   provided  for,   and   balmoral    skirts    and 

skirting,  and  gopds  of  similar  description,  or  used  for  like  purposes.    54  18 

Cloaks,  dolmans,  jackets,  talmas,  ulsters,  or  other  outside  garments 

for  ladies' and  children's  apparel,  and  goods  of  similar  description, 

or  used  for  like  purposes 67  74 

Webbings,  gorings,  suspenders,  braces,  beltings,  bindings,  braids,  gal- 
loons, fringes,  gimps,  cords,  cords  and  tassels,  dress  trimmings,  head 
nets,  buttons  or  barrel  buttons,  or  buttons  of  other  forms  for  tassels  or 
ornaments,  wrought  b>  hand  or  braided  by  machinery,  made  of  wool, 
worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  animals,  or  of  which 
wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of   the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  animals  is  a 

component  material  66  31 

Carpets  and  carpeting  of  all  kinds — 
Aubusson,  Axminster,  and  Chenille  carpets,  and  carpets  woven  whole 

for  rooms 47  14 

Brussels  carpets 59  03 

Druggets  and  bockings,  printed,  colored,  or  otherwise 73  92 

Mats,  screens,  hassocKs,  and  rugs,  not  exclusively  of  v^etable  mate- 
rial     40  00 

Of  wool,  flax,  or   cotton,  or   parts    of  either,  or  other  material  not 

specially  enumerated  or  provided  for 40  00 

Patent  velvet  and  tapestry  velvet  carpets,  printed   on   the   warp  or 

otherwiae 56  10 

Saxony,  Wilton,  and  Toumay  velv«t  carpets square  yards,    54  37 

Tapestry  Bmssele,  printed  on  the  warp  or  otherTsisn do  61  15 

Treble  ingrain,  three-ply,  and  worsted  chain  Venetian  caipets,    do  45  79 

Yarn,  Venetian,  aJid  two-ply  ingrain  carpets do  44  70 

Hemp  and  jute  carpets do  84  76 

Belts  or  felts,  endless,  for  paper  or  printing  machine* do  53  87 

Total  wool  and  woolens. fSS  SI      ^3S 


Total  paper  and  manufactures  of f  22  13   8  22  06 

Schedule  N.— Sundries. 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  517 

Tariff-tax  Tariff-tax 

ARTICLES.                                                                     ^^y>^r  bythe 

in  1887.  """^  ^^ 

Schedule  M.— Books,  Papers,  etc. 

I  paper  and  manufactures  of  : 

1     Paper— 

rinting  paper,  unsized,  used  for  books  and  newspapers  exclnsively $  15  00  |  12  00 

zed  or  glued,  suitable  only  for  printing  paper 20  00  15  00 

oxes 35  00  25  00 

Dvelopes ...  25  00  20  00 

»per  hangings,  etc 25  00  25  00 

■Eand  ornaments  (except  amber) s  50  OO  $  40  00 

tacking 25  00  20  00 

jnnets,  hats,  etc.,  no  change  in  rates 30  00  30  00 

"ooms 25  0(^  20  00 

rushes 30  00  20  00 

ines,  finished 35  00  20  00 

ird  clothing square  feet,  44  12  35  00 

ird  clothing,  steel  tempered do  48  16  42  00 

irriages  and  parts 35  00  30  (X) 

alls  and  toys » 35  00  30  00 

ms  of  all  kinds a5  00  30  00 

5trich  feathers 50  00  35  00 

11  other  dressed  feathers 50  00  35  00 

jalhers  and  artificial  flowers ., 50  00  35  00 

•iction  matches..., a5  00  25  00 

ioves,  kid  or  leather 50  00  40  00 

in  wads 35  00  25  00 

itta-percha  manufactures 35  00  30  00 

aman  hair,  clean  or  drawn 30  00  20  00 

Oman  hair,  manufactured 35  00  25  00 

•acelets,  etc.,  hair 35  00  25  00 

its,  materials  for  (no  change  in  rates) 20  00  20  00 

at  bodies,  of  cotton... 35  00  30  00 

itters'  plush t 25  00  15  0(J 

ks  and  ink  powders 30  00  20  00 

panned  ware 40  00  30  00 

arble,  in  block  rough  or  squared — 

Veined.etc 51  97  40  16 

Manufactures  of 50  00  30  00 

ipier-mache  articles •  30  00  25  00 

ircussion  caps 40  00  30  00 

lilosophical  apparatus 35  00  25  00 

ubreila  ribs,  etc 40  00  30  00 

.1  other  umbrellas,  etc    (Except  silk  and  alpaca) 40  00  30  00 

atches,  etc.     No  change  m  rate » 25  00  25  00 

ebbing  of  cotton,  etc , 35  00  30  00 

Total  sundries §36  86  825  03 


618  WHAT  THJa:  muuls  bill  is. 

n. 

ARTICLES  IN  WHICH  NO  CHANaE  IS  MADE. 

A    LABGE    JTOOJEE    OF    ARTIOtBS    IS    WHICH     NO     CHlAJfeE    OF    JHLATE    IS    MA 
BETWEEN  THE  FBESS3ST  AND  'tKBi  PROPOSED  TABIPF, 

The  preceding  lisli  is  the  result  of  a  careftil  computation,  not  only  of  esdati 
rates  from  importations  made  during  the  last  fiscal  year  for  which  fall  reports  ht 
been  cwnpiled,  but  an  equally  careful  one  as  to  the  probable  effeet  upon  impoi 
tions  under  the  rates  proposed.  '       :  -  ■ ; 

The  following  flat  is  given  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  excuse  for  misapp 

biension  on  the  part  of  anybody  as  to  those  articles,  the  duty  on  which  rema 

unchanged  under  the  present  law.    Tias  list  has  been  prepared  with  equal  care  a 

shows  that  ttie  rates  on  a  large  number  of  articles  are  not  changed  under  the  p 

posed  bilL 

SaF^n.  o.  p,  i, «.  not  otherwise  provided  for* 

TariS-tax  on  eat 
A  UTin  'PC  tlOO  woirai  under  1 

iu&iiui.i!^,  M^sent  law  and  1 

Mill  a  bi 
3CHEDUJJB  A. 

Glue eSO 

Gelatine,  and  all  similar  preparations  - » ♦... 30 

Figh  glue  or  isinglass 25 

Soap- 
Castile .,,.. 30 

Fancy,  perfumed  and  all  descriptions  of  toilet 85 

Sponges - 20 

Sumac —  •  "        • 

Ground " 13 

Extract 20 

Ajcid — 

Acetic,  acetous  or  pyroligneous  not  exceeding  the  speciflc  gravity  of  one 

and  forty-seven  one-thousandths  — 17 

Citric 28 

Tartaric 38 

Cam phor,  refined , 8i 

Cream  of  tartar , 23 

Dextrine,  burnt  starch,  gum  substitute  or  British  gum 31 

Glucose  or  grape  nugar 20 

Oil  of  Bay  leaves,  essential,  or  Bay  Rum  essence  or  oil. .  „ 53 

Soda  and  Potassa,  tartrate  of  rocnelle  ^alt 14 

Strychnia,  or  strychnine,  and  all  salts  thereof 30 

Tartars,  partly  refined,  including  less  crystals. 19 

Ammonia- 
Anhydrous,  liquifted  by  pressure 20 

Aqua,  or  water  of 20 

Muriate  of^  or  sal-ammoniac ^,.. .  10 

Carho;iateof , 5S) 

Sulphate  of ^ 20 

AsbeBtos,  manufactured 35 

Cement,  Roman,  Portland  and  all  others 20 

Whiting  and  Paris  White- 
Dry 1^34 

Ground  in  oil  or  putty 13 

Prepai*ed  chalk,   precipitated  chalk,  Fi-ench  chalk,  red  chalk,  and  all  other 
chalk  preparations  which  aru  not  specifically  enumerated  or  provided 

formfliis  act 20 

Chromic  acid. 15 

Cobalt,  oxide  of......' 20 

Potash,  hydiiodate,  iodide,  andlodateof ^...  16 

Soda-aah.. >... 28 


WBA.7  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  519 

ARTICLSS.  ^^,^^ 


Hfepar 


^V'  BCLUebHI. 

^■jlJotar  oolora  or  dyes  by  whatever  name  known  and  not  epeciflcallv 

^BfljQtmierated  or  provided  for  in  tliis  act , I  86  00 

lie  pigment  known  as  bone  black,  and  ivory  drop  black,  and  bone  cbar 36  00 

cber  and  ochery  eartlis,  xunber  and  nmber  earths,  and  sienna  and  glenna 

f earths  when  ground  in  oU 10  65 

arations  known  as  esBential  oils,  expressed  oils,  distilled  oils,  rendered 

'  5,  (except,  Olive  oil,  salad  oil,  whale  oil,  seal  oil  and  neats  foot  oU) 

alies,  alkaloids  and  all  combinations  of  any  of  the  foregoing  and  all 

emical  compounds  and  salts,  by  whatever  name  known,  n,  o.  p.." 35  00 

"  or  days,  wrought  or  manufactured,  n.  o.  p 94  ^ 

Icoholic  preparations — 

Alcoholic  perfomery.  including  cologne  water 63  35 

Distilled  spirits,  containing  fifty  per  cent,  of  anhydrous  alcohol 164  61 

Alcohol,  containing  ninety-four  per  cent,  of  anhydrous  alcohol 171  85 

Alcoholic  compounds,  n.  o.  p 61  89 

tiloroform , 4.. . . . .  41  67 

DUodion,  and  all  compounds  of  pyroxyline,  by  whatever  name  known 5  17 

Kolled  or  in  sheets,  but  not  made  up  into  articles U  48 

When  in  finished  or  partly  finished  articles 81  54 

ther,  sulphuric '..-, ...^ 47  50 

oflinan's  Anodyne ♦ 

•doform v,..- 57  32 

ther,  nitrous,  spirits  of , QO  00 

intonine ., 174  86 

mylic  acohol,  or  fusel  oil 10  00 

il  of  cognac,  or  oenanthic  ether 683  33 

Tiit  ethers,  oils  or  essences 329  40 

il  or  essence  of  rum 400  00 

ihers  of  all  Muds,  n.  o.  p 61  62 

)loring  for  bi-andy 50  00 

•eparations — 

.1  medicinal  preparations,  known  as  essences,  ethers,  extracts,  mixtures, 
spirits,  tinctures  and  medicated  wines,  of  which  alcohol  is  a  component 

part,  n.  o.p 907  12 

imishes  of  all  kinds 40  00 

)irit  Tarnishes 95  30 

)ium,  prepared  for  smoking  and  all  other  preparations  of  opium  not  specially 

enumerated  or  provided  for  In  this  act 110  92 

Jium,  Aqueous  extract  of,  for  medicinal  uses  and  tincture  of,  as  laudanum 
and  all  liquid  preparations  of  opium  not  specially  enumerated  or  pro- 
vided for  In  this  act 40  00 

SCttEDULE   B — Bi-RTHENWABE  A5fD  GLASS^VABB. 

Dneware,  above  the  capacity  of  ten  gallons ^  20  00 

re  brick,  and  roofing  and  paving  tile,  n.  o.  p ; 80  00 

)ofing  slates 96  00 

een  and  colored  glass  bottles,  vials,  demijohns  and  carboys  (covered  or  un- 
covered, pickle  or  preserve  jars,and  other  plain  moulde"^d  or  pressed  green 

and  colored  bottle  glass,  not  cut,  engraved  or  painted,  n.  o.  p 56  54 

If  filled,  and  not  otherwise  in  this  act  provided  for 56  54 

int  and  lime  glass  bottles  and  vials  and  other  plain  moulded  or  pressed  flint 

or  lime  glassware,  n.  o.  p 40  00 

If  flUedj  and  not  otherwise  in  this  act  provided  for,  said  articles  shall  pay 

exclusive  of  contents,  in  addition  to  the  duty  on  the  articles 40  00 

tides  of  glass,  cut,  engraved,  painted,  colored,  printed,  stained,  silvered  or 
gilded,  not  including  plate-glass  (except  German  looking-glass  platee 

made  of  blown  glass  and  silvered) 45  00 

I  glass  bottles  and  decanters,  and  other  like  vessels  of  glass  shall.  If  filled, 
pay  the  same  rates  of  duty  in  addition  to  any  duty  chargeable  on  the 
contents,  as  if  not  filled,  except  as  in  this  act  otherwise  specially  pro- 
vided for. 


580  WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tariff-tax  on  ea< 
A  X?  TT  r-T  XT  c  1^00  worth  under  1 

AKin^i.£.S.  present  law  and  i 

Mills  bi 

Cylinder  and  crown  glass,  polished,  not  exceeding.  10x15  inches  ^qnare $7 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  16x24  inches  square 16 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x30  inches  square 18 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x60  inches  square 61 

Unpolished  cylinder,  crown  and  common  window  glass  not  exceeding  10x15 

inches  square 60 

Fluted  rolled  or  rough  plate  glass,  not  exceeding  10x15  inches  square 14 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  16x24  inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x30  inches  square 

All  above  that^ 

Cast  polished  plate  glass,  unsilvered,  not  exceeding  10x15  inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  16x24  inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x30  inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x60  inches  square 

All  above  that 

Cast  polished  plate  glass,  silvered  or  looking  glass  plates  not  exceeding  10x15 

inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  16x24  inches  square 

Above  that  and  not  exceeding  24x30  inches  square 

But  no  looking  glass  plates  or  plate  glass  silvered,  when  framed,  shall  pay  a 
less  rate  of  duty  than  that  imposed  upon  similar  glass  of  like  description  not 
framed,  but  shall  be  liable  to  pay  in  addition  thereto  3U  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

SCHEDULE  C— METALS. 

Iron  ore,  including  manganiferous  iron  ore,  also  the  dross  or  residuum  from 
burnt  pyrites 

Sulphur  ore,  as  pj  rites  or  sulphuret  of  iron  in  its  natural  state  containing  not 
more  than  three  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  copper 

Provided,  That  ore  containing  more  than  two  per  cent,  of  copper  shall  pay  in 
additition  thereto  two  and  one-half  cents  per  pound  for  the  copper  contained 
therein. 

Spiegel-eisen,  wrought  and  cast  scrap  iron,  and  scrap  steel 

But  nothing  shall  be  deemed  scrap  iron  or  scrap  steel  except  waste  or  refuse 
iron  or  steel  that  has  been  in  actual  use  and  is  fit  only  to  be  manufactured. 

Bar  iron,  rolled  or  hammered,  comprising  round  iron  not  less  than  three- 
fourths  of  one  inch  in  diameter,  and  square  iron  not  less  than  three-fourths 
of  one  inch  square 

Provided,  That  all  iron  in  slabs,  blooms,  loops  or  other  forms  less  finished  than 
iron  in  bars  and  more  advanced  than  pig  iron,  except  castings,  shall  be  rated 
as  iron  in  bars,  and  pay  a  duty  accordingly ;  and.none  of  the  above  iron  shall 
pay  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  thirty-five  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Boiler  or  other  iron  sheared  or  unsheared,  skelp  iron,  slieared  or  rolled  in 
grooves 

Sheet  iron  thinner  than  No.  29  wire  gauge 

Sheet  iron  or  steel,  galvanized  or  coated  with  einc  or  spelter,  thinner  than  ) 
25,  wire  gau^e ) 

Polished,  planished  or  glanced  sheet  iron,  or  sheet  steel  by  whatever  name 
designated 

Provided,  That  plate  or  sheet  or  taggers  iron  by  whatever  name  designated, 
other  than  the  polished,  planished  or  glanced  herein  provided  for,  which  has 
been  pickeled  or  cleaned  by  acid  or  by  any  other  material  or  process  and 
which  is  cold  rolled,  shall  pay  one-quarter  cent  per  pound  more  duty  than 
the  corresponding  gauges  of  common  or  black  sheet  or  taggers  iron. 

Corrugated  or  crimped  sheet  iro»  or  steel 

Hoop,  or  band  or  scroll,  or  other  iron,  eight  inches  or  less  in  width  and  not 
thinner  than  number  ten,  wire  gauge 

Provided,  That  all  articles  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for  in  this  act, 
whether  wholly  or  partly  manufactured  made  from  sheet,plate,  hoop,  band, 
or  scroll  iron  herein  provided  for,  or  of  which  such  sheet  plate  band  or  scroll 
iron  shall  be  the  material  of  chief  value  shall  pay  one-fourth  of  one  cent  per 
pound  more  duty  than  that  imposed  on  the  iron  from  which  they  are  made 
or  which  shall  be  such  material  of  chief  value. 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  521 

Tariff-tax   on  eaeh 
\-DTrm  v<i  $100  worth  under  the 

AKXici^ts.  present  law  and  the 

Mille  bilL 
»Ii  vessels,  plates,  stove-plates,  and  irons,  sadirons,  tailors'  irons,  hat- 

ter's-irons,  and  castings  of  iron  n.  o^  p ?30  78 

dalleable  iron  castings  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for  in  this  act. . .  25  04 

"orgings  of  iron  and  steel  or  forged  iron,  of  whatever  shape  or  in  whatever 
stage  of  manufacture  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for  in  this  act. . .  62  29 

Vrought  iron  or  steel  tiibes  or  pipes,  other  than  boiler 20  12 

'ross-cut  saws 12  86 

lill-pit  and  drag  saws  not  over  nine  inches  wide 22  50 

Over  nine  inches  wide  (none  imported  in  '86  or  '87). 

circulars  saws 30  00 

(teel  ingots,  cogged  ingots,  blooms,  slabs,  by  whatever  process  made,  dve 
^Mocks  or  blanks,  biflets  and  bars  and  tapered  or  beveled  bars,  bands, 
^^■>ops,  strips  and  sheets  of  all  gauges  and  widths,  plates  of  all  thick- 
^^B&ses  and  widths,  steamer  cranks  and  other  shafts,  wrist  or  crank  pins, 
^^fcneeting  rods  and  piston  rods,  pressed,  sheared  or  stamped  shapes,  or 
^Hanks  of  sheet  or  plate  steel  or  combination  of  steel  and  iron  punched 
^^Fiiot  punched,  hammer  moulds  or  swaged  steel,  gun  moulds,  not  in  bars, 
^^poys  used  as  substitutes  for  steel  tools;  all  descriptions  and  shapes  of 
^l^s  and  loam  or  iron  moulded  steel  castings;  all  of  the  above  classes  of 
i^^eel  not  specially  provided  for  in  this  act,  valued  at  four  cents  a  pound 

or  less 45  00 

Ibove  four  cents  a  pound  and  not  above  seven  cents  a  pound 34  87 

Talued  above  seven  cents  a  pound  and  not  above  t«n  cents  per  pound-. 29  96 

^bove  ten  cents  per  pound 3X  per  lb.  18  30 

Provided,  That  on  all  iron  or  steel  bars,  rods,  strips  or  steel  sheets  of  what- 
ver  shape,  and  on  all  iron  or  steel  bars,  of  irregular  shape  or  section,  cold 
oiled,  cold  hammered,  or  polished  in  any  way  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
trocess  of  hot  rolling  or  hammering,  there  shall  be  paid  one-fourth  of  a  cent  per 
)6und  in  addition  to  the  rates  provided  in  this  act;  and  on  steel  circular  saw 
ilates  there  shall  be  paid  one  cent  per  pound  in  additiion  to  the  rate  pro- 
Ided  in  this  act. 

ron  or  steel  rivet,  screw,  nail   and  fence  wire,  rods,  round  in  coils  and  loops 
not  lighter  than  number  five  wire  gauge,  valued  at  three  and  one-half  cent* 

or  less  per  pound 31  47 

Jcrews,  commonly  called  wood  screws,  two  inches  or  over  in  length 26  17 

)ne  inch  and  less  than  two  inches  in  length. 61  17 

)ver  one-half  inch  and  less  than  one  inch  in  length 54  05 

)ne-half  inch  and  less  in  length 44  59 

Ton  or  steel  wire,  smaller  than  number  five  and  not  smaller  than  number  ten 

wire  gauge 26  34 

Smaller  than  number  ten  and  not  smaller  than  number  sixteen  wire  gauge. . . .         45  04 
smaller  than  number  sixteen  and  not  smaller  than  number  twenty-six  wire 

gauge 38  26 

Smaller  than  number  twenty-six  wire  gauge 6  80 

Provided,  That  iron  or  steel  wire,  covered  with  cotton,  silk  or  other 
naterial,  and  wire  commonly  known  as  crinoline,  corset  and  hat  wire,  shall 
)ay  four  cents  per  pound  in  addition  to  the  foregoing  rates;  and  provided 
urther,  that  no  article  made  from  iron  or  steel  wire,  or  of  which  steel  or  iron 
3  a  component  part  of  chief  value,  shall  pay  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  the  iron  or 
teel  wire  from  which  it  is  made,  wholly  or  in  part;  and  provided  further,  that 
ron  or  steel  wire  cloths  and  iron  or  steel  wire  nettings,  made  in  meshes  of  any 
orm,  shall  pay  a  duty  equal  in  amount  to  that  imposed  on  iron  or  steel  wire 
tf  the  same  gauge,  and  two  cents  a  pound  in  addition  thereto.  There  shall  be 
)aid  on  galvanized  iron  or  steel  wire  (except  fence  wire)  one-half  of  one  cent 
)er  pound  in  addition  to  the  rate  imposed  on  the  wire  of  which  it  is  made.  On 
ron  wire  rope  and  iron  wire  strand  one  cent  per  pound  in  addition  to  the 
•ates  imoosed  on  the  wire  of  which  it  is  made.  On  steel  wire  rope  and  wire 
trand  two  cents  per  pound  in  addition  to  the  rates  imposed  on  the  wire  of 
vhich  it  is  made. 

The  MILLS  BILL  adds  the  following  provision  :— 
iron  and  steel  wire  and  iron  and  steel  wire  galvanized  and  all  manufacture 
of  iron  and  steel  wire  and  of  iron  and  steel  wire  galvanized,  shall  pay  the 
duties  now  provided  by  law.  Provided,  that  no  such  duty  shall  be  in 
excess  of  sixt;^  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  Bteel  not  specially  enumerated  or 
provided  for  m  this  act 45  00 


I 


WHAT  THE  MUiLfi  BIUL  I8» 


Tas4fE-*Kx  on  ea 
Mm.-  bl 


Ajgentine  Albata,  or  German  silver  mrmannfacttU'ed 

All  composition  metal  of  which  copper  is  a  component  material  of  chief 
value  13.  o.  p ^..,-.. ^. 

All  manulActnres  of  copper  or  of  which  copper  shall  be  acomponent  of  chief 
value  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  foe  in  this  act 

Brass^  in  bars  or  pig,  old  brass  and  clippings  from  brass  oi  Dutch  metal -j 

Nickel,  ni<^el  oxide  alloy  of  any  kind  in  which  nickel  is  the  element  of  chief 

value ...., 

Bronze  powder... 

Cutlery,  n.  o.  p...,. , 

Dutch  or  bronze  metal  in  leaf ., 

Steel  plates,  engraved,  stereotype  plates 

Gold  leaf .' 

Muskets,  rifles  and  other  firearms,  n.  o.  p 

Ail  sporting  breach  loading  shot  guns  and  pistols  of  all  kinds 

Forged  shot  gun  barrels,  rough  bored 

Pen  knives,  pocket  knives  of  all  kinds  and  raaors , 

Swords,  sword  blades  and  sidearms 

Pen  holders  tips  and  pen  holders  or  parts  thereof 

Pins  solid  head  or  other , 

Brittannia  ware  and  plated  and  gilt  articles  and  wares  of  all  kinds. , 

Silver  leaf... 

SCHBBUliB  D — WOOD  AMD  WOODESWAKBS. 

When  lumber  of  any  sort  ia  planed  or  finished  in  addition  to  the  rates  herein 
provided  there  shall  be  levied  and  paid  for  each  side  so  planed  or  finished 
fifty  cents  per  one  thousand  feet,  board  measure 

And  if  planed  on  one  side  and  tongued  and  grooved,  one  dollar  per  one  thous- 
and feet  board  measure 

And  if  planed  on  two  sides,  and  tongued  and  grooved,  one  dollar  and  fifty 
cents  per  one  thousand  feet  board  measure 

The  MILLS  BILL  adds  the  following  provisions  :— 

That  if  any  export  duty  is  laid  upon  the  above  mentioned  articles  or  either  of 
them  by  any  countrv  whence  imported,  all  said  articles  imported  from  said 
couunry  shall  be  subject  to  duty  as  now  provided  by  law. 

House  and  cabinet  furniture  in  piece  or  rough  and  not  finished 

Casks  and  barrels,  empty,  sugar-boxes,  shocks  and  packing  boxes  and  pack- 
ing box  shooks  of  wood,  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for  in  this  act 

SCHEDULE  B. — SDGAB. 

The  MILLS  BILL  adds  the  following  provisions  :— 

Provided,  that  if  an  export  duty  shall  hereafter  be  laid  upon  sugair  or  molasses 
by  any  country  from  whence  the  same  may  be  imported,  such  sagar  or 
molasses  so  imported  shall  be  subject  to  duty  as  provided  by  law  at  the 
date  of  the  passage  of  this  act. 

Sugar  candy,  not  colored 

SCHBDCL.E  p.— TOBACCO. 

Cigars,  cigarettes  and  cheroots  of  all  Muds,  paper  cigars  and  cigarettes,,includ-  }^ 
ing  wrappers .* ) 

Leaf  tobacco,  of  which  eighty-five  per  cent,  is  of  the  requisite  size  and  of  the 

necessary  fineness  of  texture  to  be  suitable  for  wrappers  and  of  which  more 

than  one  hundred  leaves  are  required  to  weigh  a  pound,  if  not  stemmed . . . 

If  stemmed.    None  imported  in  '87. 

.  All  tobacco  in  leaf,  unmanufactured  and  not  stemmed 

Tobacco  stems 

Tobacco,  manufactured,  of  all  descriptions,  and  stemmed  tobacco  not  spec- 
ially enumerated  or  provided  for  In  this  act 


■WHAT  THJi  MHOiS  BILL  IS.  628 

Tafiff-tatx  oa  each 
AXiiClJtS.  pre^eBt  law  aad  the 

'^  Mills  blU. 

inuff  OT  Biiuff-flotir,  manufactured  of  tobacco  gronnd,  dry  or  damp  and  pickled, 

scented  aaid  otberwise,  of  all  descriptions $150  04 

rot>acco,  nmnantifieujttu'ed,  n.  o.  p. so  00 

SCHBDULE    G.— PBOViaiONS 

ijiliaals,  live ..........;.. , 20  00 

leat^  extract  of. gO  00 

^eese ^ ,,..... 80  U 

Intter  and  sobstitutee  therefor 24  78 

.ard 18  91 

Theat...... ;, 17  16 

iyeand  barley , ..  16  80 

iarley,  pearled,  patent  or  hulled , , i  28 

arley,  malt,  per  bushel  of  thirty-four  potinds 27  38 

Qdiah  com  or  maize.. , 17  98 

'ats , 39  51 

ommeal , 15  98 

atcaeal , 13  17 

,ye  aour 

TheatflDnr ^. 20  00 

:ay 19  89 

[onev .', , , ,51  38 

[ops* 43  64 

LiUc,  preserved  or  condensed ; 20  00 

ish- 

Mackerel 28  03 

Herrings,  pickled  or  salted  — li  32 

Salmon,  pickled. 13  68 

Other  fish  pickled  in  barrels ,. 30  07 

Foroign-canght  fish,  imported   othermae    than  in  barrels  or  half  barrels, 

whether  fresh,  smoked,  dried,  salted  or  pickled,  n.  o.  p 17  94 

Anchovies  and  sardines,  packed  in  oil  or  otherwise  in  tin  bozdo  measaring  not 
more  than  live  inches  long,  fonr  inches  wide  and  three  and  one-half  inches 

deep 26  95 

In  half  boxes  rae^anrinff  not  more  than  Ave  inches  long,  fonr  inches  wide  and 

one  and  five-eighths  deep 21  76 

In  quarter  boxes  measuring  not  more  than  four  inches  and  three-quarters  long, 
three  and  one-half  inches  wide,  and  one  and  a  quarter  deep,  two  and  one- 
half  cents  each .,..,... 29  14 

When  imported  in  any  other  form 40  00 

Fish  preserved  in  oil,  except  anchovies  and  sardines... —  30  00 

Salmon  and  all  other  fish  prepared  or  preserved,  and  prepared  meats  of  all 

kinds,  n.  o.  p 25  00 

ckles  and  sauces  of  all  kinds  n.  o.  p 35  00 

>tato«s— 15  eents  per  bushel,  amountliftg  apon  tbe  Importation 

ofl$87to Se  58 

igetables  prepared  or  preserved  of  all  kinds  n.  o.  p •> « .  30  00 

negar 36  56 

ocolate 7  67 

aits — 

Dranges  in  boxes  of  capacity  not  exceeding  two  and  one-half  cubic  feet 23  72 

in  one-half  boxes,  capacity  not  exceeding  one  and  one-fourth  cubic  feet 20  43 

JQ  barrels,  capacity  not  exceeding  that  of  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-six 

pounds  flour  barrel ,. ;  •  • ^  28 

-icmons — in  boxes  of  capacity  not  exceeding  two  and  one-half  cubic  feet  —  16  15 

Ji  one  half  boxes,  capacltv  not  exceeding  one  and  one-fourth  cubic  feet 16  80 

nbulk 8.S00 

.■emons  and  oranges,  in  packages,  n,  o.  p 20  00 

uimes  and  grapes 20  00 

''ruits  preserved  in  their  own  juices  and  fruit  juice 20  00 

k)mfit6,  sweetmeats,  or  fruits  preserved  in  sugar,  spirits,  syrup  or  molasses 

t  otherwise  specified  or  provided  for  in  thb  act  and  jellies  of  all  kinds. .  85  00 


524  "WHAT  -tHE  MILLS  BILL  IS. 

Tartff-tax  on  ea 
AMTim  Vtl  |100  •worth  uiider 

AKllULii-b.  present  la-*-  tuid 

Mills  bi 

Nuts- 
Almonds,  shelled v §  50 

Filberts  and  walnuts  of  all  kinds 54 

Nuts  of  all  kinds,  shelled  or  unshelled.  n.  o.  p. . . .' 44 


SCHEDULE   H— LIQUORS. 

Champagnes  and  all  other  sparkling  wines,  in  bottles  containing  each  not 

more  than  one  quart  and  more  than  one  pint 54 

Containing  not  more  than  one  pint  and  more  than  one-half  pint 50 

Containing  one-half  pint  each  or  less 51 

In  bottles  containing  more  than  one  quart  each  in  addition  to  seven  dollars 

per  dozen  bottles.     2  25  per  gallon  excess 71 

Still  wines  in  •  casks 29 

Still  wines  in  bottles  one  dollar  and  sixty  cents  per  case  of  one  dozen  bottles, 
containing  each  not  more  than  one  quart  and  more  than  one  pint,  or 
twenty-four  bottles  containing  each  not  more  than  one  pint;  and  any 
excess  beyond  these  quantities  found  in  such  bottles,  shall  be  subject  to  a 
duty  of  live  cents  per  pint  or  fractional  part  thereof,  but  no  separate  duty 
shall  be  collected  on  the  bottles. 

Vermuth,  the  same  duty  as  on  still  wines |     H 

Wines,  brandy  and  other  spirituous  liquors,  imported  in  bottle,  shall  be 
packed  in  packages  containing  not  less  than  one  dozen  bottles  in  each  pack- 
age, and  all  such  bottles,  except  as  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for 
in  this  act,  shall  pay  an  additional  duty  of  three  cents  for  each  bottle. 

Brandy,  and  other  spirits  manufactured  or  distilled  from  grain  or  other  mate- 
rials, and  not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for  in  this  act,  two  dollars 
per  proof  gallon 80 

On  all  compounds  or  preparations  of  which  distilled  spirits  are  component 
part  of  chief  value,  n.  o.  p.  there  shall  be  levied  a  duty  of  not  less  than  that 
imposed  upon  distilled  spirits. 

Cordials,  liquors,  arrack,  absinthe,  kirschwasser,  ratafia,  and  other  similar 
spirituous  beverages  or  bittei-s  containing  spirits,  n.  o.  p.  two  dollars  per 
proof  gallon. 85 

Bay-rum  or  bay-water,  whether  distilled  or  compounded,  one  dollar  per 
gallon  of  first  proof,  and  in  proportion  or  any  greater  strength  Ihan  first 
proof 156 

Ale,  porter  and  beer,  in  bottles  or  jugs  of  glass,  stone  or  earthenware,  thirty- 
five  cents  per  gallon 41 

Otherwise  than  in  Dottles  or  jugs  of  glass,  stone  or  earthenware 63 

Ginger  ale,  or  ginger  beer 20 

But  no  separate  or  additional  duty  shall  be  collected  on  Iwttlee  or  jugs  ooa- 
laining  the  same, 

SCHEDULE  1 — COTTOM   AND  OOTTOK  GOODS. 

On  stockings,  hose,  half-hose,  shirts  and  drawerSj  and  all  goods  made  on  knit- 
ting  machines  or  frames,  composed  wholly  or  cotton,  and  not  herein  other- 
wise provided  for 40 

On  stockings,  half-hose,  shirts  and  drawers,  fashioned  narrowed,  or  shaped 
wholly  or  in  part  by  knitting  machines  or  frames,  or  knit  by  hand,  and 
composed  wholly  of  cotton , 35 

Cotton  cords,  braids,  ginaps,  galoons,  webblnff,  goring,  suspenders,  braces, 
and  all  manufactxires  ofcotton,  ru  o.  p.,  and  corsets  of  wnateref"  material 
composed- SJ 

Cotton  laces,  embroideries,  Insertings^  trimmings,  lace  window  curtaina,  cot- 
ton and  damask,  hemmed  handkerchiefe,  and  cotton  velvet 40 

Cufls,  collars,  shirts  and  other  manufacturas  of  wearing  apparel,  made  In 

whole  or  in  part  of  linen,  ru  o.  p.,  and  bydranllc  hose 85 

Flax  or  linen  laces  and  insertings,  embroideries  or  manufactures  of  linen,  if 
embroidered  or  tamboured  in  the  loom  or  otherwise,  by  machinery  or  with 
the  needle  or  other  process,  n.  a  p 80 

Seines  and  seine  gilling  twine 25 


WHAT  THE  MILLS  BILL  IS.  525 

Tariff-tax  on  each 


JSntp  and  jnte  carpeting,  six  cents  per  square  yard. 

Carpets  and  carpetings,  of  wool,  flax  or  cotton,  or  parts  of  either  or  other 

material,  not  otherwise  herein  specified $40  00 

|;her  mats  not  exclusively  of  vegetable  material,  rugs,  screens,  covers, 
hassocks 40  00 

)a 


ARTICLES. 


SCHEDULE  K. — WOOL  AND  WOOLENS. 


SCHEDULE  L.— SILK  AND   SILK  GOODS. 


^100  worth  under  the 
preeent  law  and  the 
mils  bilL 


artiallv  manufactured  from  cocoons,  or  from  waste  silk,  and  not  further 
advanced  or  manufactured  than  carded  or  combed  eilk,  fifty  cents  per 

pound 19  0& 

;wrn  silk  in  gum,  not  more  advanced  than  singes,  tram  organzine,  sewing 
'  silk,  twist,  floss  in  the  gum,  and  spun  silk,  eilk  threads  or  yarns  of  every 

description,  purified  or  dyed 30  OO 

stings,  mohair  cloth,  silk  twist  or  other  manufactures  of  cloth,  woven  or 
made  in  patterns  of  siich  size,  shape  or  form,  or  cut  in  such  manner  as  to 

be  fit  for  buttons  exclusively 10  OO 

lU  goods,  wares  and  merchandise,  n.  o,  p.,  made  ol  silk,  or  of  which  silk  is 

the  component  material  of  chief  value 50  00; 

SCHEDULE  M. — BOOKS^  PAPERS,  ETC. 

ooks,  pamphlets,  printed  in  English,  bound  or  unbound,  and  all  printed  mat- 
ter n.  o.  p.,  engravings,  bound  or  unbound,  etchings,  illustrated  books, 
maps  and  charts 25  Oft 

'he  MILLS  BILL  alters  as  follows:— 

ibles,  books  and  pamphlets,  printed  in  other  languages  than  English,  and 
books  and  pamphlets  and  all  publications  of  foreign  governments,  and 
publications  of  foreign  societies,   historical  or  scientific,  printed  for 

gratuitous  distribution Free  list. 

lank  books,  bound  or  unbound,  and  blank  books  for  press  copying 20  00 

aper,  manufactures  of,  or  of  whi«h  paper  is  a  component  material,  n.  o.  p 15  00 

heathing  paper 10  00 

aper  hangings  and  paper  for  screcDs  or  fire-boards,  paper  antiquarian,,  demy, 
drawing,  elephant,  foolscap,  imperial,  letter,  note,  and  all  other  paper 

n.  o.  > 25  00 

ulp,  dried  for  papermakers'  use 10  00 

SCHEDULE  N.— SUNDRIES. 

labaster  and  spar  stationery  and  ornaments 10  00 

askets  and  all  other  articles  composed  of  grass,  osier,  palm  leaf,  whalebone, 

or  willow,  or  straw,  n.  o.  p 80  00 

ladders,  manufactures  of 25  00 

one,  horn,  ivory,  or  vegetable  ivory,  all  manufactures  of,  n.  o.  p - 30  00 

onnets,  hats  and  hoods  for  men,  women  and  children,  composed  of  chip, 
grass,  palm  leaf,  willow  or  straw,  or  any  other  vegetable,  substance  hair, 

whalebone  or  other  material,  n.  o.  p 80  00 

ouillons,  or  cannetille,  metal  threads,  file  or  gesplnst 25  00 

urr-stones,  manufactur«d  or  bound  up  into  mill-stones 30  00 

uttons  and  button  molds,  n.  o.  p.,  not  including  brass,  gilt  or  silk  buttons. . .  25  00 

andles  and  tapers  of  all  kinds 20  00 

ard  cases,  pocket  books,  shell  boxes,  and  all  similar  artcil^s,  of  whatever 

material  composed,  and  by  whatever  name  known,  n.  o.  p 35  00 

hronometers,  box  or  ships,  and  parts  thereof 10  00 

locks  and  parts  of  clocks 30  00 

oach  and  harness  furniture  of  all  kinds,  saddlery,  coach  and  harness,  hard- 
ware, silver-plated,  brass,  brass-plated,  or  covered,  common  tinned,  bur- 
nished or  jappaned,  n.  o.  p 35  00 

3al  slack  or  culm,  such  as  will  pass  through  a  half-Inch  screen 39  86 

Dal,  bituminous  and  shale 24  81 

Dke 20  00 

3mb8  of  all  kinds 30  00 

impositions  of  glass  or  paste,  when  not  set 10  00 


I 


486  WHAT  x£tE  isnas  mM$  is. 

ARTICLES,  ^^i^ 

Ooiftlj  ctita DianttfteetiUfSi,  br 66fc». ...... v.  —  ...-«...*-...♦.•...*«.-...»....*...,     f  S5 

Corks,  &tiacorkbArk,nianufec1raTea..»^....v...  ^...►^, ,*....»,...^..v..        85 

Crayons  of  all  Irinda^.,,*..*,*.^,.*.*.. ^,,*.,., **».....♦««.»......«         80 

Dice,  dwiuglits^  chesBmei^  clbess  balls,  biUSard  &nd  bagatelle  ballB^  of  iyoty 

or  bone.,. ,...».^,.,..»..^^,.--**«,,».<r.,.,«^,.«»^», .,..,*,         50 

Emerv  grains  and  emery  mannfacttired,  ground,  pnlveriaed,  or  relijied...,-.v^r^ .         34 

Epanlets,  galloons,  laoBs,  knots,  stars,  tassels  and  -wrings  of  gold,  ^ver  or 

otber  inetal^.... .,.-♦..♦ - ,-.......,»*.,, „«»^...  20 

Fire-crackers  of  all  kinds..,  r... ^ * *.^^..^.,^»,*r.^.....  00 

Floor  matting  and  floor  mo^,  exclusively  of  vegetable  substances. .  .^  . , . .  .^ .  20 

Fwlminat/es,  fulminating  powdeiB,  and  all  like  articles,  Dk  o,  p..X^.»»*....*.  *  80 

Pur.  articles  mode  of;  n.  o.  p * ....« .,» .....^ ...*...         SO 

Gunpo\vder,  and  all  explosive  substances  used  for  mining,  blasting,  artillery  Or 

sporting  purposes,  when  valued  at  twenty  cents  or  lesa  per  pound.  .^ 34 

Valnedat  twenty  cents  per  pound...- .^...^^,.. — ...,^..  8 

Hair  doth,  known  as  "  crinoline  doth,"  and  all  other  manufivctures  of  hair, 

n.  o.  p. ..• ...^,...,» 80 

Bair cloth,  known  ba  "hair  seating." .,. 84 

Hair  pencils. .-.-.^ — -. 80 

Hats,  materials  for,  braids,  plaits,  fiats,  wUlow  sheets  and  squares,  used  for 
making  or  ornamenting  hats,  bonnets  and  hoods,  composed  of  straw,  chip, 
grass,  palm-leaf;  willow,  hi^,  whalebone,  or  any  vegetable  substance 
or  material,  n-o.  p ♦ — . 

Hatters'  fnrs,  not  on  the  skin,  and  dressed  fttrs  on  the  skm 

India-rubber  fabrics,  composed  whoUy  or  in  part  of  India-rubber,  cap...... 

Articles  composed  of  India-rubber,  u.  o.  p. ..........h... ...... 

India-rnbber  boots  and  shoes ^ ,. 

Jet,  manufactures  and  imitation  of ...,.........*...,..... 

Jewelry  of  all  kinds *....».,* 

Leather,  bend  or  belting  leather,  and  Spanish  or  other  sole  leather,  and 
lpatner,n-  o.  p.... 

Calfskins,  tanned,  or  tanned  and  dressed,  and  dressed  upper  leather  of  all 
other  kinds,  and  skins  dressed  and  finished,  of  all  kinds,  n.  a  p.,  and  skins 
of  morocco,  finished. »,.... 

Skins  for  morocco,  tanned,  but  unfinished.. ....... 

All  manufactures  and  articles  of  leather,  or  of  which  leather  shall  be  a  com- 
ponent part,  n-  o.  p 

Lime c 

Linseed  or  flaxseed .-. ". .^ . . . 

But  no  drawback  shall  be  allowed  on  oil  cake  made  from  imported  seed. 

Musical'  instruments  of  all  kinds 

Painting  in  oil  or  water  colors,  and  statuary,  n.  o.  p 

Pencils  of  wood  filled  with  lead  or  other  material,  and  pencils  of  lead 

Pencil  leads  not  in  wood..... ..,. 

Pipes,  pipe-bowls,  and  all  smokers'  artides,  whatsoever,  n.  o.  p 

All  common  pipes  of  clay 

Pliaster  of  Paris,  when  ground  or  calcined.... 

Playing  cards 

Polishmg  powders  of  every  description  by  -whatever  name  known,  tndudiug 
Frankfort  black,  and  Berlin,  Chinese,  fig  and  wash  blue 

Precious  stones  of  all  kinds 

Seagliola,  and  composition,  tops  for  tables  or  for  other  articles  of  furniture. 

Sealing  wax , 

Shells,  whole  or  parts  of,  manufactxired,  of  every  description,  n.  0.  p - 

Stones,  free-stones,  granite,  sandstone,  and  all  building  or  monumental  stone, 
hewn,  dressed,  or  polished,  except  marble,  n.  o.  p 

Teeth,  manufactured 

Umbrellas,  parasols,  and  sunshades,  frames,  and  sticks  for,  finished  or  un- 
finished, n.  o.  p 

Watches,  watch-cases,  watch  movements,  parts  of  watches,  watch  glasses  and 
watcA  keys,  and  watdi  mftteriala,  o.  a  p..., **.»«...,... 


WHAT  THB  MILLS  BILL  Ifi. 


m 


TSBOAFTBTlUkStiyn  dP  BSTTMATBD  BEDXrCTlOH. 


iuleB. 


aemicals 
artheuware  and 

glassware 

etalB ..,. 

ood  and    wooden 

ware 

igar 

•ovisions 

)tton  anji  cotton 

goods 

smp,  jnte  and  flax 

goods 

ool  and  Woolens . . 
)oks,  papei's,  etc> . 


Total    importatlonis    of 
fiscal  year  1887  of  du- 
tiable articlea. 


Values. 


§18,864,357.96 

18,056,150.43 
55,111,923.87 

7,697,357.06 
74,343,379.30 
39,165,566.07 

80,308,85L88 

88,807,287.55 

60,586,018.61 

5,314,635.31 


Duties 
Received. 


Amount  of 
duties  re- 
mitted by 
ttiCsbilL 


$6,199,811.99 

7,776.203.43 
23,469,401.89 

1,885,858.19 

58,016,686.34 

9,529,091.81 

13,081,297.43 


mdries 59,580,006.88 


Total  free-list.. 


Total. |§397,534,933.17iei79,741,830.71 


35,629,534.13 

1,154,369.41 

16,001,597.36 


Total  dutiabla fe307,534,933.17'$179,741,380,71]30,833,791.38'86,584,783.08  45.31 

To,<-ol   ^'^rt^H^*  ia  riKQ  OAK  fit 


\  Average  ad 
i     valorem 
:  rate  of  duty 
Estimated  \     under— 

amount  of '^_  „ 

duties  un-  i 
dertbisbill.j      .     j    % 

!     2     i     9 


59.55 


a785, 153.68'S1,090,103.79 

970,343,J39  4,598,310.69 
1,367,388.071  6,478,680.88  40.77 


45,5S7.1S      360,317.95 

11,759,799.76,46,358,493.51 

369,600.101  1,494,666.23 


277,610.39 


9,497,981.74  2,079,458,11 


3,556.90 


4,198,8SL39 


13,186,903.7517,069,540.15  58.81 

O  KK«  nn  -Irt   yJOK  CC    rto  -lo 


10,425.35  33.18 


1,087,593.35  4,181,134.87 


19,758,845.51 


50,591,036.89186,534,788.08 


83.87   28.17 


18.00 
78.15 
34.33 

39.99 

38.10 


53.17 

38.47 

17.40 
68.31 
33.39 

89.07 

31.-94 
38.69 
33.06 
25.03 


37.46 


Average  rate  of  present  duty 47.10 

Average  rate  proposed  by  this  bill 43.68 

''  'uction  recommended  by  tbe  BepTiblicac  Tariff  CoBwaiseipa  in  1881 35  per  ct 


'A  OOWDITION — NOT  A  THBORY. 


CHAPTER   XLVI. 
"  A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 


THE    BURDENS    OF    TAXATION    ON    INDUSTRY    REMAINING    AS    I 
RESULT   OF   THE   WAR  TARIFF. 


A  Complete  Exposition  of  the  Methods  hy  which  the  P 

gressive  Industries  of  the  Many  have  been  Shackled  hi 

Heavy  Taxes  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Few — Greater 

Commercial    Privileges    Demanded — Solid 

Argvmients  in  favor  of  Releasing  some 

of  the  Taxes  on  Labor. 


In  the  collection  and  arrangement  of  matter  for  the  discussion  of  the  tj 
question,  the  compiler  has  found  himself  laboring  under  many  difl3.culties,  not  ft 
a  lack  of  material,  but  because  of  an  embarrassment  of  riches.  An  attempt  has  t 
made,  however,  to  cull  from  the  speeches  made  in  the  long  and  able  debate  cover 
more  than  two  months,  such  discussions  of  the  question  as  will  cover  the  whole  J 
of  argument  advanced  in  favor  of  the  reduction  of  burdensome  war  taxes. 

TJae  members  of  the  House  who  contributed  to  this  discussion  were  drawn  ft 
every  section  of  the  country — Korth  and  South,  East  and  West — and  their  ideas  ^ 
be  found  fairly  echoed  in  the  two  chapters  devoted  to  this  question.  Not  o 
did  these  men  represent  every  section  of  the  country,  but  they  represented  ev 
line  of  business,  every  profession,  and  every  trade.  Among  them  were  represei 
tives  of  the  manufacturers  of  textiles,  leather,  sugar,  metals,  the  mining  of  iron  ( 
and  of  coal,  whether  anthracite  or  bituminous,  manufacturers  of  salt,  proprietore 
large  tracts  of  timber,  and  of  the  mills  which  make  this  into  lumber.  Besides  t 
there  will  be  found  the  opinions  of  men  who  are  the  direct  repi-esentatives  of 
working  people  of  the  coimtry.  So  that,  taken  as  a  whole,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  ev 
element  which  goes  to  make  up  the  varied  interests  of  the  country  is  represented 
the  pages  of  this  book,  as  they  were  in  the  long  discussion  in  the  House, 

It  will  be  observed,  also,  that  the  extracts  from  the  speeches  are  not  confii 
entirely  to  those  made  by  members  of  one  party.  Three  gentlemen  connected  w 
the  Republican  party  have  strongly  and  ably  presented  the  question  to  the  coun 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  529 

md  to  their  constituents,  and  an  attempt  has  bem  made  to  preaent,  as  briefly  as  pos- 
dble,  their  yiews  upot  the  most  important  parts  of  the  bill,  and  their  reasons  for  giv- 
ng  it  their  support  in  opposition  to  the  views  of  their  own  party  associates. 

The  wide  range  of  the  discussion  will  be  observed,  as  well  as  the  accurate 
cnowledge  shown  by  nearly  all  of  those  who  participated  in  it.  It  has,  indeed,  been 
;omething  of  a  surprise  to  the  country  to  find  that  a  question  which  had  not  been 
uUy  discussed  for  almost  a  generation,  should  have  been  so  ably  presented  when 
^gain  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  with  a  view  to 
egislation  upon  it. 

The  first  chapter  of  this  part  of  the  book  has  been  devoted  to  the  report  of  the 
;)ommittee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  to  extracts  from  the  speeches  of  the  Demo- 
ratic  members  of  the  Committee,  and  to  the  able  summing  up  of  the  discussion  as 
aade  by  Mr.  Carlisle,  Speaker  of  the  House,  in  closing  the  general  debate. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  go  in  extenso  into  the  discussion  of  the  schedules,  in 
pite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  best  speeches  on  the  reduction  of  war  taxes  were 
lade  under  the  five- minute  rule.  Enough  of  them  have,  however,  been  given  to 
apply  those  arguments  made  by  practical  men  upon  the  probable  effect  of  the 
roposed  reductions. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is  not  saying  too  much  to  assert  that  those  who  will  give 
lose  attention  te  the  speeches  printed  here, will  find  themselves  thorougUy  equipped 
ath  the  facts  and  arguments  necessary  for  presenting  the  question  intelligently 
uring  the  coming  campaign. 


I 


L 
WHAT  IS  PROPOSED  AKD  WHY. 


»    HONEST  AND  FAIR    EFFORT  TO  REMOVE    SOME   OF  THE    SHACKLES  OF  INDU8- 
H|v  TRY  AND  TO  PROMOTE  NEW  DEVBI^OPMENT. 

^■^  Report  of  the  Ways  and  Means  CommitUe,  April  2, 1888. 

The  commfttee  have  determined  to  recommend  a  reduction  of  the  revenues  from 
3th  customs  and  internal  taxes.  They  have  given  the  whole  subject  a  careful  and 
ainstaking  examination,  and  in  the  revision  of  the  schedules  have  endeavored  to 
:t  with  a  spirit  of  fairness  to  all  interests.  They  have  carefully  kept  in  view  at  all 
mes  the  interests  of  the  manufacturer,  the  laborer,  the  producer  and  the  consumer. 
From  the  beginning  of  our  Government  tarifl"  legislation  has  been  based  on  the 
•inciples  of  mutual  concession.  The  present  bill  does  not  depart  from  this  pre- 
ident. 

In  the  progressive  growth  of  our  manufactures,  we  have  reached  the  point  where 
u*  capacity  to  produce  is  far  in  excess  of  the  requirements  of  our  home  consump- 
Dn.  As  a  consequence,  many  of  cfnr  mills  are  closed,  and  many  of  those  still  in 
)eration  are  running  on  short  time.  This  condition  is  hurtful  to  the  manufacturer, 
the  laborer,  and  producer  of  the  materials  consumed  in  manufacture.  The  manu- 
eturer  loses  the  profit  on  his  capital,  the  laborer  loses  his  wages,  and  the  producer 
'  the  materials  consumed  in  manufacture  loses  the  market  for  his  products.  Man- 
'acturere,  in  many  instances,  to  guard  against  losses  by  low  prices,  caused  by  an 
'ersupply  in  the  home  market,  are  organizing  trusts,  combinations,  and  pools,  to 
nit  production  and  keep  up  prices.  This  vicious  condition  of  business  could  not 
list  with  low  duties,  but  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  prohibitorj'  duties  on 
iportB,  ProMbitory  tariffs  surround  the  country  with  lines  of  investment  and  pre- 
lat  all  relief  from  without,  while  trusts,  combinations  and  pools  plunder  the  peo- 
Lthin. 


530  "a  conditioi? — ^not  a  theory.* 


NKW  MARKETS  WLLL  ENABLE  US  TO  A8SRBT  OUB  INDUSTBIAL  StJPBEatAOT. 

In  a  ootmtry  like  onrs,  prolific  in  its  r^ouroes,  where  the  rewards  of  labor  oug 
to  be  large,  the  capitalisfc  roay  by  such  methods  keep  his  investments  secure  and  si 
make  profits,  but  what  is  to  become  of  the  laborers  who  are  thrown  out  of  empk 
ment  by  stopping  the  wheels  of  maehinery  and  limiting  the  amount  of  proauc 
And  what  is  to  pecome  of  the  prtducer  of  the  materials  to  be  consumed  by  the  ma 
ufacturer  !  IThea  the  fires  are  diut  off,  the  laborer  and  the  materials  are  shut  off 
the  same  time,  and  the  market  for  both  is  gone ;  whether  they  labor  in  the  facte 
or  the  field,  whether  they  produce  ootton,  wool,  hemp,  flax,  coal  or  ore ;  whetl 
the  product  of  their  daily  labor  is  cloth,  iron,  steel,  boots  or  shoes,  they  must  ha 
constant  employment  to  obtain  for  themselves  and  families  the  necessaries  and  co: 
forts  of  life. 

When  out  of  employment,  with  earnings  cut  short,  with  low  prices  for  their  p] 
ducts  caused  by  the  closing  of  the  market,  they  still  must  pay  for  whatever  th 
daily  wants  require  the  prices  which  the  trusts  have  fl^ed.  Wnat  is  the  remedy  ] 
this  wrong  ?  it  is  more  extended  markets  for  the  saio  of  our  products,  and  a  cc 
stant  and  active  competition  in  business.  With  active  competition,  combinatio 
and  pools  are  impossible.  With  the  maxkets  of  the  world  open  to  us,  our  manufi 
turera  may  run  tneir  mills  on  full  time,  give  constant  employment  to  their  labore 
with  a  steadily-increasing  rate  of  wages.  With  the  majrkets  of  the  world  open 
the  sale  of  their  products  they  will  create  an  active  and  constant  demand  for  all  t 
raw  materials  required  Id  manufuctures,  which  will  stimulate,  promote  and  rewa 
tlie  wool-grower  and  the  producer  of  cotton,  hemp,  flax,  hides,  ores  and  other  ma 
rials  of  manufacture.  We  are  the  largest  producers  of  cotton  in  the  world,  we  i 
second  in  the  production  of  wool,  we  put  on  the  market  annually  quantities  of  her 
and  flax,  and  our  country  is  full  of  ores  and  coal.  What  we  neea  is  manufaotuj 
enough  to  consume  all  the  annual  product  of  these  materials,  and  create  an  aoti 
demand  for  them,  so  that  all  our  workmen  may  be  constantly  employed  and  recei 
high  prices  for  thdr  labor. 

To  accomplish  this  our  manufacturers  must  have  markets  for  the  sale  of  th( 
wares,  and  thesd  markets  are  to  be  found  in  foreign  countries  as  well  as  at  hon 
To  take  the  foreign  market  from  the  foreign  manufacturer,  we  must  produce  o 
goods  at  a  lower  cost  thsai  he  can.  The  principal  elements  of  cost  are  labor  a 
material.  In  many  of  our  manufactures  the  labor  cost  is  lower  than  ha  any  count 
in  the  world,  and  if  the  cost  of  materials  were  as  low  here  as  in  foreign  countri 
we  could  produce  our  goods  more  cheaply  than  they,  and  largely  inci'ease  our  expo 
to  foreign  markets. 

PREB  RAW  MATBBIALS  ITBEDED  FOR  THIS  PUBPOSEL 

The  annual  product  of  our  manui'actories  is  now  estimated  at  $7,000,000,000, 
whi(^  amount  we  export  only  about  $136,000,000,  or  less  than  3  per  cent.  If 
could  obtain  free  of  duty  such  raw  materials  as  we  do  not  produce  and  can  only 
procured  in  foreign  countries,  and  mix  with  our  home  product  in  the  varic 
branches  of  manufacture,  we  could  soon  increase  our  exports  several  huiidj 
millions.  With  untaxed  raw  materials  we  could  keep  our  mills  running  on  f 
time,  our  operatives  in  constant  employment,  and  have  an  active  demand 
our  raw  materials  in  our  own  factories.  If  there  should  be  no  duty  on  a 
materials  entering  into  manufactures  many  ^icles  now  made  abroad  would 
made  at  home,  which,  while  it  would  g;ive  more  employment  to  our  own  lat 
would  give  a  better  market  to  many  articles  which  we  produce  and  which  en 
mto  manufactures,  such  as  cotton,  wool,  hemp,  flax  and  others. 

With  this  end  in  view  we  have  gone  as  far  as  we  could  and  done  what 
could  in  the  present  condition  of  things  to  place  our  manufacture  upon  a  fi 
and  unshaken  foundation,  where  they  would  have  advantages  over  all  the  maj 
facturers  of  the  world.  Our  manufacturers  having  the  advantage  of  all  others  in ' 
intelligence,  skill  and  productive  capacity  of  their  labor,  need  only  to  be  phw 
on  the  same  footing  with  their  rivals  in  having  then*  materials  at  the  same  cost 
the  open  markets  of  the  world.  In  starting  on  this  policy,  we  have  transfer] 
many  articles  from  the  dutiable  to  the  firee  list.      The  revenues  now  received 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  631 

lese  articles  amount  to  $22,189,595.48.  Three-foUrths  of  this  amount  is  collected 
n  articles  that  enter  into  manufactures,  of  which  wool  and  tin  plates  are  the 
lost  important.  The  revenues  derived  from  wool  during  the  last  fiscal  year 
mounted  to  $5,899,816.63,  and  the  revenues  from  tin-plates  to  $5,706,433.89. 

The  repeal  of  all  duties  on  wool  enables  us  to  reduce  the  duties  on  the 
lanufactures  of  wool  $12,332,211.65.  The  largest  reduction  we  have  made  is  in 
le  woolen  schedule,  and  this  reduction  was  only  made  possible  by  placing  wool 
Q  the  free  list.  There  is  no  greater  reason  for  a  duty  on  wool  than  there  is  for  a 
Qty  on  any  other  raw  material.  A  duty  on  wool  makes  it  necessary  to  impose  a 
igher  duty  on  the  goods  made  from  wool,  and  the  consumer  has  to  pay  a  double 
,x.  If  we  leave  wool  untaxed  the  consumer  has  to  pay  a  tax  only  on  the  manu- 
ctured  goods. 

DUTIES  IMPOSED   ON  MANUFACTURED  PRODUCTS 

It  is  contended  by  some  that  if  we  put  wool  on  the  free  list  we  should  also  put 
oolen  goods  on  the  free  list.  If  this  is  sound  policy  we  should  also  put  cotton 
)ods  on  the  free  list,  for  raw  cotton  is  free,- and  we  should  put  silk  goods  on  the 
ee  list,  for  raw  silk  is  free.  Then  where  would  the  government  get  its  revenues  ? 
uties  are  imposed  to  raise  revenue,  and  they  should  b3  so  imposed  as  to  obtain  the 
venue  with  as  little  burden  as  possible  to  the  tax-payer  and  as  little  disturbance  a& 
)88ible  to  the  business  of  the  country.  This  is  accomplished  by  imposing  the  duty 
.  the  finished  goods  alone,  and  in  no  tariff,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  have  woolens, 
ttons,  silks,  or  linens  been  placed  on  the  free  list.  usis^v^ 

We  say  to  the  manufacturer  we  have  put  wool  on  the  free  list  to  enable  him  to 
tain  foreign  wools  cheaper,  make  his  goods  cheaper,  and  send  them  into  foreign 
irkets  and  successfully  compete  with  the  foreign  manufacturer.  "We  say  to  the 
3orer  in  the  factory  we  have  put  wool  on  the  free  list  so  that  it  may  be  imported 
d  he  may  be  employed  to  make  the  goods  that  are  now  made  by  foreign  labor  and 
ported  into  the  United  States.  We  say  to  the  consumer  we  have  put  wool  on  the 
e  list  that  he  may  have  woolen  goods  cheaper.  We  say  to  the  domestic  wool- 
3wer  we  have  put  wool  on  the  free  list  to  enable  the  manufacturer  to  import  for- 
:n  wool  to  mix  with  his,  and  thus  enlarge  his  market  and  quicken  the  demand 

the  consumption  of  home  wool,  while  it  lightens  the  burden  of  the  tax- 
fer. 

The  duty  on  wool  now  prevents  nearly  all  the  better  classes  of  wool  from  com- 
<;  into  the  country ;  the  domestic  product  can  supply  only  about  one-half  of  ttie 
ount  required  for  home  consumption.  The  statistician  of  the  Agricultural 
partment  puts  the  domestic  product  for  the  year  1887  at  265,000,000  pounds, 
lers  place  it  higher,  but  none  at  more  than  half  the  annual  consumption  of  our 
)ple.  It  requires  about  600,000,000  pounds  of  wool  and  other  fibers  manufactured 
;h  it,  which  are  now  paying  duty,  to  supply  the  annual  demands  of  home  con- 
option. 

SPECIAL  INTERESTS  WHICH  ASK  FOR  "MORE." 

Why,  then,  should  we  keep  out  by  high  duties  the  foreign  wools  so  necessary 
;he  clothing  of  the  people?  The  Wool-Growers'  Association  ask  us  to  put  on  a 
y  high  enough  to  prevent  the  importation  of  all  wools.  The  Wool  Manufac- 
3r8'  Association  ask  us  to  put  on  a  duty  high  enough  to  keep  out  all  manufac- 
2S  of  wool.  If  Congress  grants  this  joint  request,  what  are  the  people  to  do  for 
)len  clothing  ?  Are  the  people  to  be  compelled  by  Congress  to  wear  cotton 
ds  in  the  winter  or  go  without,  to  give  bounties  to  wool  growers  and  wool 
mfacturers  ? 

During  the  last  fiscal  year  there  were  114,404,173  pounds  of  wool  imported,  and 
hat  amount  81,504,447  were  cheap  carpet  wool,  the  greater  part  of  which  paid2i 
ts  per  pound  duty.  The  high  duty  of  10  cents  per  pound  on  the  finer  wools  that 
nto  clothing  was  so  great  a  barrier  against  the  importation  of  the  better  wools 
.  only  33,099,696  pounds  were  imported.  But  our  people  required  clothing,  and 
ongress  put  a  duty  so  high  on  wool  as  to  keep  it  out,  still,  high  as  was  the  duty 
voolen  goods,  $44,235,243  worth  were  imported  and  consumed  in  this  country, 
a  which  duties  were  paid  amounting  to  $29,729,717. 


532  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

If  the  charges  constantly  being  made  are  true,  that  great  quantities  of  thes 
goods  are  coming  in  undervalued,  underweighed,  and  undermeasured,  then  th 
aggregate  amount  is  much  larger.  Frauds  of  this  character,  smuggling,  an 
bribery,  follow  prohibitory  duties  just  as  the  shadow  follows  the  substance.  Thes 
goods  for  the  most  part  could  be  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  and  if  th 
wools  in  them  could  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  it  would  give  employment  to  man; 
thousands  of  our  own  operatives,  start  into  life,  and  beep  in  active  operation  man 
of  our  factories  now  idle,  and  largely  reduce  the  cost  of  these  goods  to  the  cor 
sumers. 

We  must  find  a  way  to  foreign  markets  for  our  woolen  goods.  In  the  foreig: 
market  we  must  compete  with  the  foreign  producer,  and  in  order  to  do  so  success 
fully  we  must  produce  our  goods  at  a  lower  cost  and  be  able  to  undersell  the  foreig 
product  and  take  the  market.  We  are  now  exporting  less  than  $500,000  worth  c 
woolen  goods,  while  England,  with  free  wool,  exports  more  than  $100,000,00( 
With  free  wool  we  may  not  only  supply  the  home  market  with  the  greater  part  c 
the  woolen  goods  now  imported,  but  we  can  begin  to  export  woolen  goods  and  soo 
build  up  a  prosperous  foreign  trade. 

JUST  HOW  MUCH  MORE  THEY  WANT. 

We  submit  herewith  a  table  showing  equivalent  ad  valorem  duties  now  paid  o: 
manufactures  of  wool — those  proposed  by  the  committee  and  those  proposed  by  th 
joint  agreement  of  Wool-Growers'  and  Wool -Manufacturers'  Association,  adopted  i 
Washington,  D.  C,  January  14, 1888. 


ARTICLES. 


Wools,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  and  other  like  animals- 
Manufactures — 
Balmorals — 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cts.  per  lb pounds. 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb do. . . . 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do 

Valued  at  80  cents  per  pound do 

Belts  or  felts,  endless,  for  paper  or  printing  machines do 

Blankets — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cts.  per  pound pounds. 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cts.  per  lb do 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb do.... 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do. . . . 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do 

Bunting square  j-ards. 

Carpets  and  carpeting  of  all  kinds — 
Aubusson,  Axminster,  and  Chenille  cai-pets,  and  caipets  woven 

whole  for  rooms square  j^ards. 

Br.ussels  carpets do 

Druggets  and  liockings,  printed,  colored  or  otherwise,  do 

Mats,  screens,  hassocks,  and  rugs,  not  exclusively  of  vegetable 

material 

Of  wool,  flax,  or  cotton,  or  parts  of  either,  or  other  material 

not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for square  yards. 

Patent  velvet  and  tapestiy  velvet  carpets,  printed  on  the  warp 
or  otherwise square  yards. 


CTcS 
P4 


•  p^     \ 

^    '    CO     ^  f 

o     ig-^Si 

fL<        111 


111. "J 

■   96.5 

78.5 

■128.7 

99.S 
95.7 

72.8 

88.6 

123.2 

50.0 

55.0 

85.1 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY. 


ARTICLES. 


Wools,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  etc. — continued — 

Saxony,  Wilton  and  Tournay  velvet  carpets do 

I       Tapestry  Brussels,  printed  on  the  warp  or  otherwise,  .do 
Treble  ingrain,  three-ply,  and  worsted  chain  Venetian 
carpets do 
Tarn,  Venetian,  and  two-ply  ingrain  carpets do 
Hemp  and  jute  carpets do 
Clothing,  ready-made,  and  wearing  apparel  (except  knit  goods), 
not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for,  comi)osed  wholly 
or  in  part  of  wool,  w'orsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat  or 
other  (like)  animals,  made  up  or  manufactured  wholly  or  in 
part  by  the  tailor,  seamstress,  or  manufacturer — 
Cloaks,  dolmans,  jackets,  talmas,  ulsters,  or  other  outside  gar- 
ments for  ladies'  and  children's  apparel,  and  goods  of  similar 
description,  or  used  for  like  purposes pounds. 
Clothing,  ready-made,  and  wearing  apparel  of  every  description 
not  specially  enumerated  or  provided  for,  and  balmoral  skirts 
and  skirting   and  goods  of  similar  description,  or  used  for 

like  purposes , poundi 

Cloths,  woolen — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound pounds. 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do 

Dress  goods,  women's  and  children's  coat  linings,  Italian  cloths, 

I          and  goods  of  like  description — 
Composed  in  part  of  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat, 
or  other  animals — 
Valued  at  not  exceeding 20  cts.  per  square  yard.. square  yards. 
Valued  at  above  20  cents  per  square  yard do 
Composed  wholly  of  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  aljiaca,  goat, 
or  other  animals,  or  of  a  mixture  of  them,  and  all  such  goods 
of  like  description,  with  salvages  made  wholly  or  in  part  of 
other  materials,  or  with  threads  of  other  materials  introduced 
for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  classification — 
Weighing  4  ounces  or  less  per  square  yard square  yardi 
All  weighing  over  4  ounces  per  square  yai'd pounds 

Tlannels — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound pounds. 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cts.  per  lb do ... . 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb. . .  .do 

»      Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do 
Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do 
Hats  of  wool- 
Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  4C  cts.  per  lb pounds, 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb do 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do ... . 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do 

Knit  goods  and  all  goods  made  on  knitting  frames — 

Valued  at  not  exeeeding  30  cents  per  pound pounds. 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cts.  per  lb do ... . 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb do 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do ... . 

.Shawls,  woolen — 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound pounds. 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound ...do 


54.27 
61.13 

45.79 
44.70 
24.76 


67.74 


;3   «    O  O  2  £J 

00  ,rt  I  03  3 

o^  o  d    ^d 

P-(         (L, 


s.  54.18 


89.84 
68.91 


67.89 
59.06 


82.96 

40 

69.68 

40 

73.42 

40 

66.20 

40 

67.69 

40 

67.65 

40 

73.02 

40 

40 

73.04 

40 

66.22 

40 

52.07 

40 

88.33 

40 

65.20 

40 

69.14 

40 

69.62 

40 

62.58 

40 

88.44 

40 

65.41 

40 

30 


45 


45 


I 


634 


'a  condition— not  a  theory. 


ARTICLES. 


g 

p  ;-, 

cr  o 

©r-H 


Wools,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  etc. — continued — 

Composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca, 

goat  or  other  animals pounds. 

Webbings,  gorings,  suspenders,  braces,  beltings,  bindings,  braids, 
galloons,  fringes,  gimps,  cords,  cords  and  tassels,  dress  trim- 
mings,head  nets,  buttons  or  barrel  buttons,or  buttons  of  other 
forms  for  tassels  or  ornaments,  wrought  by  hand  or  braided 
bymachineiy,  made  of  wool  worsted,  the  hair  of  the  alpaca, 
goat  or  other  animals,  or  of  which  wool,  worsted,  the  hair  ofj 
the  alpaca,  goat,   or  other  animals  is  a    component  mate-j 

rial ..pounds.! 

Tarns,  woolen  and  worsted — ^'  \ 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound pounds.! 

Valued  at  above  80  and  not  exceeding  40  cts  per  lb do j 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb do ....  I 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do | 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  lb do 

All  manufactures  of  every  description  not  specially  enumerated  or 

provided  for,  made  wholly  or  in  part  of— 
Wool- 
Valued  at  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  lb pounds. 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound do i 

Worsted,  tlie  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  aniuKils  (except! 
such  as  are  composed  in  part  of  wool)— 

Valued  at  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound pounds. ' 

Valued  at  above  30  and  not  exceeding  40  cts.  per  lb . ,  do | 

Valued  at  above  40  and  not  exceeding  60  cts.  per  lb . .  do . . . .  i 

Valued  at  above  60  and  not  exceeding  80  cts.  per  lb do ' 

Valued  at  above  80  cents  jjcr  pound do i 


61.53 


66.21 

69.40 
67.90 
68.08 
69.08 
68.79 


88.81 
64.46 


76.49 
69.38 
68.28 
68.15 
71.99 


03      . 
0    <U 


Sn3 


lit 

Sri     05     ** 

©  O  tJD'2 
PL, 


40 


77.00 

116.6^ 
117.11 


126.87 
84.93 


(- 


123.10 


112.65 


THE  CHEAPER  THE  GOODS  THE  HIGHER  THE  TAXES. 

The  contest  in  the  woolen  schedule  is  not  between  the  present  rate  and  the 
rate  proposed  by  the  committee,  but  between  the  rates  proposed  by  the  committee 
and  the  schedule  agreed  upon  by  the  Wool-Growers'  Association  and  Wool- 
Manufacturers'  Association.  The  committee  propose  free  wool  and  a  reduction 
from  present  rates  to  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  all  manufactures  except  carpets^ 
which  were  made  dutiable  at  80  per  cent.;  ready-made  clothing  at  45  per  cent.,  and 
webbings,  gorings,  etc.,  at  50  per  cent.  The  joint  agreement  of  the  two  associa- 
tions proposes  to  increase  the  present  rates  to  128  per  cent,  on  some  of  the  cheaper 
cloths;  to  102  per  cent,  on  the  cheaper  rates  of  women's  and  children's  dress  goods 
when  composed  in  part  of  wool,  and  to  107  per  cent,  when  composed  wholly  ot 
wool;  on  cheaper  grades  of  flannels  to  121  per  cent.;  on  cheaper  grades  of  wool  hats 
to  134  per  cent ;  on  cheaper  grades  of  knit  goods  to  125  per  cent;  on  cheaper  grades 
of  woolen  shawls  to  126  per  cent.;  on  woolen  blankets  to  128  per  cent. 

These  rates,  high  as  they  are,  are  not  the  highest  that  are  imposed  on  aD 
woolen  goods  by  the  joint  agreement.  They  are  only  the  highest  rate  on  the  low- 
est-valued goods,  as  shown  in  the  agreement.  All  goods  at  a  lower  value  are 
taxed  at  a  still  higher  rate. 

This  most  extraordinary  schedule  has  been  made  and  agreed  upon  by  the 
two  parties  named,  and  it  has  been  introduced  into  the  House  and  referred  to  this 
committee. 


I 


"a  condition — NOT  A  THEORY: 


HOW  SPECIFIC  DUTIES  DISCRIMINATE  AGAINST  THE  CHEAPER  GOODS. 


535 


In  the  woolea  schedule  we  have  substituted  ad  valorem  for  specific  duties. 
The  specific  duty  is  the  favorite  of  those  who  are  to  be  benefited  by  high  rates, 
who  are  protected  against  competition,  and  protected  in  combinations  against  the 
consumer  of  their  products.  There  is  a  persistent  pressure  by  manufacturers  for 
the  specific  duty  because  it  conceals  from  the  people  the  amount  of  taxes  they  are 
compelled  to  pay  to  tlie  manufacturer.  The  specific  duty  always  discriminates  in 
favor  of  the  costly  article  and  against  the  cheaper  one,  and  therefore  it  imposes  a 
lieavier  burden  as  it  goes  down  from  the  highest-priced  articles  to  the  lowest.  This 
discrimination  is  peculiarly  oppressive  in  woolen  and  cotton  goods,  which  are 
necessaries  of  life  to  all  classes  of  people.  In  order  that  this  fact  may  be  clearly 
seen  and  comprehended,  we  append  a  table  taken  from  the  first  annual  report 
f  the  Commissioner  of  Labor. 


OTt. 


This  table  states  the  description  of  the  goods,  their  width  in  inches,  and  the  weight  per 
d  of  each  kind;  the  price  of  the  goods  at  the  factory;  the  rate  and  the  amount  of  duty  per 
pound  and  ad  valorem,  and  the  total  amount  of  duty  levied  under  the  compound  rate ;  and 
«l80  the  per  cent,  which  the  total  duty  is  of  the  price  per  yard  at  the  factory  in  England. 

PRICE  PER  YARD  OP  liEEDS  (ENGLAND)  WOOLEN  AND  MIXED  GOODS,  DUTIES,  ETC. 


Name 


West  of  England  broadcloth 

Fine  worsted  trousering — 

Imitation  sealskin  (mohair  and  cot- 
ton)   

West  of  England  beaver , 

West  of  England  all-wool  Moscow... 

Fine  worsted  coating 

Tine  worsted  trousering 

indigo  blue  Ch«vlot  coating 

Low  worsted  coating  (worsted face, 

woolen  back,  cotton  warp) 

Low  worsted   trousering    (woolen 

back) 

Ottoman  (worsted  face,woolen  back, 

cotton  warp) , 

Matelasse   (worsted    face,    woolen 

back,  cotton  warp) 

Mantle  cloth  (worsted  face,  woolen 

back,  cotton  warp) - 

Wool,  fancy  suiting 

<Cotton-warp  cloth , 

Fancy  coating , 

Fancy  Cheviot , 

Wool,  fancy  suiting 

Diagonal  Cheviot 

Common  blue  Cheviot  coating , 

Cotton- warp  Moscow 

•Cotton- warp  cloth 

Cotton-warp  twilled  Melton 

Cotton-warp  Moscow 

Cotton- warp  cloth 

Fancy  overcoating  (cotton- warp). . . 

Cotton- war p  reversible 

Fancy  overcoating  (cotton-warp) . . . 

Cotton-warp  coating 

•Imitation  sealskin  (calf  hair  mixed 

with  wool,  cotton- warp) 

Cotton-warp  coating 

■Cotton- warp  Melton 

Cotton- warp  serge  Melton 

Sieversible  diagonal  (cotton-warp).. 

Reversible  nap  (cotton- warp) 

Cotton-warp  reversible 


Descbip- 

TION. 


I 


25 

30 
13 
84 
31 


23 
13 

29 
29 


DUTT. 


$3.60  i$0.35  1    40 
1.62       .35  i    40 


4.50 
3.36 
3.60 
2.88 
1.42 
2.40 


.35  j  40 
.35  40 
.85  I  40 
..35  i  40 
.35  40 
40 


.18 


.35  I  35 

.35  35 

.35  i  35 

.35  !  35 

.35  i  35 

.35  '  35 

.35  i  35 


fO.372 
,241 

.678 
.547 
.634 
.525 


.804 

.315  ! 

.270 
.547 
.328 
,503 
.547 
.481 
.547 
,547 
.766 
.547 


.700 
.872 


$1,440 

,648 

1.800 
1.844 
1.440 
1.152 


.140 

.196 
.161 
.084 
.091 
.168 
.154 
.157 


$1,812 


2.478 
1.891 
2.074 
1.677 
.831 
1.572 


.557 


.508 
.876 
.517 
.776 
.834 
.726 
.813 
.799 

1.102 
.771 
.508 
.915 
.396 

1.081 
,937 
.966 
.512 


.664 
.368 
.480 


50.8 
54.9 

55.0 
56.3 
57.6 
5.S.2 
58.5 
65.5 


69.4 


7*2.5 

74.7 
93.2 
95.7 
99.5 
101.7 
108.7 
107.0 
111.0 
114.8 
120.5 
121.0 
123.6 
123.7 
125.7 
126.6 
127.0 
128.0 

144.8 
144.8 
153.3 
165.4 
167.1 
179.1 
180.7 


.5  5  , 
+» aw 


53^ 


$5,412 
2.509 

6.978 
5.251 
5.674 
4.557 
2.251 
8.978 

1.877 

.818 


1.449 

1.188 
1.816 
1.057 
1.556 
1.654 
1.426 
1.578 
1.519 
2.062 
1.411 

.928 
1.665 

.716 
1.851 
1.677 
l.TM 

.912 

1.S08 

1.124 
.60< 
.690 
1.383 
1.338 
1.205 


686  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

This  table  Is  well  worthy  of  careful  study.  In  examining  the  figures  given  in  the  columo 
headed  "Price  at  factory,"  and  the  column  headed  "Per  cent,  of  price  at  factory,"  which  the 
total  duty  amounts  to,  the  startling  inequalities  in  the  rate  of  duty  to  be  paid  in  this  countrj* 
becomes  apparent.  The  highest-priced  goods  named  in  the  table  is  West  of  England  broad- 
cloth, worth  i3.60  per  yard  in  Leeds,  the  specific  duty  being  85  cents  per  pound  and  the  a(2 
valorem  duty  40  per  cent.,  making  a  total  duty  of  50.3  per  cent,  on  the  value  at  the  factory^ 
This  is  on  a  high  grade  of  goods.  In  looking  at  the  bottom  of  the  table  the  last  entr/  is  for 
cotton-warp  reversible  cloth,  made  in  imitation  of  a  better  kind.  It  is  worth  but  45  cents 
per  yard  at  the  factory.  The  specific  duty  is  the  same  as  on  the  West  ofEngland  broadcloth, 
35  cents  per  pound,  the  ad  valorem  duty  is  35  per  cent.,  but  the  specific  duty,  and  the  ad 
valorem  duty  together  make  the  rate  on  the  price  at  the  factory  180.7  per  cent.  That  is  to 
Bay,  the  cheaper  the  goods  at  the  factory  the  greater  is  the  proportional  increment  of 
duty.  The  column  headed  "Per  cent,  of  price  at  factory,"  which  shows  the  percentage? 
that  the  duty  is  of  the  factory  price,  brings  this  out  clearly. 

HOW   THE  TAX   ON   COTTON  GOODS  RANGES. 

The  above  table  shows  the  true  nature  of  specific  duties,  and  the  consumer  can* 
see  why  it  is  that  manufacturers  clamor  for  them.  They  know  the  different  values 
of  these  goods,  and  what  apt  words  will  embrace  the  high  and  low  priced  together, 
and  make  the  poorer  people  pay  the  same  tax  for  a  yard  of  cloth  worth  45  cents  that 
the  wealthy  do  for  a  yard  that  costs  $3  66;  but  that  fact  the  specific  tariff  conceals. 
The  ad  valorem  rate  taxes  everything  according:  to  its  value.  A  duty  of  40  per 
cent,  ad  valoreoi  would  have  imposed  a  tax  of  $1.44  on  the  yard  of  broadcloth  and 
18  cents  on  the  cotton  warp  cloth  that  cost  45  cents,  and  the  duty  would  have  beer^ 
fair  to  both.  As  it  is,  the  tax  is  180  per  cent,  on  the  cheap  cloth  and  50  per  cent,  on* 
the  high-priced  broadcloth. 

In  the  cotton-goods  schedule  we  see  the  same  "vicious,  inequitable,  and  illogical'*" 
results  of  the  specific  duty.  It  will  be  seen  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  on  the  revision  of  the  tariff,  February  16,  1886,  by  the  tables  sent  to  him* 
by  persons  dealing  in  cotton  goods  imported  into  the  United  States  from  foreigrt 
countries,  that  cheap  goods  costing  3.55  cents  per  yard  pay  176  per  cent,  duty ; 
while  those  costing  8.12  cents  per  yard  pay  77  per  cent,  duty.,  and  goods  that  cost 
4  cents  per  yard  pay  a  duty  of  94  per  cent.,  while  those  that  cost  2  cents 
per  yard  pay  a  duty  of  208  per  cent.  These  inequalities  run  throaghout  the 
whole  specific  system.  It  is  that  feature  that  specially  commends  it  to  the  manu- 
facturer of  the  competing  article.  As  these  excessive  rates  are  thought  to  be  more 
hurtful  in  cotton  and  woolen  goods  than  in  the  articles  embraced  in  the  other  sched- 
ules, the  committee  have  substituted  the  ad  valorem  for  the  specific  duties  as  to  all 
articles  in  the  woolen  schedule,  and  in  all  except  yarns  in  the  cotton  schedules. 

WHAT  FLAX,  HEMP  AND  JUTE  DUTIES  COST. 

In  1789  a  duty  was  imposed  on  imported  hemp,  and  in  1828  on  imported  flax,, 
and  while  at  intervals  these  fibers  were  imported  free  without  harm  to  the  American 
producer,  yet  since  1843  American  flax  and  hemp  have  been  "protected,"  and  this^ 
necessitated  the  imposition  of  duties  upon  all  manufactures  from  these  and  like  fibers 

In  spite  of  these  duties  American  herap  has  decreased  in  the  amount  of  produc- 
tion from  74,493  tons  in  1860  to  5,025  tons  in  1880,  as  shown  by  the  census  reports 
of  those  two  years,  and  flax  from  7,709,676  pounds  in  1850  to  1,565,546  pounds  m 
1880.  Bat  the  demand  and  necessity  for  the  products  manufactured  from  these  and 
similar  fibers  has  greatly  increased,  and  the  importations  of  the  raw  material  and  of 
the  finished  product  have  necessarily  equally  increased.  Formerly  every  pound  of 
American  cotton  was  covered  with  bagging  and  tied  with  rope  made  from  American 
hemp;  now  over  50,000,000  yards  of  cotton  bagging  maufactured  from  imported  jute 
butts  are  used  to  cover  the  7,000,000  bales  of  American  cotton  which  are  tied  with 
iron  cotton  ties,  while  the  present  mode  of  harvesting  the  immense  grain  crop  of  the 
country  requires  about  33,000  tons  of  twine,  nearly  all  of  which  is  made  from  imported 
material.  So  that,  in  the  effort  to  "protect"  probably  8,000  tons  of  American  hemp 
and  1,500,000  pounds  of  American  flax,  a  tax  larger  than  the  entire  value  of  both* 


I 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  587 


these  products  is  imposed  on  cotton  and  wheat,  whose  price  to  the  producer  is  fixed 
j^hg  foreign  market,  where  they  come  in  competition  with  cotton  raised  in  India 
■■frheat  raised  in  foreign  countries. 

^T'our  committee  have  put  all  these  fibers  upon  the  free  list,  thereby  relieving 
the  goods  manufactured  in  America  of  the  tax,  amounting  last  year  to  $1,930,340  on 
raw  material.  It  has  also  put  on  the  free  list  burlaps  not  exceeding  60  inches  in 
width,  none  of  which  is  made  in  America,  and  of  which  last  year  there  was  imported 
13,260,117.40  worth,  upon  which  were  levied  and  paid  $978,035.23.  It  has  reduced 
the  duties  on  all  the  manufactures  from  these  fibers  so  that,  except  on  a  very  few 
irticles,  no  duty  is  higher  than  25  per  cent.,  and  some  as  low  as  15  per  cent.  The 
;regate  estimated  reduction  on  this  schedule  is  $4,766,846.88. 


iggreg 

n 


SUGAR,  EARTHENWARE    AND   GLASSWARE. 


Your  committee  feel  assured  that  no  industry  will  be  injured  by  this  reduction 
3f  taxation,  while  it  will  enable  the  American  manufacturer  to  compete  on  equal 
terms  with  his  rivals,  will  reduce  the  cost  of  production  of  cotton  and  wheat,  and 
will  cheapen  to  the  consumer  the  goods  which  he  must  purchase. 

The  duty  on  sugar  is  nearly  a  revenue  tax,  about  85  per  cent,  of  it  being  purely  a 
lax  paid  into  the  public  treasury ;  and  all  the  sugars  used  in  America  are  refined  in 
this  country.  Your  committee  desired,  in  reducing  the  revenue  received  from  this 
jource,  not  to  endanger  the  profitable  production  and  refining  of  sugar  here,  and  yet 
to  prevent  oppression  by  trusts  and  combinations.  After  much  couBideration,  we 
now  recommend  that  the  revenue  received  from  sugar  be  reduced  by  reducing  the 
rates  20  per  cent. 

This  reduction  of  rates  on  all  sugars  above  No.  13  will  render  possible  the 
importation  of  foreign  refined  sugars,  so  as  to  prevent  exorbitant  prices  and  protect 
consumers  against  combinations. 

.In  the  earthen  and  glassware  schedules  we  have  made  fair  reductions,  the  larger 
par  of  these  articles,  such  as  common  earthenware  and  window-glass,  being  neces- 
^ar^  articles  of  consumption  by  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  especially  the 
ab^ring  classes.  Ornamented  china  and  decorated  earthenware  we  have  reduced 
from  60  to  45  per  cent.,  common  earthenware  from  60  to  35  per  cent.,  and  window- 
jlass  from  93  and  106  to  62  and  68  per  cent. 

^H,  THE  IMMENSE  PROFIT  IN  STEEL  RAILS. 

^^n  the  metal  schedule  the  most  important  reduction  is  in  steel  railway  bars, 
wrhich  are  now  dutiable  at  $17  per  ton,  and  by  the  proposed  bill  at  $11  per  ton. 
This  is  a  reduction  of  about  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  This  reduction  will  be  of  great 
ralue  in  promoting  and  cheapening  the  construction  of  railroads  and  lowering  the 
•ates  of  transportation  of  freight.  Two  years  ago  steel  rails  sold  in  this  country  at 
527  a  ton.  The  manufacturers  during  last  year  ran  the  price  up  to  $40.  The  present 
3rice  is  $31  50.  Last  year  12,724  miles  of  railroad  were  constructed  in  the  United 
States,  which  required  1,300,000  tons  of  rails.  It  is  therefore  patent  that,  by  reason 
)f  the  present  exorbitant  duty  of  $17  a  ton,  the  manufacturers  were  able  to  raise  the 
price  more  than  $8  50  a  ton. 

They  were  therefore  able  to  realize,  over  and  above  a  legitimate  profit,  more 
iian  $11,000,000.  This  sum  was  an  increase  in  the  cost  of  construction,  upon  which 
ihe  farmers  must  pay  interest  and  dividends  by  way  of  increased  freights  upon  their 
vvheat,  cotton,  corn,  and  other  products.  The  price  of  rails  on  board  of  ship  in 
Liverpool  last  year  was  $21 ;  adding  freight,  the  cost  of  same,  without  duty,  in  this 
jountry,  was  $23  50.  The  duty  fixed  by  the  committee,  $11,  would  increase  the 
3rice  to  $34  50,  or  $3  above  the  price  for  which  American  rails  are  now  selling.  It 
s  therefore  apparent  that  the  rate  of  duty  allowed  by  the  committee  is  more  than 
jnough  to  compensate  our  manufacturers  for  the  difi'erence  in  cost  between  the 
:ican  and  foreign  product. 


638  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

HOW  TH3  TIN  PLiTE  DUTY  AFFECTS  THE  CANNING  BUSINESS. 

While  we  have  been  constrained  to  leave  high  duties  on  almost  all  the  artic 
we  have  touched — duties  higher  than  any  necessity  either  of  revenue  or  of  dif 
ence  of  cost  of  American  over  foreign  products  required— we  have  felt  that 
ought  to  give  some  relief  to  other  branches  of  industry  not  benefited  by  high  du 
imposed  for  private  purposes.  A  large  number  of  our  people  are  interested  in  ma 
facturing  tin,  and  others  in  putting  up  meats,  fish,  fruit,  vegetables,  oils,  and  ot 
articles  in  manufactures  of  tin.  Many  of  these  products  are  exported  and  mg 
consumed  at  home.  During  the  last  fiscal  year  there  were  imported  into  the  Uni 
States  570,643,389  pounds  of  tin  plate,  valued  at  $16,883,813.95,  on  which  du' 
were  paid  amounting  to  $5,706,433.89. 

We  are  informed  that  the  value  of  the  salmon  caught  in  the  Columbia  ri^ 
Oregon,  and  canned  and  exported  during  the  last  fiscal  year,  amounted  to  nea 
$2,000,000,  while  the  lard  that  was  canned  and  exported  exceeded  $14,000,000,  { 
the  fruits  and  meats  exceeded  $4,000,000.  We  believe  that  the  removal  of  the  d 
on  tin  plate  would  reduce  the  cost  of  these  and  other  canned  goods  now  be 
exported,  and  give  to  our  people  engaged  in  that  trade  such  an  advantage  in  the  1 
eign  market  as  would  effectually  overcome  all  competition,  and  enable  them  to  h 
the  market  and  build  up  a  large  foreign  trade. 

The  exporter,  under  existing  law,  has  a  drawback  of  90  per  cent,  of  the  d 
paid  on  tin  plate,  but  the  repeal  of  the  duty  would  give  him  the  remaining  10 
cent,  and  enable  him  to  sell  so  much  lower  and  give  him  additional  advantage  o 
his  foreign  competitor.  Besides  this,  the  consumers  of  canned  goods  at  home  wo 
obtain  them  at  a  reduced  price. 

The  manufacture  of  tin  cans  is  growing   into  an  extensive  industry  in 
United  States.    More  than  150,000,000  cans  are  made  per  year  in  the  city  of  Ba 
more  alone,  while  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  other  northern  cities  p 
duce  large  quantities  of  articles  manufactured  from  tin  plate. 

FREE  COTTON  TIES,  FREE  SALT  AND  FREE  LUMBER. 

We  have  placed  cotton  ties  also  on  the  free  list.  The  duties  received  from  th 
during  the  last  fiscal  year  were  $121,098.99.  Cotton  is  our  largest  exporting  p 
duct.  The  price  is  so  low,  and  has  been  for  a  number  of  years,  that  it  hardly  p 
the  cost  of  producing  it,  and  the  committee  felt  that  it  was  a  proper  subject  for  c 
sideration  while  they  were  repealing  taxes  and  reducing  the  surplus  revenue  of 
Government. 

To  our  farmers  in  the  Middle  and  Northern  States,  engaged  in  raising  hogs  i 
selling  their  products,  we  have  made  salt  free  of  duty  and  released  revenues  amou 
ing  to  $676,865.50. 

To  the  people  who  are  settling  up  the  vast  prairies  of  the  West,  inclosing  tb 
lands  and  building  farm-houses,  we  have  made  lumber  free,  and  removed  dul 
amounting  to  $1,039,207.35. 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  539 

II. 

EFFICIENCY  OP  AMERICAN  LABOR. 


I 

^^P  CASE   OP  TAX  REDUCTION  PRESENTED. 

Speech  of  B.  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas,  Chairman  of  tfie  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  April  17, 1888. 

During  our  late  civil  war  the  expenditures  required  by  an  enormous  military 
tablishment  made  it  necessary  that  the  burdens  of  taxation  should  be  laid  heavily 
all  directions  authorized  by  the  Constitution.  The  internal -revenue  and  direct 
ses  were  called  into  requisition  to  supplement  the  revenues  arising  from  customs, 
aid  the  Treasury  to  respond  to  the  heavy  demands  which  were  being  daily  made 
on  it.  The  duties  on  imports  were  raised  from  an  average  on  dutiable  goods  of 
.84  percent,  in  1861,  to  an  average  of  40.29  per  cent,  on  dutiable  goods  during  the 
e  years  from  1863  to  1866,  inclusire.  This  was  recognized  at  the  time  as  an 
ceptionally  heavy  burden.  It  was  stated  by  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  then 
jsented  to  the  House  the  bill  so  largely  increasing  the  duties,  and  which  to-day 
ars  his  honored  name,  that  it  was  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  war,  and 
ist  cease  on  the  return  of  peace.  In  his  own  words  he  said :  "  This  is  intended  as 
var  measure,  a  temporary  measure,  and  we  must  as  such  give  it  our  support." 

More  than  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  war  ended.  A  generation  has 
3sed  away  and  a  new  generation  has  appeared  on  the  stage  since  peace  has 
urned  to  bless  our  common  country;  but  these  war  taxes  still  remain ;  and  they 
!  heavier  to  day  than  they  were  on  an  average  during  the  five  years  of  the  exist- 
ce  of  hostilities.  The  average  rate  of  duty  during  the  last  five  years,  from  1883 
1887,  inclusive,  on  dutiable  goods  amounts  to  44.51  per  cent.,  and  during  the  last 
\v  the  average  is  47.10  per  cent.  Instead  of  the  rate  of  taxation  being  reduced 
meet  the  wants  of  an  efficient  administration  of  government  in  time  of  peace,  it 
itinues  to  grow  and  fill  the  coffers  of  the  Government  with  money  not  required 

public  purposes,  and  which  rightfully  should  remain  in  the  pockets  of  the 
)ple. 

^H  REPEALING  THE   TAXES  OF  THE  RICH. 

T3ter  Congress  had  eo  largely  increased  the  duties  on  imports,  and  thus  bestowed 
St  liberal  and  generous  bounties  on  our  manufacturers,  a  light  internal  tax  was 
DOsed  on  the  products  of  domestic  manufacture  to  help  the  Government  meet 

heavy  demands  of  war.  The  internal  tax  imposed  on  home  manufactures  was 
;  a  tithe  of  the  heavy  burden  imposed  on  the  people  by  the  increased  duties  on 
eign  goods.  It  brought  to  the  Treasury  in  1866  $127,000,000— a  sum  which  was 
}  than  5  per  cent,  upon  the  value  of  the  manufactured  product  of  that  year.  It 
3  thought  not  to  be  unreasonable  to  require  this  small  contribution  from  those 
ose  bounty  Congress  had  increased  from  18  to  40  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  their 
'ducts. 

But  that  tax  is  gone.  It  could  not  be  retained.  It  was  a  tax  on  wealth, 
iame  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  manufacturer.  As  soon  as  the  war  was  ended 
iplaint  was  made  that  this  tax  was  a  war  tax,  that  it  was  no  longer  neces- 
y,  and  it  was  repealed.  Congress  imposed  a  tax  on  incomes,  too,  to  help  the 
rernment  to  meet  the  expenditures  of  war.  It  brought  to  the  Treasury,  in 
6,  $72,000,000.  The  official  reports  showed  that  four  hundred  and  sixty 
usand  one  hundred  and  seventy  persons  out  of  the  whole  population  had 
omes  above  the  exemption,  and  they  had  $707,000,000  of  net  annual  income, 
ile  the  balance  of  the  people  had  nothing  beyond  what  was  required  for 
lual  support.  Yet  scarcely  had  the  war  ended  until  this  tax  was  declared  to 
exceedingly  odious,  inquisitorial,  and  oppressive ;  and  Congress  was  asked  lo 
eal  it,  and  it  is  gone. 


I 


640  "A  CONDITION — NOT  A   THEORY.' 


inU 


Congress  thought  it  was  unjast  to  require  460,170  persons  who  had  an  ar 
income  of  $707,000,000  to  pay  anything  to  support  the  Government,  and  the 
hurriedly  swept  that  " odious"  measure  from  the  statute-book.  Besides  these  thei 
were  taxes  on  the  receipts  of  railroad  companies,  taxes  on  insurance  companies,  tax( 
on  express  companies,  taxes  on  banis  capital,  bank  deposits,  and  bank  checks,  hi 
they  are  ^one.  Congress  lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  demands  of  wealthy  corporatior. 
and  individuals  and  took  all  the  burden  from  them,  but  the  war  taxes  on  clothin 
like  the  poor,  we  have  always  with  us.  These  taxes  were  given  up  at  a  time  whe 
our  interest-bearing  debt  of  more  than  $2,000,000,000  was  staring  us  in  the  face  an 
demanding  from  the  Government  more  than  $140,000,000  annually  to  meet  i 
interest.  JH 

With  these  facta  before  their  eyes  they  made  haste  to  roll  all  the  burdeiH 
taxation  oflF  the  shoulders  of  the  wealthy  and  lay  them  upon  the  shoulde^^ 
those  who  could  only  pay  as  they  procured  the  means  by  their  daily  toil.  Cou] 
not  that  $127,000,000  contributed  by  the  manufacturers  from  the  rich  bountii 
"which  the  Government  had  given  have  been  retained  until  the  war  debt  was  paid 
Could  not  the  $72,000,000  from  incomes  been  held  f  jr  a  few  years  longer  ?  Cou! 
not  the  tax  on  the  receipts  of  the  wealthy  corporations  have  been  continued  ft 
one  decade  ? 

Was  the  tax  of  three  per  cent,  on  the  domestic  blanket  paid  by  the  manufa 
turer  more  oppressive  then  than  the  tax  of  seventy-nine  per  cent,  on  both  forei§ 
and  domestic  blankets  paid  by  the  people  ? 

Was  the  tax  of  3  per  cent,  on  a  wool  hat  paid  by  the  manufacturer  mo: 
oppressive  than  the  tax  of  73  per  cent,  on  both  piid  by  the  consumer?  Was  tl 
tax  of  3  per  cent,  on  Womens  and  children's  clothing  paid  by  the  manufacturer  mo 
oppressive  than  the  tax  of  82  per  cent,  on  both  foreign  and  domestic  goods  of  the  san 
kind  paid  by  the  consumer?  Was  a  tax  of  three  per  cent,  on  railroad  companie 
banking  companies,  insurance  companies,  express  and  telegraph  companies,  mo 
oppressive  than  an  88  per  cent,  tax  on  woolen  shawls?  Was  a  three  per  cent,  tax  c 
incomes  more  oppressive  than  an  80  per  cent,  tax  on  a  woolen  shirt? 

The  gentlemen  who  represent  the  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  ai 
Means  boasi  that  they  have  reduced  taxation  $300,000,000.  They  point  with  pri( 
to  the  splendid  column  which  they  have  erected,  but  that  column  has  no  stone  in 
to  tell  of  their  devotion  to  the  masses  who  live  by  daily  toil.  It  is  built  of  blocks 
marble,  every  one  of  which  speaks  of  favoritism  to  the  wealthy,  of  special  privileg 
to  rich  and  powerful  classes.  In  1883  they  finished  this  magnificent  shaft  whi( 
they  have  been  for  years  erecting,  and  crowned  it  with  the  last  stone  by  repealu 
the  internal  tax  on  playing-cards  and  putting  a  20  per  cent,  tax  on  the  Bible. 

We  on  this  side  of  the  House  have  been  trying  to  reduce  taxation  on  the  new 
saries  of  life  to  the  people,  and  so  far  without  success  Whenever  we  have  broug 
bills  into  the  House  to  reduce  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life  they  have  musten 
nearly  their  entire  strength  to  defeat  us. 

THE  CONSTANT  DRAIN  UPON  THE  TAX  PAYER. 

What  has  been  the  result  of  this  policy?  Enormous  taxation  upon  the  nec( 
saries  of  life  has  been  a  constant  drain  upon  the  people — taxation  not  only  to  su 
port  all  the  expenditures  of  Government,  but  taxation  so  contrived  as  to  fill  tl 
pockets  of  a  priveleged  class,  and  taking  from  the  people  $5  for  private  purposes  f 
every  (5ollar  that  it  carries  to  the  public  Treasury. 

This  is  one  of  the  vicious  results  of  the  war  tarifl*.  The  taxes,  both  for  puh 
and  private  purposes,  are  paid  by  labor.  They  are  assessed  on  labor  Now,  let 
see  how  it  benefits  labor,  as  it  is  claimed  to  do.  Suppose  a  laborer  who  is  earniog 
dollar  a  day  by  his  work  finds  a  suit  of  woolen  clothes  that  he  can  buy  for  $10  wit 
outthetarifi*tax,  then  the  suit  of  clothes  can  be  procured  for  ten  days'  work;  but  t. 
manufacturer  comes  to  Congress  and  says,  "I  must  be  protected  against  the  mi 
buying  this  cheap  suit  of  clothes,"  and  Congress  protects  him  by  putting  a  duty 
100  per  cent.,  or  $10  more.  Now  it  will  require  the  laborer  to  work  20  days  to  g 
his  suit  of  clothes.  Now  tell  me  if  ten  days  of  his  labor  have  not  been  annihilate 
Has  he  not  been  required  to  work  twice  as  long  under  the  tarifi"  as  he  would  ha 
done  without,  to  obtain  his  suit  of  clothes? 


I 


'a  condition — NOT  A  THEORY."  541 


t  how  has  that  duty  affected  the  manufacturer  ?  If  it  required  him  to  work 
i'sto  produce  the  suit  of  clothes  worth  $10,  he  now  produces  them  by  five- 
i  'ork,  for  he  receives  |20  for  10  days'  work,  and,  of  course,  $10  for  five  days' 
[  The  manufacturer  has  had  his  work  reduced  half,  the  laborer  has  had  his 
I  ed  double.  But  it  is  said  that  the  tariff  helps  the  laborer  by  doubling  his 
cause  it  builds  up  manufactures  everywhere.  But  if  that  is  true  the  tariff 
ame  time  that  it  doubles  the  value  of  the  manufacturer's  product  ought  to 
I  the  value  of  the  laborer's  pay ;  but  the  tariff  takes  his  money  and  puts  it 
I  pockets  of  the  manufacturer  and  pays  him  in  promises  which  it  never 
:  s. 

ere  are  woolen  goods,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  report  of  the  committee^ 
duties  from  100  to  180  per  cent,  but  I  have  taken  100  per  cent  for  the 
ease  of  illustrating  the  effect.  The  benefits  of  the  tariff  all  go  one  way. 
)  from  the  consumer  to  the  manufacturer,  but  not  from  the  manufacturer  to^ 
sumer.  Suppose  that  the  tax  on  the  60,000,000  of  consumers  amounts  to 
head,  then  it  is  a  tax  of  six  hundred  millions  ;  if  it  is  only  $5  per  head,  it 
hundred  millions  taken  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  consumer  and  put  into- 
kets  of  the  manufacturers.  The  tax  on  the  four  hundred  millions  of  goods 
}d  goes  into  the  public  treasury ;  the  tax  levied  on  domestic  manufactures^ 
ng  their  price,  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  manufacturers. 

DESTROYING  THE  VALUE  OF  OUR  EXPORTS. 

e  greatest  evil  that  ia  inflicted  by  it  is  in  the  destruction  of  the  value  of  our- 
.  Remember  that  the  great  body  of  our  exports  are  agricultural  products, 
leen  so  through  our  whole  history.  From  75  to  over  80  per  cent,  of  the- 
of  this  country  year  by  year  are  agricultural  products  Cotton  is  first,  then 
:uffs,  pork,  beef,  butter,  cheese,  lard.  These  are  the  things  that  keep  up  our 
trade,  and  when  you  put  on  or  keep  on  such  duties  as  we  have  now — war 
vhich  were  regarded  as  so  enormous  even  in  the  very  midst  of  hostilities 
y  were  declared  to  be  temporary — when  you  put  on  or  retain  those  duties-,- 
lit  and  prohibit  importation  and  that  limits  or  prohibits  exportation. 
!  are  the  great  agricultural  country  of  the  world,  and  we  have  been  feeding 
pie  of  Europe,  and  the  people  of  Europe  have  got  to  give  us  in  exchange 
iucts  of  their  labor  in  their  shops ;  and  when  we  put  on  excessive  duties 
purpose  of  prohibiting  the  importations  of  their  goods,  as  a  necessary 
e  put  an  excessive  duty  upon"  the  exportation  of  our  own  agricultural 
3.  And  what  does  that  do  ?  It  throws  our  surplus  products  upon  our  own 
\  at  home,  which  become  glutted  and  oversupplied,  and  prices  go  down.  So 
h  the  people  of  Europe  who  are  manufacturing  and  producing  things  that 
lot  produce,  but  which  we  want.  Their  products  are  thrown  upon  their 
larkets,  which  are  glutted  and  oversupplied,  and  their  prices  likewisego- 
And  whenever,  from  any  cause,  prices  start  up  in  Europe,  our  tariff  being 
lainly  by  specific  duties  upon  quantity,  not  upon  value,  the  tariff  goes 
nd  then  we  see  large  importation  and,  as  a  result,  large  exportation, 
m  we  see  a  rise  in  agricultural  products ;  then  we  see  the  circulation  of 
ill  through  the  whole  of  our  industrial  system ;  we  see  our  people  going  to 
>ur  manufactories  starting  up,  and  prosperity  in  every  part  of  the  land, 
i  the  history  of  1880.  After  the  long  depression  lasting  from  1873  to  1880 
uddenly  rose  in  Europe.  The  prices  of  all  the  products  which  they  export 
gan  to  rise  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year.  What  was  the  result  ?  As  prices 
re  the  tariff  went  down,  the  obstructions  became  lower,  and  the  imports 

tnports  increased  about  $200,000,000  in  one  year.  What  was  the  result  of 
Dur  exports  increased  largely.  The  prices  of  wheat,  of  cotton,  of  corn,  of 
products  that  we  export  went  up ;  not  only  the  prices  of  that  which  waa 
1,  but  also  the  prices  of  that  which  was  consumed  at  home.  We  exported 
$685,000,000  worth  of  agricultural  products,  and  in  1881  $730,000,000. 
last  year  we  exported  only  $523,000,000  worth  of  agricultural  products. 
5  per  cent,  of  our  agricultural  products  have  to  seek  a  foreign  market,  and 
he  proportion  rose  to  20  per  cent. 


I 


S42 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY. 


WILL  NOT  AFFECT   OUR  MANUFACTURES. 

But  it  is  insisted  that  if  we  lower  the  duties  and  let  foreign  goods  be 
it  will  stop  our  manufactories— that  it  will  turn  our  people  out  of  emplo] 
reduce  their  wages.  It  will  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  What  will  we  import 
•did  we  import  when  prices  rose  and  the  duties  fell  in  1880  ?  We  imported' 
the  same  articles  which  we  were  importing  before  the  prices  rose.  We  will  ii 
more  of  the  things  we  cannot  produce  or  which  can  be  produced  cheaper  in 
■countries  than  at  home.  If  we  look  to  our  table  of  imports  in  1880,  we  wi 
that  over  sixty  millions  of  the  increase  was  of  articles  in  the  free  list  and  aboi 
hundred  and  twenty -five  millions  in  the  dutiable  list.  The  increase  of  import 
of  duty  will  not  hurt  the  manufacturer  or  the  laborer. 

We  always  import  more  coflFee,  more  tea,  more  of  everything  that  is  requir 
meet  the  wants  of  the  people  when  prices  are  high,  because  when  prices  are 
the  country  is  more  prosperous  and  the  people  are  better  able  to  buy  and  ps 
what  they  want,  and  the  tariff  is  then  lower  and  dutiable  articles  are  more  k 
imported  to  compete  for  sale  with  the  home  products.  In  looking  througl 
oonsumption  statement  we  see  that  a  certain  line  of  articles  are  imported  froni 
to  year;  then  observing  the  periods  when  prices  are  high  and  the  tariff  low  yoi 
see  that  the  same  articles  are  imported  in  larger  quantities. 

Our  manufacturers  do  not  then  stop.  They  go  on  with  increased  act 
They  did  not  stop  in  1880  when  the  large  importation  set  in.  It  gave  them  ren 
life ;  their  wheels  flew  faster,  their  machinery  worked  more  constantly,  and 
•operatives  were  all  employed.  Why  is  tbis?  We  can  produce  at  least  90  per 
of  all  the  manufactures  consumed  in  this  country  more  cheaply  at  home  than 
oan  be  produced  anywhere  in  the  world  and  delivered  here.  This  90  per 
which  we  can  produce  at  a  lower  cost  than  any  other  people  can  will  not  b( 
by  importation. 

WE   CAN  HOLD   OUR   OWN  MARKET 

I  have  a  letter  here  from  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  which  show 
in  1850  with  a  low  tariff  the  consumption  of  domestic  manufactures  in  the  U 
States  was  88.39  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  of  imports  11  61  per  cent.  In 
with  a  still  lower  tariff,  our  home  manufactures  constituted  87.57  per  cent,  ac 
consumption  of  imports  was  12.43  per  cent.  In  1870  the  consumption  of  doc 
manutactures  was  93.14  per  cent,  and  6  86  per  cent,  of  imports,  and  in  1880 
were  consumed  92.58  per  cent,  of  home  manufactures  and  7.42  per  cent,  of  fo 
manufactures.  Now,  it  is  evident  from  these  figures  that  under  any  circumst 
we  can  hold  90  per  cent,  of  the  market  against  the  world. 

Values  of  tfie  products  of  domestic  manufactures,  of  domestic  manufactures  exported,  of  J 
manufactures  imported,  a7id  of  the  total  consumption  of  domestic  and  foreign  ma7iufa 
in  1850,  1860, 1870,  and  1880,  with  the  proportions  of  domestic  and  foreign  manufc 
consumed  in  1850,  1860,  1870,  and  1880. 


Values  of 

Consumption  c 

Year. 

Products  of 

domestic 
manufac- 
tures.* 

Exports  of 

domestic 

manufac-  , 

tures.t 

Imports  X 

of  manufac- 

tures.t 

Consumption 
of  domestic 
and  foreign 

manufactures. 

Domestic 

manu- 
factures. 

Imp 

ma 

fact 

1850 

1860 

1870 

1880 

fl,019,106,616  $22,903,888 
1,885,861,676  ;  45,658,873 
4,232,325,442     47,921,154 
5,369,579,191     79,510,447 

$130,838,280 
261,264,310 
30M,363,496 
423,699,010 

|;i,127,04l,008 
2,101,46^,113 
4,492,767,784 
5,713,767,754 

Per  cent. 
88.39 
87.57 
93.14 
92.58 

Per 

*Census  years. 


tTears  ending  June  30. 


JGross  impori 


*A  CONDITION — NOT  A  THEORY.' 


543 


f  the  products  of  dotnesiic  manufactures  and  of  the  exports  of  domestic  manufactures^ 
le  proportions  of  sv^h  manufactures  retained  for  home  consumption  and  exported,  m 
.860,  1870,  and  1880. 


Years. 


Products  of 

domestic 

manufacture.* 


Values  of— 


^1,019,106,616 
1,885,861,676 
4,232,325,442 
5,369,579,191 


Exports  of 

domestic 

manufacture.t 


$22,903,888 
45,658,873 
47,921, 154 
79,510,447 


Proportion  of  domestic 
manufactures — 


Retained 
for  home 
consump- 
tion. 


Per  cent. 
97.75 
97.58 

98.87 
98.52 


Exported.. 


Per  cent. 
2.25 
2.4^ 
1.13. 
1.48 


isus  years. 


tTears  ending  June  30. 

WM.  F.  SWITZLER,  Chief  of  Bureau. 
UKY  Department,  Bureau  of  Statistics, 
February  18,  1888. 

ator  Sherman,  in  a  speech  delivered  three  months  ago,  quoted  a  statement 
e-tenths  of  all  the  articles  of  manufacture  consumed  by  the  people  could  be 
d  as  cheaply  here  as  in  England.  He  endorsed  the  statement  as  correct, 
the  accuracy  of  the  statement.  If  he  had  said  that  nine-tenths  of  all  the 
itures  consumed  in  the  United  States  could  be  produced  more  cheaply  here 
England  he  would  have  been  nearer  the  truth.  If  nine- tenths  of  all  the 
■tures  consumed  here  are  cheaper  here  than  in  England  it  is  because  they 
luced  at  a  lower  cost.    Then  what  objection  does  he  see  to  reducing  the 

at  use  have  our  manufacturers  for  the  tariflF  at  all  ?  Why  are  they  con- 
)eseeching  Congress  not  to  ruin  them  by  reducing  the  war  rates  ?  They  cair 
nine-tenths  of  their  products  and  sell  them  cheaper  than  their  rivals  in 
.,  but  they  do  not  do  it.  If  they  do  sell  nine-tenths  of  their  products 
than  English  manufacturers,  why  is  it  that  they  and  our  friends  on  the 
ie  not  only  resist  every  effort  that  we  make  to  reduce  these  war  taxes,  but 
ng  now  that  the  tariff  on  woolen  goods  shall  be  raised  ?  Why  are  they 
ng  that  woolen  cloth  shall  be  raised  to  128  per  cent.,  women's  and  children's 
3ds  to  102,  flannels  to  121  per  cent,  hats  to  134  per  cent ,  and  knit  goods  to 
3ent  ?  Why  do  they  resist  the  reduction  of  the  duty  on  steel  rails  to  $11  a 
'"hy  oppose  the  slight  reduction  we  propose  in  cotton  goods  ? 

THE  farmer's  interest  IN  THE  FOREIGN  MARKET. 

manufacturer  is  not  so  much  interested  now  in  the  foreign  market  as  the 

Less  than  2  per  cent,  of  the  $7,000,000,000  of  his  annual  product  goes  to 

gn  market ;  but  the  farmer  sends  15  per  cent,  of  his  products  there,  and 

md  a  larger  per  cent-  if  the  way  was  open.    The  manufacturer  looks  to  the 

:   irket  for  ihe  sale  of  98  per  cent,  of  his  product.    Then  is  it  not  a  matter  of 

3St  concern  to  him  to  have  that  home  market  prosperous  ?  Is  not  every  one 

3  goods  interested  in  having  customers  able  to  purchase  and  pay  for  every- 

;    ey  want  ?    Would  not  manufacturers  make  more  money  by  selling  their 

f    American  people  with  pockets  full  of  money  than  to  wild  Indians  who  had 

1     essential  to  the  American  manufacturer  that  he  shall  have  a  prosperous- 

:    a  which  there  is  a  constant  and  active  demand  for  his  goods,  and  that  he 

h  market  both  at  home  and  abroad  so  that  his  customers  may  be  as  many 

>    le,  that  they  be  constantly  increasing  in  pecuniary  ability  so  that  they  can 


I 


544  "a  condition — not  a  theory.' 


I 


buy  largely  and  pay  promptly  for  all  they  buy.  These  things  being  true,  ai 
dependence  being  almost  exclusively  on  the  home  market,  he  should  do  everj 
in  his  power  to  help  his  customers  grow  in  wealth.  Who  are  his  customers? 
farmers.  How  are  they  to  become  prosperous  and  grow  in  wealth  ?  By  selling 
products  in  the  markets  that  demand  them  and  offer  for  them  the  highest 
Where  are  those  markets ?  In  foreign  countries.  But  those  markets  are  clo; 
him  unless  Congress  will  let  him  bring  back  the  goods  he  will  obtain  in  excb 
If  to-day  the  barriers  against  importation  were  broken  down  and  our  imports  s 
increase  from  two  to  three  hundred  millions,  that  importation  would  create  a  de 
for  that  amount  of  agricultural  products  to  be  exported  to  pay  for  them,  and 
would  increase  the  price  of  farm  products  all  through  the  land.  It  would  disti 
money  among  the  whole  sixty  millions  of  people,  placing  a  dollar  beside  every 
with  which  it  could  be  satisfied.  He  would  find  that  he  had  a  market  then  at 
far  more  valuable  to  him  than  it  would  be  with  the  10  per  cent,  of  importt 
kept  out  and  the  prices  of  all  farm  products  forced  down  so  low  that  the  fa' 
-would  have  nothing  with  which  to  buy. 

DIFFERENT  PRICES  OP  WAGES  IN  DIFFERENT  STATES. 

But  it  is  said  that  this  will  injure  our  labor.  It  is  said  a  high  tariff  makes 
wages  for  labor.  It  is  said  if  we  reduce  the  tariff  wages  must  be  reduced.  H 
it  high  tariff  makes  high  wages  for  labor?  How  can  it  be  explained  ?  Why, 
say,  if  you  increase  the  value  of  the  domestic  product,  the  manufacturer  is  al 
pay  higher  wages.  Unquestionably  he  is,  but  does  he  do  it  ?  No.  Mr.  Jay  G 
with  his  immense  income  from  bis  railroad  property,  is  able  to  pay  his  bootl 
$500  a  day,  but  does  he  do  it  ?  Oh,  no ;  he  pays  the  market  price  of  the  street 
gets  his  boots  blacked  and  pays  his  nickel  like  a  little  man.  Mr.  Vanderbilt, 
the  income  arising  from  the  interest  on  the  immense  amount  of  bonds  of  the  Fe 
Oovemment  he  has  got,  can  afford  to  pay  his  hostler  $10,000  a  year.  He  is  al 
do  it;  his  bonds  enable  him  to  do  it,  but  does  he  do  it?  Oh,  no;  he  goes  ou! 
the  market  and  employs  his  labor  at  the  market  value,  and  pays  the  same  price 
the  humblest  ritizen  in  New  York  does. 

High  tariff  does  not  regulate  wages.  Wages  are  regulated  by  demand  and 
ply  and  the  capacity  of  the  laborer  to  do  the  work  for  which  he  is  employed.  If 
tariff  regulated  wages,  how  is  it  the  wages  in  the  different  States  of  the  Unio 
different  while  the  tariff  is  all  the  same  from  Maine  to  California  ?  In  every  p? 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  the  tariff  is  the  same.  How  is  it  the  wages  ar 
the  same  ?  How  is  it  that  wages  in  the  different  localities  in  the  different  State 
different  ?  What  is  the  cause  ?  What  is  it  which  disturbs  the  tariff  and  pre^ 
it  from  fixing  a  high  rate  of  wages  all  over  the  country  for  labor? 

We  find  by  the  census  the  rate  of  wages  in  the  cotton  industry  is  low( 
Rhode  Island  th>  n  in  Pennsylvania,  and  we  find  the  wages  in  the  iron  busines 
higher  in  Rhode  Island  than  in  Pennsylvania.  Why  is  it  that  so  ?  It  is  not  the 
that  does  it,  it  is  the  demand  and  supply  of  the  people  to  do  the  work  demand* 
them.  There  are  more  cotton  operatives  in  Rhode  Island  and  the  supply  is  greater 
therefore  the  wages  are  lower.  The  same  thing  is  true  about  the  iron  buBinei 
Pennsylvania.  The  wages  of  cotton  operatives  in  Pennsylvania  are  higher  bee 
there  are  fewer  in  Pennsylvania  than  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  It  is  not 
tariff  that  regulates  the  wages.  Well,  what  is  it  that  fixes  the  high  rate  of  wag 
this  country  ? 

It  is  admitted  by  all  who  are  well  informed  on  this  subject  that  our  rate  of  w 
is  higher  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  that  England  is  higher  than  France, 
that  the  rate  of  wages  is  higher  in  France  than  in  Germany.  Why  is  this? 
many  and  France  both  have  a  protective  tariff  to  guard  against  the  free-trade  I 
of  England.  What  then  is  it  that  makes  higher  wages  ?  It  is  coal  and  steam 
machinery.  It  is  these  three  powerful  agents  that  multiply  the  product  of  li 
and  make  it  more  valuable,  and  high  rate  of  wages  means  low  cost  of  product, 
high  rate  of  wages  means  that  cheap  labor  has  got  to  go;  and  the  history  of 
•country  in  the  last  fifty  years  demonstrates  that  as  clearly  and  as  conclusively  as 
mathematical  problem  can  be  demonstrated. 


I 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  545 

INCREASE  IN  PRODUCTIVE  CAPACITY. 

Fifty  years  ago,  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  shows,  it  required  five  persons,  two 
ders,  two  spinners,  and  one  weaver,  working  by  the  old  methods,  to  make  eight 
ds  of  cloth  in  one  day.  They  got  20  cents  a  day ;  a  dollar  for  the  whole  five. 
3  labor  cost  of  the  cloth  was  12i  cents  a  yard,  and  calculating  300  working  days 
I  year,  the  whole  product  of  these  five  cheap  laborers  was  2,400  yards  of  cloth  ; 
when  coal  and  steam  and  machinery  were  harnessed  together  to  produce  cloth, 
)  persons  to-day  in  New  England  produce  140,000  yards  of  cloth.  The  labor  cost 
:he  cloth  is  1.08  cents  per  yard.  The  wages  of  labor,  instead  of  being  $60  a  year, 
JO  cents  a  day,  is  $287  per  annum  for  each. 

The  result  of  the  labor-saving  machinery  used  was  an  enormous  increase  in 
ductive  capacity.  The  result  of  that  was  a  great  increase  in  the  rate  of  wages, 
.  the  further  result  was  a  great  decrease  in  the  cost  of  production.  The  old  hand- 
sel and  the  old  methods  of  labor  have  had  to  depart  before  the  all  conquering 
•ch  of  coal  and  steam  and  machinery.  They  had  to  go  because  the  small  amount 
product  of  the  article  drove  them  out  of  the  field.  It  is  not  the  rate  of  wages,  it 
le  article  which  the  labor  makes  and  the  cost  at  which  that  article  can  be  pro- 
ed— the  lower  cost — which  drives  the  rival  article  out  of  the  market.  Such  is 
history  which  has  been  written  in  our  country  in  the  last  half  century. 
Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  one  of  the  clearest  thinkers  and  writers  on  political 
Qomy  of  the  present  day,  in  his  little  book  on  The  Distribution  of  Products,  lays 
'■n  the  principle  that  high  rate  of  wages  means  low  cost  of  product,  and  low 
of  wages  means  high  cost  of  product.  He  says  that  the  *'  cheapest  man  is  the 
who  works  the  greatest  amount  of  machinery  with  the  least  stops."  I  read  a 
igraph  from  his  book,  on  page  44 : 

[n  any  piven  country  like  the  United  States,  where  the  people  are  substantially  homo- 
)0U8,  where  the  means  of  intercommunication  are  ample,  where  there  are  no  hereditary 
Lass  distinctions,  and  where  there  is  no  artificial  obstruction  to  prevent  commerce,  high 
3  of  wages  in  money  will  be  the  natural  and  therefore  necessary  result  of  low  cost  of 
luction  in  labor. 

Again,  on  page  46,  he  says : 

lence,  it  follows  that  although  the  total  production  of  any  given  thing  may  not  be  con- 
rated  at  the  very  best  point,  it  will  yet  be  found  to  be  true  that  where  the  conditions 
;he  best,  the  cost,  measured  in  terms  of  days  of  )abor,  will  be  lowest,  and  the  wages, 
3ured  in  terms  of  money  per  day,  will  be  the  highest,  the  high  money  wages  being  the 
'Ssary  consequence  of  the  low  labor  cost.  Conversely,  low  rates  of  money  wages  are 
latural  and  necessary  result  of  a  high  labor  cost  of  production. 

Now,  then,  **it  follows,"  he  says,  on  page  56, 

Chat  the  nation  which  has  diminished  the  quantity  of  human  labor  in  greatest  measure 
le  application  of  machinei-y  produces  goods  at  the  lowest  cost,  and  by  exchange  with, 
land  working  nations,  who  still  constitute  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  world,  is, 
-^ay  of  such  exchange,  enabled  to  pay  the  highest  rate  of  wages  in  money,  because  their 
la  are  made  at  the  lowest  labor  cost. 

In  order  to  prove  that  fact  Mr,  Atkinson  made  an  investigation  into  the  condi- 
of  two  old  manufacturing  houses  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire;  he  com- 
!d  two  periods — 1830  with  the  year  1884.  He  found  that  in  1830  the  wages  per 
im  were  $164  in  gold  to  each  operative.  This  increased  until  1884,  when  it 
unted  to  $290  in  gold. 

Now  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  labor  employed.  In  1830  the  total  number  of 
Is  of  cloth  produced  by  each  operative  was  4,321  pr r  annum,  while  in  1884, 
ily  by  the  aid  of  improved  machinery,  it  had  been  increased  to  28,032  yards, 
cost  of  the  labor  per  yard  was  1.09  cents  in  1830,  and  but  1.07  cents  in  1884. 
Let  us  now  reduce  these  diflferences  to  percentages  and  compare  them  in  that 
I.  There  was,  as  I  have  shown,  a  great  increase  in  the  productive  capacity  of 
.  operative,  but  there  was  a  decrease  in  operatives  per  thousand  spindles  of  60 
sent. 

The  pound  of  material  turned  out  by  each  spindle  or  operative  was  taken  as  a 
of  measurement,  and  Mr.  Atkinson's  table  shows  that  the  pounds  that  each 
die  turned  out  was  increased  22  p(  r  cent.,  and  the  pound  that  each  operative 
ed  out  in  a  day  had  increased  190  percect,;  the  pounds  that  each  operative 
ed  out  per  hour  increased  240  per  cent.  The  increase  of  wages  of  operatives 
(for  the  number  of  hours  were  made  less)  increased  240  per  cent.    The 


546  "a  condition — not  a  theory. 


I 


wages  of  the  operative  per  annum  had  increased  64  per  cent.,  and  per  hour  94  p( 
cent,  while  the  labor  cost  per  yard  had  decreased  41  percent.  The  other  horn 
showed  the  same  condition.  It  showed  that  productive  eflaciency  had  increased  i 
spindles  276  per  cent.,  in  pounds  per  operative  214  per  cent.,  while  wages  increase 
77  per  cent.,  and  labor  cost  per  yard  decreased  44  per  cent.  mt 

what  brought  ^bout  the  revolution.  ^i 

This  great  revolution  in  production,  wages,  and  cost  is  not  the  work  of  th 
tariff,  but  of  coal,  steam  and  machinery.  These  three  powerful  agents  have  pn 
duced  these  marvelous  results.  The  effects  inevitably  follow  the  cause — high  rat 
of  wages  because  so  much  more  service  is  rendered  the  employer,  low  cost  of  prodm 
because  so  much  more  is  done  in  a  given  time.  I  repeat  it,  the  tariff  has  ha 
nothing  to  do  with  bringing  about  the  great  change,  and  it  is  impotent,  utterl 
impotent,  to  increase  the  rate  of  wages. 

But,  Mr  Chairman,  I  want  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  a  statemer 
found  in  the  report  of  the  United  States  Census.  This  is  the  report  in  reference  t 
the  wages  in  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the  country,  and  I  call  special  atter 
tion  to  a  report  of  an  ex-manufacturing  establishment  in  Connecticut.  This  ger 
tleman  who  makes  the  report  compares  the  operations  of  his  house  from  his  book 
in  1840  with  1880.  In  steel  fitting,  in  ax  making,  each  operative  turned  out  60 
pieces  per  day  in  1840.  In  1880  each  operative  turned  out  1,250  pieces  per  daj 
Each  operative  received  in  1840  24  cents  per  hundred  pieces,  and  received  in  188 
20  cents  per  hundred  pieces.  He  earned  in  1840  $1.44  a  day,  and  in  1880,  though  h 
received  less  for  each  piece,  he  earned  $2.50  per  day. 

And  this  table  includes  all  the  different  parts  of  the  manufacture  of  the  ax- 
the  poll-making,  rough-polishing,  tempering,  finishing,  grinding,  painting,  backing 
etc.;  and  in  every  department  of  this  manufacture  in  making  axes  the  same  rule  i 
observed— that  is,  the  increased  productive  power  increases  the  wages  and  decrease 
the  cost  of  the  product.  That  follows  as  shadow  follows  substance,  as  night  follow 
day.  It  is  the  effect  following  the  cause.  It  is  the  cause  producing  the  effect— tha 
as  the  laborer  is  more  eflicient  and  more  valuable  to  his  employer,  he  is  entitle 
to  and  receives  more  pay.  He  receives  more  wages  by  the  day,  even  though  he  i 
paid  less  for  each  piece  of  work  he  turns  out. 

WAGES  AND  THE  LABOR  COST  COMPARED. 

Now,  was  the  increase  of  the  daily  wages  of  these  operatives  due  to  the  tariff 
Let  the  manufacturer  answer.  He  says:  "The  following  table  shows  the  results  o 
labor  saving  machinery,  together  with  the  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  labor  in  th 
manufacture  ol  axes,  from  1840  to  1880."  When  I  saw  these  tables,  proving  th 
principle  so  clearly  presented  and  so  strongly  enforced  by  Mr.  Atkinson,  I  went  t( 
our  very  able  and  efficient  chief  of  labor,  Carroll  D.  Wright,  and  asked  him  to  hav 
a  table  like  this  in  the  Census  Report  prepared,  and  to  send  an  intelligent  agent  inti 
some  of  the  oldest  houses  in  the  country  and  get  a  statement  from  their  books  an( 
send  it  to  me,  that  I  might  see  if  there  was  a  different  result  in  other  establishments 
I  now  give  you  the  testimony  of  those  houses  to  add  to  the  others. 

There  are  here  seven  establishments.  The  first  one  is  in  Massachusetts,  i 
comparison  is  instituted  between  1849  and  1884,  and  the  industry  is  cotton  prin 
cloth.  Each  operative  made  in  1839  in  this  factory  44-|  yards  per  day;  in  1884  h 
made  98.2  yards,  an  increase  of  productive  power  of  120  per  cent.  What  wages  die 
he  get  ?  The  average  daily  earnings  of  the  laborer  in  1849  were  66  cents,  and  ii 
1884  $1.  His  wages  increased  50  per  cent.  The  labor  cost  of  the  product  decreasei 
82  per  cent. 

In  that  same  establishment  in  1849  the  wages  of  weavers  were  65  cents  a  day 
and  each  man  turned  out  113  yards  of  cloth.  In  1884  the  wages  had  risen  to  $1.06 
and  each  weaver  turned  out  273  j^ards  of  cloth. 

In  the  second  house,  also  in  Massachusetts,  manufacturing  printed  cloths,  eacl 
laborer  in  1850  produced  42  yards ;  in  1884  he  produced  102  yards,  an  increase  o 
142  per  cent.  His  earnings  were  65  cents  a  day  in  1850  and  $1.05  in  1884.  Th( 
Increase  in  wages  was  61  per  cent.  The  decrease  in  the  labor  cost  of  the  article  wai 
33  per  cent. 


I 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  547 

The  third  house,  manufacturing  sheeting  in  Massachusetts,  showed  that  each 
borer  in  1852  produced  41  yards,  and  in  1886  73  yards  of  cloth.  His  productive 
Bciency  increased  77  per  cent.  His  wages  increased  49  per  cent.  Tlie  labor  cost 
"the  cloth  decreased  15  per  cent. 

In  the  fourth  house,  in  New  Hampshire,  manufacturing  print  cloth,  each  laborer 
1852  produced  42.5  yards  and  in  1886  103  yards.  The  increase  in  productive 
pacity  was  142  per  cent.  The  increase  in  wages  was  56.7  per  cent.,  and  the  labor 
'St  per  yard  decreased  35  per  cent. 

Without  going  all  through  these  figures  the  facts  as  to  each  one  of  these  houses 
ow  in  every  instance  that  the  productive  efficiency  of  the  laborer  had  increased, 
.d  that  corresponding  with  that  the  wages  had  increased  and  the  cost  of  the  pro- 
ict  had  decreased. 

HIGH  WAGES  MEAN  A  LOW  LABOR  COST. 

But  now  let  us  see  what  effect  a  reduction  of  the  duties  will  have  by  letting  in 
B  goods  of  England  and  other  foreign  countries  into  our  markets  to  compete  with 
r  people  and  to  endanger  the  laborers  of  our  country,  as  it  is  charged  it  will  do. 
ay  the  same  proposition  for  which  I  have  been  contending  is  demonstrated  again 
len  we  compare  the  laborer  of  this  country  with  the  laborer  of  England.  We 
Dduce  cheaper  than  in  England  because  a  high  rate  of  wages  means  low  cost  of 
^duct,  and  a  higher  rate  of  wages  means  lower  cost  of  product,  and  the  highest 
e  of  wages  means  lowest  cost  of  product. 

Mr.  Wright,  Chief  of  the  Labor  Bureau,  instituted  a  most  painstaking  examina- 
n  into  the  rates  of  labor  in  England  and  Massachussetts  a  few  years  ago,  and 
)wed  the  rates  of  labor  higher  in  this  country  than  in  England;  12  per  cent,  higher 
cotton  manufacture;  25  per  cent,  in  the  manufacture  of  woolens,  26  per  cent,  in 
n  and  steel,  128  per  cent,  in  boots  and  shoes.  That  would  seem  to  indicate, 
'ording  to  the  philosophy  which  has  been  taught  in  this  country  by  protectionists 
many  years,  that  we  are  on  the  road  to  ruin  because  our  rate  of  labor  is  higher 
n  in  England  and  other  countries.  But  the  reverse  of  that  proposition  is  true ; 
1  the  fact  that  the  rate  of  wages  is  higher  here  than  in  England  shows  that  Eng- 
d  is  distanced  in  the  great  industrial  contest  into  which  she  has  entered. 

Now  let  me  give  you  an  instance  here  in  boots  and  shoes.  If  we  pay  so  much 
her  wages  in  producing  boots  and  shoes,  if  the  proposition  we  hear  on  the  other 
3  be  true,  we  cannot  enter  into  any  contest  with  Great  Britain  when  we  pay  128 

cent,  higher  wages  than  she  does.  Yet  we  import  no  boots  and  shoes  at  30  per 
t.  duty  from  England.  We  make  the  cheapest  boots  and  shoes  and  the  finest 
3e  in  the  world.  In  that  England  cannot  contest  with  us;  and  the  fact  that  the 
3  of  wages  is  so  much  higher  here  than  in  England  shows  that  she  is  far  behind 
he  race. 

Let  us  see.  Here  is  a  gentleman  writing  in  Harper's  Magazine  in  1885,  a  very 
3  article  entitled  "A  pair  of  shoes."  He  takes  the  history  of  the  hide  from  the 
T  and  follows  it  through  all  its  mutations  into  the  finest  products  of  manufacture. 
8  is  not  an  article  on  wages;  but  it  contains  a  paragraph  on  wages.  Mr.  Howard 
vhall  is  the  writer.     He  says : 

American  ladies'  shoes  wholesaling-  at  $1.50  per  pair,  cost  for  labor  of  making:  25  cents, 
lish  ladies'  shoes  wholesaling  at  $1  50  per  pair,  cost  for  labor  of  making  3t  cents.  Amer- 
men'sshoes  wholesaling  at  |3,60  per  pair,  cost  for  labor  of  making  33  cents.  English 
's  shoes  wholesaling  at  3F3.60  per  pair,  cost  for  labor  of  making  50  cents.  In  the  report 
le  Massachusetts  bureau  of  statistics  for  1884  the  general  average  weekly  wage  in 
sachusetts  is  given  as  128.9  per  cent,  higher  than  in  Great  Britain.  The  general  aver- 
i    weekly  wage  in  Massachusetts  is  given  as  $11.63  per  week,  and  in  Great  Britain,  $5.08. 

Now,  what  is  the  solution  of  all  this?  What  does  it  mean?  In  Massachusetts 
'  es  are  12t?.9  per  cent.hieher  than  they  are  in  Great  Britain,  but  the  labor  cost  of 
I  ir  of  ladies'  shoes  in  Massachusetts  is  less  than  the  labor  cost  of  a  like  pair  of 
i  s  in  Great  Britain.  The  cost  is  25  cents  in  Massachusetts  against  34  cents  in 
1  land.  The  labor  cost  of  men's  shoes  in  Massachusetts  is  33  cents  per  pair;  the 
I  r  cost  of  men's  shoes  in  England  is  50  cents.  If  our  people  are  to  be  injured  by 
I  importation  of  English  shoes  into  this  country  the  English  shoe  must  be  pro- 
t  a  lower  cost  than  the  American  shoe;  otherwise  it  cannot  take  the  market. 


548  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

It  18  not  the  rates  of  wages  in  England  and  in  America  respectively,  $5.( 
against  $11,68,  that  we  have  to  consider,  but  it  is  the  labor  cost  of  a  pair  of  shoe 
Now,  the  man  holds  the  market  who  can  sell  his  goods  cheapest,  and  the  man  cs 
sell  cheapest  who  gets  his  goods  at  the  lowest  cost,  and  that  is  the  man  in  Mass 
chusetts.  What,  then,  does  this  difference  of  wages  mean,  $11.63  per  week  i 
Massachusetts  against  $5.08  in  England?  It  simply  means  increased  producti^ 
efficiency;  it  means  that  the  productive  efficiency  of  the  American  workman  engag( 
in  this  industry  is  greater  than  that  of  the  British  workman  by  128.9  per  cent. 

In  order  for  the  American  to  earn  his  $11.63  a  week  he  makes  35  pairs  of  men 
shoes  in  a  week  ;  the  Ent?lishman  to  earn  his  $5.08  a  week,  makes  10  pairs  of  men 
shoes.  In  order  for  the  American  workman  to  earn  his  $11.63  per  week  he  maki 
46  pairs  of  ladies'  shoes;  in  order  for  the  Englishman  to  earn  his  $5.08  per  week  I 
makes  15  pairs  of  ladies'  shoes.  The  tariff  did  not  make  the  American  workini 
man's  wages  $11  63  per  week.  It  was  the  number  of  shoes  he  made  that  regulatt 
his  wages,  and  superior  skill  in  using  machinery  gave  him  the  capacity  to  mat 
more  shoes  than  the  Englishman. 

Here  is  the  solution  of  the  whole  question,  and  the  principle  is  the  same  that 
have  been  supporting  all  along.  That  principle  in  that  the  higher  rate  of  wag( 
means  a  higher  productive  power  ;  it  is  increased  pay  for  increased  work ;  it  is  n( 
the  tariff;  it  is  more  work;  it  is  more  efficient  work ;  it  is  better  work ;  itischeape 
work.  It  is  that  that  holds  the  market;  and  it  holds  the  boot  and  shoe  market  ( 
this  country  against  the  importation  of  a  single  pair  of  shoes  from  Great  Britai) 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  wages  there  are  $5.08  a  week  as  against  $11.63  1 
Massachusetts. 

APPLIED  TO   THE  COTTON  MANUFACTURE. 

A  few  years  ago.in  1879,  our  English  friends  across  the  water  took  alarm  aboi 
the  growth  and  development  of  our  cotton  induttry  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
sent  an  expert — a  gentleman  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  cotton  business  ( 
England — to  the  United  States  to  make  a  thorough  and  searching  investigation  int 
the  whole  business  of  cotton  manufacture  in  this  country,  and  to  report  to  Ihei 
whether  their  industry  was  imperiled  by  that  of  the  United  States.  That  gentlema 
went  to  New  England,  the  seat  of  the  cotton  industry  in  this  country.  He  made 
thorough  and  searching  investigation,  and  in  every  instance  he  showed  that  "w 
■could  produce  cotton  goods  at  a  lower  labor  cost  than  they  could  be  produced  at  an 
point  in  Great  Britain .  I  have  here  the  tabular  statement  that  he  gave  to  his  pe( 
pie  when  he  returned.    . 

The  following  are  the  rates  of  wages  for  weaving  and  spinning  clotl 
in  some  of  the  principal  districts  of  England  and  America,  as  shown  by  his  repor 

A  piece  28  inches,  56  reeds,  14  picks  (?),  60  by  56,  58  yards,  costs  at  Ashtoi 
under-Lyne,  in  England,  24.68  cents  to  weave;  in  Rhode  Island  it  costs  16  82  cent 
At  Blackburn,  in  England,  it  costs  25.4  cents;  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  it  costs  172 
cents;  at  Stockport,  England,  25.4  cents;  at  Fall  River,  19.96  cents;  at  Hyde,  Ed{ 
land,  25  28  cents;  at  Lowell,  19  96  cents.  In  every  instance  the  labor  cost  of  tl 
production  of  the  cotton  goods  is  lower  here  than  in  England.  Now  let  us  turn  t 
the  summary.  At  Fall  River  the  wages  in  a  jiound  of  print  cloth,  about  7  yards, 
6.907  cents;  at  Lowell  It  is  6.882  cents;  in  Rhode  Island  it  is  6.422;  in  Penu sylvan! 
6.44;  in  England  6.96  cents.  In  every  place  in  the  United  States,  in  Pennsyli 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  the  labor  cost  of  producing  a  pound  of  print 
was  lower  than  at  any  point  in  England. 

Now,  Mr.  Chuirman,  when  we  come  to  look  at  the  last  column  of  these  fij, 
the  picture  changes.  What  do  we  find  when  we  come  to  look  at  the  total  produc 
with  the  cost  of  the  material  thrown  in,  and  all  the  other  elements  besides  labo; 
While  the  labor  cost  is  lowest  in  the  United  States,  where  the  rate  of  wages 
highest,  yet  when  we  come  to  examine  the  cost  of  the  material,  England  beats  u 
because  she  produces  the  goods  at  a  total  cost  lower  than  ours.  It  is  not  tl 
labor  that  causes  this  difference ;  it  is  the  cost  of  the  material.  The  machinei 
by  which  you  run  your  establishments  costs  you  45  per  cent.;  your  dye-stuffs  a; 
more  costly  than  in  England ;  all  these  things  which  enter  into  the  manufactui 


avani; 

fill 


J 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  54& 

of  goods  cost  more  here  than  on  the  other  side.  But  do  not  charge  this  increased 
•cost  to  labor.  You  are  not  paying  the  laborer,  in  proportion  to  the  work  that  he 
•does,  as  much  as  he  receives  in  England. 

Now,  when  we  come  to  look  at  the  total  cost  of  this  pound  of  calico  cloth  we  find 
that  at  Fall  River  it  is  14  cents  (leaving  off  fractions) ;  at  Lowell,  13  cents ;  in  Rhode 
Island,  11  cents;  in  Pennsylvania,  15  cents;  in  England,  12  cents.  England  pro- 
duces the  goods  at  a  total  cost  less  than  ours,  and  that  gives  her  the  market ;  but 
while  the  goods  cost  more  here,  she  pays  more  in  the  form  of  wages. 

Now,  when  this  gentleman  goes  back  home  after  this  general  survey  of  the 
whole  business  he  reports  to  his  people  elaborately.    This  is  his  language : 

.While,  however,  the  American  nation  heaps  duties  upon  the  import  of  foreign  machinery, 
thus  increasing  the  price  of  mill  construction,  and  In  other  wavs  by  her  tariff  arrangements 
artificially  raising  the  cost  of  production,  American  manufactures  will  continue  too  high 
in  price  to  compete  with  English  in  all  hut  exceptional  cases. 

Now,  this  statement  in  regard  to  the  cotton  industry  is  supported  by  a  state- 
ment from  Secretary  Blaine.  A  few  years  ago,  while  he  was  Secretary  of  State,  he 
said  in  his  report,  in  speaking  of  the  cotton  industry  : 

Undoubtedly  the  inequalities  in  the  wages  of  English  and  American  operatives  are  more 
than  equalized  by  the  greater  etiicipncy  of  the  latter  and  their  longer  hours  of  labor.  If  this 
should  prove  to  be  a  fact  in  practice,  as  seems  to  be  pmven  from  official  statistics,  it  will 
be  a  very  important  element  in  the  establishment  of  our  ability  to  compete  with  England  for 
our  share  of  the  cotton  trade  of  the  woria. 

COMPARATIVE   RESULTS  FROM  THE   SYSTEM. 

'  England  with  a  higher  rate  of  wages  exports  annually  into  Germany  cotton 
yarns  to  the  value  of  ten  to  eleven  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  over  a  duty,  if  I 
remember  rightly,  of  10  per  cent.  The  German  manufacturers  find  that  they  can 
buy  cotton  yams  cheaper  in  England,  where  the  rate  of  wages  is  much  higher  than 
In  Germany.  If  we  look  at  these  tables  we  will  see  the  reason.  Here  are  two  tables 
giving  the  labor  cost  and  whole  cost  of  spinning  cotton  yarns  of  any  number  from 
t  up  to  177.  One  is  the  cost  in  Alsace,  Germany,  and  the  other  in  England,  and 
they  show  that  in  every  number  the  labor  cost  and  the  whole  cost  per  pound  are 
:ess  in  England  than  in  Germany,  notwithstanding  the  higher  rate  of  wages  which 
is  paid  in  England. 

Is  it  the  tariff  that  makes  English  wages  higher  than  German  ?  Germany  has 
he  tariff  but  England  has  the  trade.  If  these  statements  are  true,  what  is  there  to 
prevent  us  from  being  the  greatest  manufacturing  and  exporting  country  of  the 
world?  We  are  the  greatest  agricultural  people  in  the  world.  We  exceed  all 
)thers  in  the  products  of  manufacture,  but  we  export  next  to  nothing  of  our 
)roduct.  Why  should  we  not  export  the  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions 
)f  cotton  goods  which  England  is  now  exporting  ?  She  buys  her  cotton  from  us, 
)ays  the  cost  of  transportation  to  her  factories,  makes  the  goods,  and  sends  them  all 
>ver  the  world.  That  trade,  at  least  the  most  of  it,  is  ours  whenever  we  get  ready 
0  take  it. 

IT  IS  NOT  AN  AMERICAN  POLICY. 

This  policy  which  is  being  pursued  now  may  for  awhile  satisfy  the  demands  of  the 
apitalist  who  has  money  invested  in  the  various  factories  and  enterprises  of  that 
ind  throughout  the  country.  They  may  be  able  by  the  aid  of  these  pools  and  trusts 
nd  combinations  which  seem  to  be  springing  out  of  the  earth  all  around  us  to  secure 
)r  a  time  the  capital  invested;  but  what,  I  ask  you,  is  to  become  in  the  mean  time 
f  the  poor  laborer  when  they  shut  off  their  fires,  when  they  turn  him  into  the 
:reets,  and  determine  that  they  will  limit  the  product  of  their  establishments  in 
rder  to  keep  up  prices  so  as  to  save  the  profits  on  their  investments  ?  What  is  to 
ecome  of  the  cotton  and  the  iron  and  the  wool,  and  all  of  the  other  interests  that 
epend  upon  capital  invested  in  manufacturing  enterprises  ?  Where  are  our  markets 
'hen  our  factories  are  closed,  when  the  wheels  are  siill,  when  the  fires  are  banked, 
ad  their  laborers  wandering  as  paupers  around  the  streets  seeking  employment, 
hich  is  not  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  land  ?    And  yet  they  call    this  the 

rican  policy. 


650  "A  CONDITION — NOT  A  THEORY." 

I  repel  it;  it  is  not  American.  It  is  the  reverse  of  American,  Thiat  policy  is 
American  which  clings  most  closely  to  the  fundamental  idea  that  underlies  our 
institutions  and  upon  which  the  whole  superstructure  of  our  Government  is  erected^ 
and  that  idea  is  freedom — freedom  secured  by  the  guaranties  of  government ;  freedom 
to  think,  to  speak,  to  write  ;  freedom  to  go  where  we  please,  select  our  own  occupa- 
tions ;  freedom  to  labor  when  we  please  and  where  we  please  ;  freedom  to  receive 
and  enjoy  all  ttie  results  of  our  labor;  freedom  to  sell  our  products,  and  freedom  to- 
buy  the  products  of  others,  and  freedom  to  markets  for  the  products  of  our  labor 
without  which  the  freedom  of  labor  is  restricted  and  denied.  Freedom  from 
restraints  in  working  and  marketing  the  products  of  our  toil,  except  such  as  may  be 
necessary  in  the  interest  of  the  Government.  Freedom  from  all  unnecessary  burdens ; 
freedom  from  all  exactions  upon  the  citizen  except  such  as  may  be  necessary  to 
support  an  honest,  efficient,  and  economical  administration  of  the  Government  that 
guarantees  him  protection  to  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  "  freedom 
from  all  taxation  except  that  which  is  levied  for  the  support  of  the  Government ; 
freedom  from  taxation  levied  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  favored  classes  by  the 
spoliation  and  plunder  of  the  people  ;  freedom  from  all  systems  of  taxation  that  do- 
not  fall  with  "  equal  and  exact  justice  upon  all' — that  do  not  raise  the  revenues 
of  government  in  the  way  that  is  least  burdensome  to  the  people  and  with  the  least 
possible  disturbance  to  their  business.    That  is  the  American  policy. 

TARIFF  AND  LABOR  COST  IN  BLANKETS  AND  FLANNELS. 

The  tariff  is  not  intended  to  and  does  not  benefit  labor.  The  benefit  of  the 
tariff  never  passes  beyond  the  pocket  of  the  manufacturer,  and  to  the  pockets  of 
his  workmen. 

I  find  in  this  report  one  pair  of  five-pound  blankets.  The  whole  cost  as 
stated  by  the  manufacturer  is  $2.51.  The  labor  cost  he  paid  for  making  them 
is  35  cents.  The  present  tarifi  is  $1  90.  Now,  here  is  $1.55  in  this  tarifi"  over 
and  above  the  entire  la}x)r  cost  of  these  blankets.  Why  did  not  that  manufac- 
turer go  and  give  that  money  to  the  laborer?  He  is  able  to  doit.  Here  is  a  tariff 
that  gives  him  $1.90  on  that  pair  of  blankets  for  the  benefit  of  his  laborer,  but 
notwithstanding  that  the  tariff  was  imposed  for  the  benefit  of  American  labor  and  to 
preserve  high  wages,  every  dollar  of  that  tariff  went  into  the  manufacturer's  pocket. 
The  poor  fellow  who  made  the  blankets  got  35  cents  and  the  manufacturer  kept 
the  $1.90. 

Mr.  Grain.  Will  the  gentleman  please  state  how  much  the  committee  ^L 
reduced  that  duty  ?  ^M 

Mr.  Mills.    To  $1.00  from  $1.90.  ■ 

Take  another  pair  of  5- pound  blankets.  The  total  cost  is  $2.70.  The  labor  cost 
is  70  cents.  The  tariff  is  $1.98.  Now,  how  strange  if  is  that  none  of  these  sums  that 
were  intended  for  the  laborer  ever  get  beyond  the  pocket  of  the  manufacturer. 
Why  is  it,  when  the  American  Congress  enacted  this  legislation  for  the  benefit  of 
our  labor,  that  every  dollar  of  this  aid  intended  for  labor  stops  in  the  pockets  of  the 
manufacturer,  who  goes  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and  hires  his  laborer  at  the 
lowest  price  for  which  he  can  get  him  in  the  market  and  then  pockets  the  tariff 
benefits  that  we  are  told  every  day  is  intended  for  the  laborer  alone— for  the  benefit 
of  labor. 

Here  is  another  pair  of  5-pound  blankets.  The  cost  is  $3.39.  The  labor  cost 
paid  by  this  manufacturer,  he  says  himself,  is  61  cents.  The  tariff  is  $2.55.  In  the 
pending  bill  we  have  left  him  $1.35,  and  we  have  left  the  other  man  $1.08.  And  we 
have  left  all  along  not  only  enough  to  cover  the  difference,  if  there  was  any  differ- 
ence, between  the  labor  cost  of  production  in  Europe  and  the  labor  cost  of  produc- 
tion in  this  country,  but  we  have  left  enough  to  pay  for  all  the  labor  and  a  bonus 
besides. 

Let  us  go  on  a  litttle  further.  Here  is  1  yard  of  flannel,  weighing  4  ounces;  it 
cost  18  cents,  of  which  the  laborer  got  3  cents ;  the  tariff  on  it  is  8  cents.  How  is  it 
that  the  whole  8  cents  did  not  get  into  the  pockets  of  the  laborer  ?  Is  it  not  strange 
that  those  who  made  the  tariff  and  fastened  upon  the  people  these  war  rates  in  a 
time  of  profound  peace,  and  who  are  now  constantly  assailing  the  Democratic  party 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY.'*  551 

luse  it  is  untrue  to  the  workingman,  did  not  make  some  provision  by  which  the 
generous  bounty  they  gave  should  reach  the  pocket  of  him  for  whom  they  said  it 
was  intended  ?  They  charge  that  we  are  trying  to  strike  down  the  labor  of  the 
country.  Why  do  they  not  see  thjit  the  money  they  are  takmg  out  of  the  hard 
earnings  of  the  people  is  delivered  in  good  faith  to  the  workman  ? 

One  yard  of  cassimere  weighing  16  ounces  costs  $1.38;  the  labor  cost  is  29 
cents;  the  tariff  duty  is  80  cents.  One  pound  of  sewing  silk  costs  $5.66;  the  cost 
for  labor  is  85  cents;  the  tariff  is  $1.69.  One  gallon  of  linseed  oil  costs  46  cents; 
the  labor  cost  is  2  cents ;  the  tariff  cost  is  25  cents.  One  ton  of  bar-iron  costs  $31 ; 
the  labor  cost  is  $10;  the  tariff  fixes  several  rates  for  bar-iron.  I  give  the  lowest 
rate,  $17.92.  One  ton  of  foundry  pig-iron  costs  $11 ;  the  labor  costs  $1.64 ;  the  tariff 
is  $6.72. 

WHERE   OTHER    RATES   GO. 

(Ct  US  take  Bessemer-steel  rails.  We  are  told  that  the  steel-rail  industry  is  in 
great  danger  of  utterly  perishing  away  and  departing  from  this  continent,  because 
we  propose  to  reduce  the  duty  from  $17  to  $11. 

The  whole  cost  is  put  down  at  $31,  the  labor  cost  at  $7.57;  the  tariff  is  $17. 
The  manufacturer  has  $9.43  more  for  each  ton  than  all  the  labor  cost.  The  labor 
cost  of  this  ton  is  exceptionally  high.  I  have  a  statement  of  the  labor  cost  of  a  ton 
of  steel  rails  at  Bethlehem,  Pa  ,  taken  recently  by  Mr.  Schoenof,  and  it  shows  labor 
cost  there  $3.85  per  ton.  The  labor  cost  of  a  ton  of  steel  rails  in  England  is  not  one 
dollar  cheaper  than  here.  Mr.  Schoenof  informs  me  that  a  ton  of  bar-iron  costs,  for 
labor,  in  England  about  $7.75,  and  here  about  $8.  But  let  us  leave  these  and  pro- 
seed  with  he  official  figures.  A  keg  of  steel  nails  costs  $2.34;  the  labor  cost  is  67 
3ents,  the  tariff  is  $1.25.  A  ton  of  pipe-iron  costs  $34.57 ;  labor  cost,  $12.26,  the  tariff 
is  $22.40. 

Here  is  a  car- wheel  weighing  500  pounds ;  cost  $13;  labor  cost  85  cents;  tariff 
rate  is  2^  cents  per  pound,  equivalent  to  $12.50,  to  cover  a  labor  cost  of  85  cents ! 
Why,  Mr.  Chairman,  these  laborers  of  ours  ought  to  get  immensely  rich  if  they  could 
^et  all  that  Congress  votes  to  them,  if  the  manufacturers  did  not  stop  the  bounties 
intended  by  the  Government  to  reach  the  pockets  of  the  workingmen. 

Here  is  a  coarse  wool  suit  of  clothes  such  as  our  working  people  wear  in  their 
iaily  toil  in  the  shop  and  field.  The  whole  cost  is  $12.  The  lalor  cost  is  $2.  The 
tariff  duty  is  40  cents  per  pound  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  As  the  weight  of  the 
suit  is  not  given,  we  cannot  get  the  exact  tariff,  but  the  duty  on  woolen  clothes 
imported  last  year  averaged  54  per  cent.,  and  at  that  rate  the  tariff  stands  $6.48  to 
jover  $2  of  labor  cost. 

A  cotton  suit  costs  $10.50 ;  the  labor  cost  is  $1.65 ;  the  tariff  is  $3.67.  A  dozen 
goblets  cost  48  cents:  the  labor  cost,  15  cents ;  tariff,  19  cents.  White  lead,  by  the 
tiundred  weight,  $9.50';  labor  cost,  50  cents ;  tariff,  $3.  A  hundred  weight  of  mixed 
paints,  $8 ;  labor  cost,  41  cents ;  tariff,  $2. 

^^  <^I'^E   LABOR   SOME   REAL   RELIEF. 

^MTow,  gentlemen,  the  time  has  come,  after  all  these  taxes  on  wealth  have  been 
^^t  away,  after  the  people  of  this  country  have  been  bearing  for  years  these 
jnormous  burdens  that  have  been  levied  on  the  necessaries  of  life;  now,  when 
'trusts,"  and  "combinations,"  and  "pools"  are  arising  all  around  us  to  limit  produc- 
ion,  to  increase  prices,  to  make  the  laborer's  lot  harder  and  darker — now  the  time 
las  come  for  us  to  do  something,  not  for  classes,  but  for  the  great  masses  of  our 
)eople. 

I  hope  and  trust  that  the  bill  which  we  have  presented  to  you  and  which  has 
net  with  favor  throughout  the  whole  country  will  receive  a  majority  of  your  votes, 
i  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  Senate,  and  become  a  law.  I  earnestly  hope  when 
ihe  Treasury  is  full  to  overflowing  of  the  people's  hard  earnings,  you  will  lighten 
heir  burden,  and  reduce  the  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Although  the  bill  we  propose  is  not  all  that  we  could  have  asked,  although  it  is 
I  very  moderate  bill,  yet  it  will  send  comfort  and  happiness  into  the  homes  and 
)osoms  of  the  poor  laboring  people  of  this  country,  and  I  ask  you  now  in  behalf  of 
hem  to  consider  their  claims  and  help  to  reduce  the  burdens  that  have  so  long  been 
lid  upon  their  shoulders. 


I 


513 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY. 


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THE  TWO  PERIODS  CONSIDERED  WITH  RESPECT  TO  LABOR  COST. 


Briods. 


1849-1884. 
!  1850-1884. 
11852-1886. 
1855-1886. 
1858-1886. 
1858-1887. 
1860-1886. 


State. 


Massachusetts . . 
Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts . . 
New  Hampshire 
Massachusetts.. 
Massachusetts.. 
New  York 


Increase 

in 
product. 


Fer  cent. 

120.6 

142.8 

77.0 

142.3 

113.3 

69.0 

54.4 


Increase 
in 


Fer  cent. 
50.0 
61.5 
49.2 
56.7 
42.9 
20.0 
38.0 


If  wages  of  first  period 
prevailed  in  second 
and  were  applicable 
to  product  of  sec 
ond,  the  following 
would  be — 


Labor 
cost  per 

unit  of 
measure. 


$0.006792 
0.006372 
0.009178 
0.006504 
0.328125 
0.059110 
1.311428 


Per  cent  of 
such  labor 
cost  of  la- 
bor cost  of 
first  period 


45.3 

41.2 
56.5 
41.2 
46.8 
59.1 
64.8 


Decrease 
of  labor 
cost  per 
unit  of 
measure. 


I'er  cent. 
32.0 
33.4 
15.7 
85.3 
38.3 
29.0 
10.6 


III. 


ffl^ 


IMPORTING  LABOR  UNDER  CONTRACT. 

TRIKES  HAVE  INCREASED  UNDER  OUR   SYSTEM  OP    TAXATION    AND    LABOR 
HAS  BEEN  IMPORTED  WITHOUT  LET  OR  HINDRANCE. 


From  the  Speech  of  Benton  McMiUin,  of  Tennessee.,  April  24, 1888. 

I  wish  to  quote  from  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  to  show  that 
enty -seven  years  of  alleged  protection  has  not  resulted  in  that  peace,  quiet,  and 
osperity  to  the  laborers  which  it  was  claimed  would  follow  it. 

In  the  six  years  from  1881  to  1886  there  have  been  strikes  in  23,336  establish- 
ents.  Of  these  16,692,  or  74.74  per  cent.,  were  in  the  States  of  New  York,  Penn- 
Ivania,  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  and  Illinois,  where  protection  is  claimed  to  have 
rought  such  wonders  for  the  laboring  man. 

There  were  lockouts  during  the  same  period  in  2,183  establishments.  Of  these 
)81,  or  90.8  per  cent.,  occurred  in  the  five  States  named.  The  number  of  employes 
•iking  and  involved  was  1,324,153.  In  addition  to  these  there  were  159,548 
iployes  locked  out,  31.23  per  cent,  of  whom  were  females.  ::zC^ 

Of  the  22,336  establishments  in  which  strikes  occurred,  the  strikes  in  18,343, 
82.12  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  were  ordered  by  labor  organizations ;  while  of  the 
.82  establishments  in  which  lockouts  occurred,  1,753,  or  80.34  per  cent.,  were 
dered  by  combinations  of  managers. 

Concerning  the  loss  to  employes  resulting  from  these  disturbances  the  report 


Understanding',  then,  the  difficulties  in  ascertainintr  the  exact  loss  of  employers  and 
iployes  as  resultlner  from  strikes  and  lockouts,  reference  may  be  had  to  the  summaries, 
lere  the  information  which  has  been  collected  is  grouped.  The  los^  to  the  strikers,  as 
7en  in  these  tables,  for  the  period  involved  was  $51,819  16;].  The  loss  to  employes  through 
Jkouts  for  the  same  period  was  $8,133,717 ;  or  a  total  wage  loss  to  employes  of  $59,951,880. 
lis  lo-^s  occurred  for  both  strikes  and  lockouts  in  24,518  establishments,  or  an  average 
}8  of  $2,445  to  each  establishment,  and  of  nearly  $40  to  each  person  involved. 


I 


554  "a  condition— not  a  theory. 

labor  conditions  not  satisfactory. 

Will  any  gentleman  say,  in  the  face  of  these  great  disturbances,  that  the  cc 
tion  of  the  labor  of  this  country  is  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  laborer  ?  Hj 
derived  that  unmixed  blessing  from  high  taxation  which  was  promised  hira  ? 
tendency  of  our  present  legislation,  I  regret  to  say,  is  to  make  millionaires 
paupers.  Under  the  lower  tariff  rates  of  years  gone  by,  when  taxation  wasimj 
to  carry  on  the  Government,  the  word  "  tramp"  was  not  daily  and  hourly  he 
The  Anarchist,  the  Socialist,  and  the  Communist  were  also  unknown  in 
midst. 

Our  rate  of  wages  is  higher  than  the  rate  in  the  Old  "World,  and  would  b 
under  any  tariff  law  that  we  would  impose.  If  tariffs  give  high  wages,  why  is  i 
that  labor  in  England  is  so  much  higher  than  it  is  in  France  or  Germany,  th' 
latter  countries  having  protective  tariffs  and  England  having  none  ?  Why  is  1 
that  our  manufacturing  journals  of  this  country  begin  to  declare  that  the  dange 
of  our  people  lies  in  the  cheap  labor  of  Germany  instead  of  the  cheap  labor  o 
England  ? 

With  the  highest  priced  labor  in  the  world,  we  send  over  their  tariffs  to  Ger 
many  and  France,  having  the  cheap  labor,  machinery,  stoves,  ranges,  hardware 
tools,  machine  needles,  mechanical  and  scientific  instruments,  cutlery,  fire-arms 
printing  presses,  locks,  hinges,  sewing  machines,  clocks,  watches  and  pianos,  an( 
so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  the  relation  I  find  that  the  more  labor  we  get  int( 
a  commodity  the  more  certainly  we  can  compete  successfully  with  the  old  country 
One  of  the  manufacturers  ol  pianos  alone  in  this  country  sends  five  hundred  pianl) 
per  annum  to  England. 

WHAT   THE   TARIFF  BILL  DOES. 


idWI 


The  bill  we  present  for  consideration  proposes  to  take  $878,000  off  of  chemi( 
$1,756,000  off  of  earthen  and  glassware;  $11,480,000  off  of  sugar;  $331,000  off  o 
provisions ;  $227,000  off  of  cotton  goods ;  $2,042,000  off  of  hemp,  jute,  and  flaj 
goods;  $12,330,000  off  of  woolens;  $3,000  off  of  books  and  papers, and $1,090,00( 
off  of  sundries.  It  is  also  proposed  to  add  to  your  free  list  flax,  hemp,  jute 
chemicals,  salt,  tin  plate,  wool,  and  other  things,  amounting  to  $22,189,000,  making 
in  all  a  tariff  reduction  of  $53,720,000.  It  proposes  to  make  reductions  in  th< 
internal  revenue  of  $24,455,000,  or  a  grand  total  of  tax  reduction  from  tariff  anc 
internal  revenue  sources  of  $78,176,000— more  than  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  to  everj 
Individual,  or  $6  for  every  family  in  the  United  States.  And  the  plain,  simple 
■question  presented  here  to  day  is  :  Will  we  take  this  burden  off  or  will  we  leave  il 
•on?  Will  we  free  commerce,  leaving  it  unshackled,  or  will  we  keep  it  hampered? 
Will  we  continue  to  hoard  up  a  corrupting  surplus,  or  will  we  leave  the  money  m 
the  pockets  of  the  people,  where  it  justly  belongs?  These  are  the  subjects  upoc 
which  we  are  to  act. 

WHAT  THE   PROTECTION  LEADERS  DID  FOR  LABOR. 

I  wish  to  compare  the  record  of  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Kelley] 
with  that  of  the  distinguished  President  of  the  United  States,  whose  message  he 
criticises.  Let  us  compare  their  action  on  one  subject  that  is  of  vital  importance  tc 
the  laboring  man,  and  see  if  we  can  not  get  some  additional  light.  The  gentleniaB 
from  Pennsylvania  was  a  member  of  Congress  in  1864,  and  on  the  anniversary  oi 
our  country's  liberty  an  act  was  passed  by  him  and  those  acting  with  him  which  has 
only  to  be  read  to  be  most  heartily  despised.  It  is  what  is  now  known  as  the 
"contract  labor  law."  There  was  a  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  forbade  the 
re-establishment  of  the  African  slave  trade,  but  this  opening  of  something  like  a 
Caucasian  slave  trade  was  made  legitimate  by  the  statute  which  I  send  to  the  Clerk't 
desk  to  be  read. 

Stc.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  contracts  that  shall  be  made  by  emigrants  tc 
the  United  States  in  foreign  countries,  in  conformity  to  regulations  that  may  be  established 
by  the  said  commissioner,  whereby  emigrants  shall  pledge  the  wages  of  their  labor  for  a 
term  not  exceeding  twelve  months,  to  repay  the  expenses  of  their  emigration,  shall  bo  held 
to  be  valid  in  law,  and  may  be  enforced  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  several 
States  and  Territories  ;  and  such  advances,  If  so  stipulated  lu  the  contract,  and  the  contract 


"a  condition — NOT  A  THEOKY."  555 

led  in  the  recorder's  office  in  the  country  where  the  emigrant  shall  settle,  shall 
erate  as  a  lien  upon  any  land  thereafter  acquired  by  the  Hmmifyrant,  whether  under  the 
mestead  law  when  the  title  is  consummated,  or  on  property  otherwise  acquired  until  liqui- 
:ed  by  the  emigrant;  but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  deemed  to  authorize  any 
itract  contravening  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  creating  in  any  way  the 
ation  of  slavery  or  servitude.    (U.  S.  Stats,  at  large,  vol.  15, 1863-'65.) 

Not  only  were  foreigners  to  be  brought  here  by  contract,  but  their  services  for 
'ear  were  made  liable  for  the  falfillment  of  the  contracts,  and  any  little  home 
lich  they  acquired  by  purchase,  or  even  under  the  homestead  act.  was  to  be  swept 
'ay  from  them  and  their  children  to  satisfy  the  rapacity  of  the  contractors  who 
mght  them  over.  Whenever  the  operatives  in  an  American  mine  or  at  an  Ameri- 
1  furnace  became  dissatisfied  with  their  wages  and  struck  for  better  pay,  all  that 
!  mine  or  furnace  owner  had  to  do  was  to  send  his  agent  abroad  to  the  densely 
pulated  regions,  to  the  poor  and  squalid  inhabitants  of  Russia,  Poland,  Italy,  or 
ler  oppressed  region,  contract  for  laborers  to  take  the  places  of  the  strikers,  and 
I  machinery  worked  smoothly  again.  Whole  colonies  of  American  citizens  have 
3n  swept  away  from  their  places  of  labor  in  this  manner. 

Who  was  it  that  originated  a  bill  repealing  this  law  ?  It  originated  in  a  Demo- 
,tic  House  of  Representatives.  Not  only  was  the  law  allowing  the  importation 
contract  laborers  repealed,  but  an  amendment  was  made  afterwards,  with  the 
)roval  of  President  Cleveland,  which  made  the  vessel  bringing  them  to  this  coun- 
liable  for  the  expense  of  transporting  them  back,  and  by  a  clause  I  offered,  which 
s  adopted,  if  it  failed  to  do  so,  prevented  it  from  entering  in  or  clearing  from  our 
•ts.  This  President  Cleveland  made  effective  by  his  approval.  I  leave  this  House 
ietermine  which  has  manifested  the  greatest  affection  and  which  has  bestowed  the 
atest  blessing  upon  the  laboring  man  in  this  case,  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
msylvaniaor  the  President  whose  message  he  criticises. 

I 

B  ANALYZING  THE  SCHEDULE. 

^nONS     HAVE    BEEN    80    MADE    AS    RELIEVE     LABOR    FROM     UNNECESSARY 
^K  BURDENS  NOW  IMPOSED. 

^^m     From  the  Speech  of  Clifton  B.  Breckinridge,  of  Arkansas,  May  17, 1888. 
^ff  tariff  is  divided  into'fourteen  great  schedules,  and  if  we  include  the  free- 
it  makes  fifteen.    These  schedules  are  : 

Schedule  A.— Chemical  products. 

Schedule  B.— Earthenware  and  glassware. 

Schedule  C— Metals. 

Schedule  D.— Wood  and  wooden  ware. 

Schedule  E.— Suirar. 

Schedule  F.— Tobacco. 

Sch'dule  G.— Provisions. 

Schedule  H.— Liquors. 

Schedule  I.— Cotton  and  cotton  goods. 

Schedule  J.— Hen^p,  jute  and  flax  goods. 

Schedule  K.— Wool  and  woolens. 

Schedule  L.— Silk  and  silk  goods. 

Schedule  M  —Books,  paper,  etc. 

schedule  N.— Sundries. 

Che  free-list. 

THE  DUTY  ON   SILK  GOODS   UNCHANGED. 

Take  Schedule  L,  that  of  silk  and  silk  goods,  and  let  us  examine  into  the 
iges  we  have  made  and  the  rain  we  have  wrought  here,  as  alleged  by  the 
ority  of  the  committee.  Under  this  head  there  were  382  productive  estab- 
its  in  1879,  as  shown  by  the  census  of  1880.      There  is  subject  to  ruin  a 


656  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

capital  of  over  $19,000,000;  over  9,000  men,  16,000  women,  and  5,000  childr^ 
total  of  31,335  hands,  are  to  be  deprived  of  employment  that  "adds  to  our  nation, 
wealth"  over  $41,000,000  of  products  every  year — "the  business  is  larger  now — ar 
their  earnings  were  $9,146,705.  What  happy  homes  are  destroyed !  What 
doleful  picture  we  have  of  the  hum  of  industry  hushed  and  the  great  lactorii 
standing,  grim  monuments  of  disaster  and  of  Democratic  folly.  We  have  m 
changed  a  classification  or  lowered  a  single  rate.  We  have  not  touched  tl 
schedule.  In  the  matter  of  gloves  made  of  silk,  and  that  might  have  been  involve 
elsewhere,  we  took  particular  pains  to  keep  tbem  at  the  50  per  cent,  rate  laid  upc 
the  general  merchandise  of  this  schedule. 

NOTHING  IN   THE   DIRECTION   OF   CHEAP   WHISKEY.  V 

I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  another  schedule  that  we  k 
said  to  have  mutilated  and  to  other  industries  that  we  are  said  to  have  pickled  ft 
an  evil  day.  There  is  Schedule  H,  relating  to  liquors.  The  industries  under  th 
head  exist  or  cease  to  exist  under  our  "home  rule"  system  of  government  as  tl 
people  in  the  respective  States  preler.  When  a  State  permits  its  people  to  make  ( 
consume  such  products  they  are  subject  to  Federal  taxation,  and  the  Democrat 
members  of  the  committee  are  very  partial  to  taxing  these  products  rather  tha 
the  necessities  of  life.  This  schedule  embraces  distilled,  malt  and  vinous  liquo; 
and  some  other  products,  such  as  ginger  ale,  etc.  A  great  many  working  peop 
are  employed  in  these  industries. 

Without  going  into  a  complete  summary,  I  may  say  that  in  1879  there  wei 
over  3,000  establishments  producing  distilled  spirits,  malt  liquors  and  vinous  pr( 
ducts.  They  gave  employment  to  more  than  32,000  people,  and  the  wages  pa: 
exceeded  $15,000,000.  The  capital  employed  was  nearly  $120,000,000.  Apart  fro; 
any  question  of  merit,  our  Republican  colleagues  on  the  committee  unite  in  makir 
this  schedule  no  exception  in  their  general  statement  of  ruin.  They  do  not  specr 
the  particulars.  We  can  not  blame  them  for  that.  We  can  only  blame  them  ft 
making  the  statement  at  all,  for  the  schedule  is  not  touched. 

ANALYSIS  OP   THE   TOBACCO   SCHEDULE. 

Then  there  is  the  tobacco  schedule — Schedule  F— one  of  the  great  schedule 
and  covering  one  of  the  great  lines  of  industry  of  the  people.  Foreigners  wi 
buy  up  our  tobacco,  ship  it  to  Europe  for  say  three  or  four  dollars  a  ton,  ocea 
freight,  work  it  into  the  various  forms  fit  for  use,  having  pauper  labor,  and  und 
the  destruction  of  rates  that  we  are  said  to  have  made  they  will  bhip  it  back  here  at 
less  rate  of  freight,  for  return  freight  is  all  "ballast,"  and  they  will  deprive  oi 
people  of  this  work.  Seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four  establisl 
ments  are  going  to  ruin;  $40,000,000  of  capital  will  be  idle  to  supplement  the  surpli 
in  the  Treasury;  87,587  hands,  including  20,000  women,  and  more  than  11,0( 
children,  who  now  find  honest  and  cheerful  employment  manufacturing  the  ga 
brands  of  tobacco,  are  going  to  be  sent  to  the  poor-house.  It  is  a  terrible  state  > 
aflairs.  The  changes  we  have  made  in  this  schedule  and  aflecting  the; 
industries  will  stop  the  current  of  $25,000,000  of  yearly  wages  now  dispense^ 
It  makes  a  man  who  loves  his  country— and  only  Republicans  love  our  country- 
shudder. 

The  $17,000,000  internal  revenue  tax  on  tobacco  that  we  repeal  will  help  tl 
industry.  They  all  say  that.  Giving  the  cigarmakers  Sumatra  wrappers  at  l 
cents  a  pound  instead  of  75  cents  a  pound  tax  will  help  them.  They  all  say  tha 
Then  so  far  we  have  helped  them  by  universal  consent.  The  last  feature  is  a  tari 
change.     What  are  the  changes  which  are  going  to  produce  the  stated  ruin? 

DEALING   WITH  THE   CHEMICAL   SCHEDULE. 

Let  us  take  schedule  A — that  of  chemicals.  This  is  the  most  intricate  ar 
diflBcult  schedule  that  we  have.  It  covers  a  multitude  of  industries  of  the  mo 
scientific  character.  By  the  census  of  1880  we  had  592  manufacturing  establisl 
ments  with  a  capital  of  nearly  $30,000,000.    They  employed  9,515  people.    Th( 


I 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  657 

57,163  in  wages,  and  their  product  was  |38,173,658.  Sir,  the  wage  per 
.  of  their  product  is  10  per  cent ,  and  we  leave  on  the  articles  that  we  touch  an 
age  duty  of  over  22  per  cent.,  which  is  more  than  twice  as  much  as  all  the  labor 
3  is  in  them;  and  yet  the  gentlemen  of  the  minority  fail  to  omit  the  chemical 
dule  from  their  prediction  of  the  general  ruin  which  they  say  this  bill  will  i/iflict 
1  every  industry  in  the  country. 

Look  a  moment  further  at  the  chemical  industry.  The  cost  of  material  in  ISTd" 
$24,880,566,  making  $28,537,729  for  labor  and  material.  Take  this  from  the 
uct,  and  we  have  a  net  profit  of  $9,535,929.  In  these  figures  interest  on 
;al,  cost  of  maintaining  plant,  and  every  form  of  expense  has  been  included. 
!,  then,  is  a  profit  of  33  per  cent,  in  their  sales  over  and  above  all  this  Our 
of  duty  on  all  dutiable  imports  of  chemicals  last  year  was  35  per  cent.  In  187^ 
IS  within  a  small  fraction  of  32  per  cent.  They  collected  from  the  people  and 
ned  in  the  pockets  of  the  proprietors  every  cent  of  the  protection  and  1  per 
of  profit  on  top  of  it,  which,  according  to  the  usual  mode  of  computation,  is^ 
let  profit,  as  I  have  just  set  forth,  that  they  would  have  made  if  there  had  been- 
rotection.  They  would  have  made  more  than  1  per  cent,  under  free  trade  after 
ag  the  wages  they  did  pay,  for  many  articles  taxed  were  of  the  nature  of  raw- 
rial  to  them. 

protecting  labor  in  earthenware. 

[  wish  to  cite  only  two  or  three  points  in  relation  to  the  earthenware  schedule- 
business,  too,  according  to  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  is  to  be  consigned  to- 
by this  bill.  It  is  an  industry  of  very  considerable  importance.  The  data, 
icting  this  schedule  is  not  consolidated,  nor  can  it  well  be.  We  can,  however, 
ider  representative  features  of  it  without  going  too  much  into  detail.  A& 
'n  by  the  census  returns  of  1880,  the  per  cent,  of  labor  in  the  drain  and  sewer 
business  was  23  ;  in  brick  and  tile,  40 ;  in  stone  and  earthenware,  40 ;  in  glass, 
Jtained  and  ornamented,  27,  and  in  other  glass,  43.  We  leave  49.21  per  cent. — 
lore  than  all  the  labor  there  is  in  any  branch  of  the  business.  The  basket 
e  of  the  bill  is  40  per  cent.,  whereas  under  the  act  of  1861  it  was  only  30  per 
Those  are  the  general  facts  relative  to  this  industry.  We  leave  room  for  the- 
ifacturers  to  charge  extra  to  the  consumers  under  this  schedule  more  than  all 
is  paid  out  for  wages,  and  yet  our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  say 
iv^ill  not  cover  the  difference  between  wages  paid  here  and  abroad. 

DEALING  with  THE  METAL  SCHEDULE 

[  pass  next  to  the  consideration  of  the  metal  schedule.  In  1880  there  were  in? 
sundry  and  machine-shop  business  145,000  hands ;  the  wages  paid  were  over 
'00,000 ;  the  product  over  $214,000,000,  the  wage  element  being  32  per  cent,  of 
)roduct.  If  we  had  left  16  per  cent.,  or  the  half  of  32  per  cent.,  perhaps  it 
d  have  coverea  the  difi'erence  between  the  cost  of  production  in  this  country 
m  foreign  countries ;  but  out  of  abundant  caution  we  have  left  over  43  per 
,  which  is  11  per  cent,  more  than  all  the  labor  in  the  business.  Yet  gentlemen 
the  boldness  to  say  that  this  does  not  cover  the  difference  in  wages. 
'n  the  iron  and  steel  industry  there  were  employed  140,000  hands,  and  there- 
iisbursed  $55,000,000  in  wages.  The  average  percent,  of  labor  in  the  produci 
;  and  we  leave  over  43  per  cent.,  leaving  still  enough  to  permit  an  immense 
rgo  upon  the  consumption  of  the  products  of  labor,  a  heavy  burden  upon 
ers  in  iron  and  users  of  iron.  Gentlemen  take  a  weak  position,  weak  in. 
'  sense,  when  they  say  they  only  want  enough  protection  to  cover  the  dif- 
ce  in  wages  in  a  particular  industry.  Every  one  can  see  that  the  rates  we- 
are  generally  far  in  excess  of  all  the  labor  in  the  particular  industry.  The 
let  of  one  industry  often  constitutes  the  base  or  raw  material  of  another 
itry.  The  first  product  is  raised  in  price  by  the  protective  tax  laid  for  it, 
3specially  if  the  tax  be  specific  a  higher  rate  must  be  laid  upon  the  latter 
bsequent  product.  To  admit  this  is  to  admit  what  our  opponents  absurdly 
,  that  protection  does  not  enhance  the  price  of  the  domestic-made  article. 
J  first  tax  does  not  raise  the  price,  why  do  you  place  the  subsequent  tax 
f  beyond  the  entire  cost  of  the  labor  in  it  ? 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY. 


In  the  tinware  industry  the  wage   per    cent,    is   22 ;  and  we  leave 
vnth  free  tin,  and  yet  gentlemen  say  that  there  is  not  left  room  for  the  lab( 
to  get  his  hire.    I  think  it  certain  that  with  free    trade    in    tinware,  to  pre:? 
•combinations,  the  workmen  would  do  more  and  get  more  than  they  nowj ' 


THE  TARIFF   ON  LUMBER  AND  ITS  PRODUCT?. 


J 

tO^ 


AVJUU 

)e^| 


As  to  the  wooden  and  woodenware  schedule,    a    fair    index    is  to 
furniture  business.    In  that  industry  there  were  in  1880  59,000  hands,  to' 
were  disbursed  more    than    $23,000,000    in    wa(^es.    The    product    was  roun 
^77,000,000  of  goods.    The  wage  per  cent,  is  30;  and  we  leave  a    30    pej 
rate  of  protection,  which,  in  covering  all  the  wages  paid,  certainly  cover " 
difference  of  wages  between  tliis  country  and  foreign  countries. 

In  planed  lumber  we  leave  precisely  the  rate  of  protection  that  exists  # 
the  present  law,  simply  taking  off  that  upon  the  rough  lumber. 

It  should  be  remembered  also  that  in  these  bulky  products  distance  and  frei 
-alone  constitute  adequate  protection,  as  is  shown  by  their  extensive  existence  in 
West,  where  wages  are  high,  while  often  in  the  Eastern  States  WEiges  are  m 
more  beL-)w  the  Western  standard  than  in  Europe  they  are  below  our  East 
standard. 

THE   SUGAR  REPINING  INDUSTRY. 

I  wish  to  pass  rapidly  to  a  brief  consideration  of  the  general  features  of 
-sugar  schedule.  The  sugar-refining  industry  is  an  important  one.  In  1880,  th 
were,  exclusive  of  plantation  refining,  49  establishments  in  that  business  in  1 
•country,  with  a  capital  of  $27,000,000,  with  nearly  6,000  hands,  and  a  disbursem 
of  nearly  $3,000,000  in  wages. 

The  labor  is  only  one  eighth  of  1  per  cent,  of  the  product.  The  question  is 
we  have  a  duty  upon  raw  sugars,  whether  we  leave  a  sufficient  margin  between 
tax  on  the  raw  sugar  and  the  tax  on  the  refined  grades  of  sugar  to  cover  the  dii 
ences  between  the  cost  of  refining  in  this  country  and  the  cost  abroad.  Under 
present  law  the  tax  on  sugar  not  above  No.  13  Dutch  standard  of  color  anc 
degrees  of  saccharine  strength  is  1.40  cents  per  pound.  For  each  additional  de^ 
the  tax  is  04  of  a  cent  per  pound.  What  is  called  the  working  base  in  the  suf 
-refining  industry  is  No.  13  sugar,  or  sugar  below  13,  with  90  degrees  of  sacchai 
strength.  The  present  tax  on  that  is  2  cents  a  pound.  The  present  tax  for 
first  grades  of  refined  sugar,  those  between  13  and  16,  is  now  2  cents  per  pou 
between  16  and  20,  a  higher  grade  of  refined  sugar,  the  tax  is  3  cents  a  pou 
above  20  (and  at  20  you  reach  about  the  grade  of  granulated  sugar)  the  tax  i^ 
cents  a  pound. 

But  I  must  not  dwell  too  long  on  this  feature.  We  have  sought  to  reduce 
sugar  tax,  say  $11,000,000.  The  reduction  is  a  little  more:  and  then  by  m 
largely  reducing  the  margin  of  the  refiners  we  have  sought  to  also  reduce  whs 
may  call  the  subsidy  tar.  Of  course  the  tax  on  raw  sugar  affords  a  subsidy  to 
Louisiana  sugar  planters.  They  will  lose  about  $2,500,000  of  their  subsidy, 
while  the  margins  to  the  refiners  are  at  present  75  cents,  II  and  $1.50  a  hundred 
refining,  we  make  them  in  this  bill  in  this  way :  We  take  off  20  per  cent.  instea< 
merely  twenty  points  from  eaci'  grade.  This  makes  a  deeper  cut  in  the  hig 
•grades.  No.  13,  of  75  degrees,  is  proposed  at  1.15  cents,  and  each  additional  de^ 
.032  cent.  This  makes  No.  13,  of  90  degrees,  taxed  at  1.63  cents.  From  No.  li 
No.  16  it,  would  be  2.20  cents.  Between  No.  16  and  No.  20  it  would  be  2  40  ce 
Above  No.  20  it  would  be  2  80  cents  This  leaves  margins  respectively  of  57  C( 
per  100  pounds  instead  of  75  cents,  77  cents  per  100  instead  of  $1,  and  $1.17  inst 
of  $1  50;  or  reductions  of  margins  of  18,  23,  and  37  cents  per  100  pounds 
refining. 

DEALING   WITH  COTTON  INDUSTRIES. 

The  cotton  schedule  deals  with  a  very  important  part  of  our  domestic  im 
tries.  According  to  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  we  are  going  to  ruin  them 
We  had  in  1880  1,005  cotton  mills  in  this  country  ;  capital.  $219,000,000;  hai 
180,000;  wages,  $45,000,000;  product,  $210,000,000;  and  the  average  rate  of  Wi 


I 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  55^ 

a  day,  counting  three  hundred  working  days  to  the  year,  and  the  wage  per 
.  of  the  product  was  21  per  cent. 

There  is  not  a  rate  in  the  schedule  lower  than  35  per  cent.  I  submit,  Mr^ 
irman,  that  35  is  greater  than  21,  however  stoutly  the  other  side  may  deny  itj^ 
I  also  submit  that  35  is  greater  than  some  figure  less  than  21,  wbicli  is  what 
now  tell  the  House  and  the  people  is  not  true.  If  the  House  will  believe  that 
greater  than  21,  and  also  greater  than  some  sum  less  than  21,  then  the  ques- 
as  to  the  safety  of  the  proposed  rate  is  settled. 

The  tax  now  on  costly  cotton  cloths,  laces,  etc.,  is  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  We 
J  it  just  as  it  is.  The  rates,  however,  on  cheaper  cloths  are  specifics.  I  hold" 
y  hand  samples  of  crinoline  cloths,  low-priced  goods,  involving  but  little  labor 
jared  with  the  cloths  taxed  40  per  cent.,  and  that  enter  into  the  dressmaking 
stry,  and  these  goods  are  taxed  under  the  specifics  at  from  68  to  137  per  cent, 
correct  this  inequality  and  injustice  to  consumers  and  dressmakers  and  put  the 
it  the  same  rate  as  it  now  is  upon  fine  cloth— 40  per  cent.  Dresses  are  taxed 
Dm  35  to  50  per  cent,  now  by  law;  that  is,  cotton  and  silk.  Should  we  leave 
material  taxed  137  per  cent.?  Some  dress  linings  are  now  taxed  158  per  cent, 
)  are  mulls  and  tarltons.  The  cheaper  goods  are  taxed  as  high  as  110  per  centf 
ufactures  out  of  them  are  taxed  35  per  cent.  This  inequality  has,  we  are  told, 
•oyed  therufiling  industry  here;  and  whether  it  has  or  not,  it  is  unjust  to  the 
le  employed  in  it  and  unjust  to  consumers.  We  make  the  rate  the  same  as- 
fixed  by  law  for  fine  goods — 40  per  cent.  Here  are  sleeve  linings  taxed  70  per 
,  the  raw  material  of  made-up  goods  taxed  35  per  cent,  and  along  there.  I& 
just?  What  inequalities  do  the  other  side  propose  to  correct,  and  how,  when 
have  the  boldness  to  denounce  us  for  proposals  like  these  ? 

the  duty  on  starch  and  mustard. 

Now,  there  are  some  manufactures  in  the  provision  schedule  which  the 
)rity  prophesy  will  be  ruined  by  the  pending  bill.  There  is  very  little  upon 
schedule  that  we  touch.  There  is  starch  and  mustard,  with  two  or  three  other 
ucts  in  their  natural  state.  In  the  starch  industry,  which  substantially  covers 
:round,  our  capital  in  1880  was  a  little  over  $.5,000  000.  They  employed  3,11^ 
s;  their  wages  were  $919,197;  their  product  was  $7,477,742.  The  per  cent, 
labor  got  of  the  product  was  a  little  over  12,  We  leave  rates  of  40  and  47  per 
We  then  leave  a  subsidy  on  starch  sufficient  to  pay  all  the  laborers  now  get 
y  four  times  over,  and  yet  gentlemen  say  room  is  not  left  to  pay  them.  This 
a  level  with  their  other  statements. 

3ur  exports  of  siarch  last  year  were  over  7,000,000  pounds.  We  sent  over 
,000  pounds  to  England,  and  over  3,000,000  pounds  to  the  Netherlands,  and  over 
00  pounds  to  Germany.  It  will  appear  from  this  that  here  in  this  country,  at 
6at  of  the  supply  of  corn  and  potatoes,  the  raw  material  for  this  manufacture, 
re  at  the  place  to  make  starch  cheaper  than  anywhere  in  the  world,  and  cer- 
y  we  would  not  export  these  vast  quantities  abroad  were  it  not  that  we  can 
rsell  the  foreign  maker  on  his  own  grounds. 

THE  DUTY  ON  FLAX  AND  ITS  PRODUCTS. 

Touching  the  hemp,  jute  and  flax  schedule,  our  imports  in  1887  were  over 
00,000,  our  receipts  over  $7,000,000,  and  the  rate  of  duty  over  34  per  cent.,  and 
iverage  rate  now,  as  proposed  by  this  bill,  is  24  per  cent.  In  the  linen-goods 
jh  of  this  business  the  per  cent,  of  labor  is  27.  In  order  to  protect  this 
•  we  need  to  cover  the  difference  between  the  27  and  some  lesser  amount 
is  received  in  competing  countries.  We  leave  25  per  cent.  As  we  give 
free  flax  and  leave  them  25  per  cent.,  we  believe  that  the  protection  is  not 
adequate  to  take  care  of  the  labor,  but  also,  if  it  be  charged  in  full  by  the 
ifacturer,  to  constitute  a  serious  restriction  upon  the  sales  of  the  products  of 

.n  the  matter  of  collars  and  cuflfs  we  leave  the  present  rate  of  35  per  cent. 
is  an  industry  that  has  been  discriminated  against  by  the  high  rate  of  tax- 
heretofore  upon  the  cheaper  grades  of  cotton  goods.     That  inequality  has 


€60  "a  condition — NOT  A  THEORY. 


been  wholly  or  substantially  removed,  and  we  put  this  industry  upon 
basis  than  it  has  occupied  heretofore. .  It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  rate  on" 
linen-goods  industry  up  to  July  14,  18B2,  was  30  per  cent.,  but  at  that  time  t 
had  a  tax  of  $15  a  ton  on  flax  dressed  and  undressed.  Now  we  give  them 
rate,  as  stated,  at  25  per  cent,  and  remove  the  tax  off  of  the  raw  material,. 
the  linen-thread  industry,  with  a  tax  of  |115  a  ton  on  flax,  there  was  a 
protection  of  30  per  cent.    We  now  give  them  free  flax  and  25  per  cent. 


WHAT  WAS  THOUGHT  ENOUGH  IN  1867. 


I  want  to  if^ad  for  the  information  of  our  friends  upon  the  other  side 
'House,  who  insist  that  we  are  reckless  in  our  legislation,  that  this  is  going  tor 
the  woolen  industries,  what  the  representatives  of  those  industries  said  in  reg 
to  rates  in  1867,  when  they  needed  protection  more  than  they  need  it  now,  but : 
not  advanced  to  the  high  demands  which  now  seem  to  characterize  them.  T 
said,  through  their  committee,  in  their  communication  to  the  Internal  Revenue  C( 
■missioner  in  1866 : 

The  provisions  proposed  by  the  committee  and  rendered  necessary  by  the  propc 
change  of  the  duties  on  wool  aim  to  accomplish  two  objects  ;  first,  to  fix  the  specific  du 
■  at  rates  which  shall  be  simply  compensatory  for  the  duties  on  wool  and  other  material, 
secondly,  to  establish  an  ad  valorem  duty  which,  besides  providing  for  the  revenue  taj 
manufactures,  shall  leave  the  importer  simply  the  net  protection  of  25  per  cent.  With  8( 
exceptions,  the  reasons  for  which  will  be  specially  explained  hereatter,  the  ad  valoi 
duties  on  manufactures  of  wool  and  worsted  goods  are  fixed  at  35  per  cent.,  10  per  C( 
being  fixed  as  an  equivalent  for  the  internal-revenue  tax  of  6  per  cent,  on  manufacti 
and  on  articles  consumed  in  manufacturing,  and  25  per  cent,  as  protection  to  the  manul 
turer.  That  10  per  cent,  is  not  more  than  an  equivalent  for  the  6  per  cent,  revenue  tax ' 
appear  from  considering  that  the  customs  duty  being  levied  on  the  foreign  value,  and 
internal  tax  oit  the  home  value  a  larger  percentage  of  the  former  than  of  the  latter  m\ 
required  to  make  a  given  sum. 

To  state  a  case  for  illustration,  quite  closely  conformable  to  present  home  and  fore 
values  :  A  yard  of  cloth  sells  noAV  in  our  market  for  $2.50,  which  would  cost  abroad  o 
$1.50.  In  that  case  exactly  10  per  cent,  customs  duty  would  be  required  on  the  latter  san 
equal  the  6  per  cent,  internal  tax  on  the  former. 

In  the  case  taken  the  10  per  cent,  would  not  be  a  whole  equivalent  for  the  interr 
revenue  tax,  for  such  tax  must  also  be  paid  on  articles  used  in  manufacturing. 

This  shows  that  in  an  earlier  state  of  the  infancy  of  this  ancient  industry  ■ 
manufacturers  themselves  declared  that  all  the  protection  they  needed  was  25  j 
cent. 

THE  CHAKGE  OF  SECTIONALISM  ANSWERED. 

They  say  we  put  Northern  wool  on  the  free-list  and  lightly  touch  Southt 
rice.  Let  us  look  at  the  sectional  character  of  the  wool  tax.  In  the  South( 
States,  including  Maryland,  the  Virginias,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  and  all  i 
country  south  of  these  States,  and  not  going  farther  west  than  Arkansas  and  Tez 
there  are  876  560  square  miles.  In  1875  the  number  of  sheep  in  this  vast  terrik 
was  5,420,000.  In  1887  the  number  was  9,428,953 ;  showing  that  in  this  section 
our  country  the  sheep  had  increased  nearly  100  per  cent.  Those  of  us  who  i 
familiar  with  the  climate  and  soil  of  this  vast  area  of  our  country  know  that  it 
peculiarly  well  adapted  for  stock-raising,  and  especially  for  raising  sheep.  Far  1 
greater  part  of  our  mountain  area  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  in  this  section. 

Now  let  us  compare  this  with  the  States  that  we  are  said  to  have  dealt  with 
an  unfriendly  spirit.  The  Northern  States  most  frequently  mentioned  in  this  C( 
nection  are  the  New  England  States,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  a 
Ohio.  They  have  a  combined  area  of  209,590  square  miles,  a  great  deal  less  ter 
tory  than  there  is  in  the  single  State  of  Texas  alone.  In  these  Northern  wool-gro 
ing  States  there  were  in  1875,  9,830,100  sheep.  In  1887  they  had  8,580,526  shei 
showing  a  falling  off"  of  nearly  1,000,000  in  number,  or  more  than  10  per  cent.,wh 
our  Southern  part  of  the  country  showed  an  increase  of  over  4,000,000,  or  nearly  1 
per  cent. 

WHEN  WILL  PROTECTION  BRING   THE  HOME  MARKET? 

What  is  the  feature  of  a  home  market  ?  Does  your  war  policy  lessen  expoi 
and  hence  lessen  our  dependence  upon  foreign  consumption?  If  so,  how  does 
<work?    In  1850  we  exported  roundly  $13,000,000  in  grain  and  breadstuffs. 


I 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  561 

was  $24,000,000.  This  was  under  a  low  tariff.  You  said  shocking !  See 
I )  increase !  Let  us  consume  all  this  at  home.  Let  us  hire  people  to  eat  our  grain 
I  i  flour.  Some  foolish  farmers  thought  it  a  good  plan  to  hire  people  to  eat  their 
\  iff,  so  they  pat  high  prices  on  the  goods  they  had  to  buy  so  as  to  increase  their 
n  consumption  of  such  goods,  and  thus  hire  a  new  lot  of  men  to  come  here  to 
,ke  the  extra  goods.  Of  course  this  made  consumption  and  production  relatively 
8  than  ever.  It  then  impaired  relatively  tlie  home  market  for  grain  and  flour, 
i  hence  made  exports  greater  than  ever.  It  cut  the  farmer  both  ways.  By  1870 
5  exports  of  grain  and  breadstuffs  was  $72,000,000.  It  was  bad  enough  for 
^orts  to  grow  nearly  100  per  cent,  upon  $13,000,000  from  1850  to  1860,  but 
w  is  this  that  it  grew  upon  the  larger  base  of  $24,000,000  over  400  per  cent,  by 
'0?  Nothing  can  abash  a  "home-market"  philanthropist  who  is  getting  a 
)sidy,  so  he  got  off  some  miserable  sophistry  and  asked  the  farmer  to  wait  for  ten 
vrs  longer  and  see  how  it  would  work.  By  1880  these  exports  were  $288,000,000 ; 
i  so  it  has  continued.  Now  tell  me,  gentlemen,  when  are  we  to  expect 
ii  at  this  rate  to  give  us  a  home  market  sufficient  to  keep  your  pledge  to  consume 
r  grain  and  breadstuffs  ? 

We  depended  upon  Europe  to  consume  $16,000,000  of  provisions  in  1860.  In 
]0  we  had  to  send  out  $127,000,000  worth.  Of  live  animals  we  sent  out  less 
m  $2,000,000  worth  in  1860.  In  1880  we  had  to  send  out  nearly  $16,000,000 
rth.  We  had  to  ship,  say,  $1,598,000  worth  of  tallow  in  1860.  In  1880  we 
had  to  ship  off  $7,689,000  worth  of  tallow.  We  had  to  ship  $600,000  worth 
seed  in  1860.  In  1880  we  had  to  ship  $2,776,0(.'0  worth.  In  1860  we  had  to 
p  $32,000  worth  of  hops.  In  1880  we  had  to  ship  $2,575,100  worth  of  hops, 
.d  so  it  goes.  Are  you  improving?  Are  you  not  making  the  home  market 
itively  worse  and  worse  ?  It  never  pays  to  hire  people  to  consume  your  goods, 
e  trader  and  the  customer  soon  becomes  the  proprietor  under  such  a  "  protec- 
3"  system  as  this. 

A  COMPARISON  OF  TWO   SYSTEMS. 

See  the  wonderful  wealth  and  power  that  we  were  shown  to  possess  in  the  great 
iflict  from  1861  to  1865.  Take  that  shown  upon  both  sides  and  put  them 
:ether,  and  do  they  show  that  our  country  had  grown  feeble  and  poor  under  a 
icy  of  low  taxation  from  1846  to  1860  ?  Was  the  North  with  high-priced  free 
or  less  wealthy  and  less  powerful  than  the  South  with  not  simply  pauper  labor, 
i  with  actually  slave  labor?  Is  either  of  these  things  true  ?  And  yet  gentlemen 
'  that  low  taxation  will  ruin  us. 

Let  us  compare  the  results  of  the  two  systems  and  see  if  our  growth  has  not 
sn  retarded  by  war  taxes,  and  if  by  our  class  legislation  the  current  of  wealth  has 
;  been  measurably  chang*^d  from  one  class  to  another.  Let  us  take  States  fairly 
■icultural  and  a  State  having  the  protected  industries,  and  see  the  results.  In 
'0  our  per  capita  wealth  was  $388.  In  1860  it  was  $514.  The  average  gain  was 
16  per  capita,  or  66  per  cent.  In  this  decade  Iowa  gained  $243  per  capita,  or  197 
•  cent  ;  Illinois  gained  $316  per  capita,  or  172  per  cent. ;  Indiana  gained  $187  per 
)ita,  or  91  per  cent. ;  Pennsylvania  gained  $174  per  capita,  or  55  per  cent. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  new  States,  rich  in  soil  and  vigorous  in  population, 
ned  under  a  fair  and  equal  system  more  than  the  older  States.  The  new  States 
uld  be  expected  to  exceed  the  national  average  and  the  older  ones  to  fall  behind  it. 

Now  leave  the  per  capita  basis  of  calculation  and  go  to  State  wealth : 

Iowa's  grew  between  1850  and  1860  from  $23,714,638  to  $247,388,268;  an 
rease  of  $223,613,630,  or  970  per  cent.  Illinois'  grew  from  $156,265,006  to 
1,860,282 ;  an  increase  of  $715,595,176,  or  458  per  cent.  Indiana's  grew  from 
12,000,000  to  $528,000,000;  an  increase  of  $326,000,000,  or  161  per  cent.  Pennsyl- 
lia's  grew  from  $722,000,000  to  $1,416,000,000  ;  an  increase  of  $694,000,000,  or 
per  cent.  The  national  growth  during  this  decade  was  from  $7,135,780,228 
116,159,616,068;  an  increase  of  $9,023,825,840,  or  126  per  cent. 

Now,  take  the  first  decade  under  high  and  discriminating  taxes  and  under 
at  may  now  be  called  "  the  new  doctrine."  From  1860  to  1870  the  nation  grew 
ivealth  from  $16,000,000  to  $30,000,000,  an  increase  of  $14,000,000,  or  87  per 


I 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY.' 


J 


OUllU 


cent.,  a  rate  89  per  cent,  less  than  that  of  the  previous  record.    This  sho^ 

■war  and  the  attendants  of  war  retard  the  growth  of  wealth.  But  how  as  to 
different  States?  Iowa  grew  from  $247,000,000  to  $717,000,000,  a  gain 
$470,000,000,  or  190  per  cent.  Illinois  grew  from  $871,860,000  to  $3,121,680,000,  a  g 
of  $1,249,820,000,  or  143  per  cent.  Indiana  grew  from  $528,000,000  to  $l,268,00i 
gain  of  $740,000,000,  or  140  per  cent. 

Now,  mark  Pennsylvania.  She  grew  Irom  $1,416,000,000  to  $3,808,000,000 
gain  of  $2,392,000,000,  or  16G  per  cent.  Pennsylvania  was  harassed  by  war;  she  \ 
disturbed  in  every  way  ;  but  she  possessed  the  subsidized  industries.  See  how  i 
now  runs  ahead  of  the  average  growth  of  the  nation.  See  how  the  agricultu 
States  have  fallen  in  the  scale  of  progress  and  how  the  wealth  poured  int 
pockets  of  the  mine-owners  and  mill  owners  of  Pennsylvania  has  cause 
census  returns  from  that  State  to  swell. 

Now  take  the  per  capita  record  for  this  decade.  The  increase  in  the  nati 
was  from  $514  to  $780,  equal  to  $266,  or  52  per  cent.  Iowa  gains  from  $366 
$871,  equal  to  $505,  or  138  per  cent.  Illinois  gains  from  $509  to  $835,  equal  to  $3 
or  64  per  cent.  Indiana  gains  from  $392  to  $601,  equal  to  $209,  or  53  per  ce 
Pennsylvania  gains  from  $487  to  $1,081,  equal  to  $594,  or  122  per  cent. 

Now,  sir,  take  the  decade  from  1870  to  1880.  The  national  growth  was  fr 
$30,068,000,000,  to  be  exact,  to  $43,642,000,000 ~a  gain  of  $13,574,000,000,  or  45  ] 
cent.  I  give  only  the  final  figures  now.  Iowa  gained  $697,356,000,  or  97  per  cer 
Illinois  gained  $971,000,000,  or  45  per  cent. ;  Indiana  gained  $231,000,000,  or  18  ] 
cent. ;  Pennsylvania  gained  $1,585,000,000,  or  41  percent. 

As  to  the  per  capita  changes  during  this  decade :  The  national  gain  was  ^ 
per  capita,  or  11  per  cent.  Iowa  gained  $169,  or  28  per  cent. ;  Illinois  gained  $1 
or  19  per  cent. ;  Indiana  gained  $3,  or  .003  per  cent. ;  Pennsylvania  gained  $178, 
16  per  cent. 


THE  EFFECT  OF  FREE  WOOL. 

DEMONSTBATED  FAIELY  BY  A  COMPARISON  DRAWN    FROM    THE    EXPERIEN< 
LEATHER  MANUFACTURERS. 
From  a  Speech  by  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  of  Keniucly,  July  16 : 

I  do  not  want  to  discuss  the  free  wool  question  now  distinctively  as  free  wo< 
but  to  illustrate  the  effect  of  what  I  believe  will  be  the  adoption  of  this  schedt 
by  some  observations  upon  an  experiment  which  we  have  tried  and  of  which  s 
have  a  suflicient  account  to  understand  its  good  effects  In  1872  Congress  p 
raw  hides  on  the  free  list.  "We  had  then  the  same  predictions  about  placing  ra 
hides  on  the  free  list  that  my  distinguished  friend  from  Ohio,  who  has  just  tak( 
his  seat,  makes,  and  which  other  gentlemen  also  have  made  with  reference 
free  wool.  It  was  not  quite  so  large  an  industry,  but  it  was  to  be  ruined  utter 
as  the  wool  industiy  is  to  be  ruined  by  putting  wool  upon  the  free  list.  We  ha 
had  free  raw  hides  now  for  sixteen  years.  We  have  seen  the  experiment  trie 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture  or  of  prophecy,  but  of  history.  It  stood  relat( 
to  American  industries  almost  precisely  as  free  wool  does  to-day,  though  som 
what  less  important.  Every  industry  connected  with  leather  has  prosperc 
under  this  experiment. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  the  tables  prepared  by  the  customs  office,  which  show  th 
result :  We  have  now  about  20,000,000  more  of  population  than  we  had  in  187 
It  was  estimated  then  that  our  population  was  about  40,000,000.  It  is  now  est 
mated  at  over  60,000,000. 


I 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  663 

\o  there  has  been  an  increase  of  consumers  of  tlie  various  manufactures  of  leather 
5  extent  of  over  20,000,000  persons.  In  1872  we  imported  $11,879,000  worth  of 
sr.  In  1887  we  imported  $10,930,000  worth  ;  that  is,  the  American  manufacturers 
ther  goods  supplied  both  the  twenty  odd  millions  of  increase  of  our  population 
ill  as  those  formerly  supplied.  Every  additional  consumer  of  every  form  of 
jr  manufacture  is  provided  for  by  an  American  manufacturer.  As  the  people 
ise  in  population  the  American  manufacturer  of  leather  increases  the  amount 
I  product. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  EXPORT  TRADE. 

Jut  that  is  only  part  of  the  story.  In  1872  we  exported  $3,684,020  worth  of 
anufactures  of  leather  and  $1,445,178  worth  of  hides  and  skins.  We  now 
t  $10,436,138  worth  of  the  manufectured  article  and  $765,055  worth  of  hides 
kins— that  is,  we  not  only  supplied  the  additional  twenty  million,  but  we  have 
ised  our  exportation  nearly  300  per  cent.  Not  only  that,  but  we  have  increased 
inportations  of  raw  hides  from  fourteen  millions  in  1872  to  twenty-four  in 
-that  is,  we  have  given  that  much  more  work  to  American  workingmen.  We 
Qot  only  used  every  hide  produced  in  America  except  $765,000  worth,  but 
ave  increased  our  importations  of  raw  hide  nearly  100  per  cent.,  which 
ients  that  much  more  labor  given  to  the  American  laborer,  that  much  more 
I  earned  by  the  American  wage- worker,  and  that  much  more  profit  by  the 
ican  manufacturer. 

'ot  only  that,  Mr.  Chairman,  but  the  importations  of  leather  are  divided 
t  equally  into  two  classes.  We  have  ceased  to  import  almost  all  sorts  of  leather 
:loves,  of  which  we  import  $4,184,877  worth  out  of  the  ten  million  dollars' 

and  odd  of  importation — nearly  50  per  cent.  We  import  of  the  other 
:,479.08  calfskins  and  skins  for  morocco  and  the  upper  dressed  leather,  those 
)8,  which  are  in  an  unfinished  condition  and  have  to  be  manufactured  in 
lea,  so  that  our  whole  importation  of  leather  is  of  gloves  which  we  do  not 

or  are  supposed  not  to  make,  as  well  as  they  are  made  in  Paris  or  elsewhere, 
f  leather  which  is  manufactured  in  America.  So  that  the  result  of  this 
ment  is  that  the  tanner  has  increased  in  prosperity  by  tanning  twice  as  much 
1  raw  hide ;  that  the  manufacturer  has  increased  his  manufactures  over  100 
at. ;  that  the  importations  have  decreased  until  they  have  reached  a  point 

they  can  probably  decrease  no  longer,  because  we  import  finer  calf-skins  and 
30  than  we  make,  and  import  kid  gloves  and  nothing  else  substantially,  and 
portations  have  increased  300  per  cent. 


i 

mis 


THE  ANALOGY  WITH  FREE  WOOL. 


^ois  means  we  have  built  up  a  trade  with  South  America  and  elsewhere , 
we  buy  these  rawhides.  We  sell  to  them  our  manufactures.  In  increasing 
portation  of  our  goods  we  have  increased  our  commerce  with  the  countries  to 
we  sell,  and  in  purchasing  the  rawhides  we  have  increased  our  commerce  with 
tions  from  which  we  buy. 

r.  Butter  worth — Will  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  allow  me  to  call  his 
on  to  the  fact  that  the  illustration  is  hardly  fair  ?  The  hide  is  an  incident  of 
T  ^reat  industry  in  this  country,  the  production  of  meat  being  the  main  thing, 
r.  McMillin — So  is  wool. 

r.  Butterworth— While  wool  is  the  basis  of  an  industry  and  a  separate  indus- 
jlf,  in  which  the  carcass  of  the  sheep  is  only  an  incident,  the  cases  are  hardly 
.11  fours. 

r.  Breckinridge  of  Kentucky— Undoubtedly  the  gentleman's  criticism  is  in 
St  and  in  part  unjust.  The  analogy  to  which  I  desire  to  call  attention  is  abso- 
m  all  fours.  It  is  that  the  introduction  of  free  raw  material  necessarily  has 
onsequences :  First,  the  increased  importation  of  the  raw  material  in  lieu  of  the 
d  product  by.  which  the  amount  of  labor  is  increased,  the  amount  of  wage  is 
led,  and  the  amount  of  profit  to  the  manufacturer  is  increased.  Secondly,  that 
portation  of  raw  material  increases  in  such  a  way  that  we  find  a  market  for 
.nufactured  goods  and  sell  our  finished  products  to  those  countries  that  have 


I 


664  "a  condition— not  a  theory." 

the  crude  material,  and  buy  from  them  their  raw  material.  In  the  third  place,  il 
will  keep  up  that  experiment,  as  has  been  done,  it  increases  in  exact  proportioi 
two  things:  First,  the  increased  consumption  of  the  country,  so  that  we  may  fun 
the  entire  amount  needed  by  that  increased  consumption ;  and  second,  the  incret 
exportation  as  rapidly  as  our  commercial  relations  will  allow  it  to  be  done.  Tl 
is  some  difference  between  leather  and  wool  on  both  sides. 

We  produce  leather  in  America  as  incidental  to  the  production  of  provisii 
So,  in  a  certain  sense,  do  we  produce  wool.  The  sheep  as  food  is  as  importan 
are  cattle  ;  it  is  growing  in  value  in  that  aspect,  and  one  of  the  largest  profits  deri 
from  sheep-raising  is  in  the  sale  of  lambs  in  our  great  markets.  It  is  also  impon 
because  the  hide  upon  the  sheep,  the  sheep-skin,  becomes  an  article  of  commerce 
comes  under  this  head  of  leather ;  and  in  the  third  place  many  of  the  woolens  wl 
we  use  in  America  are  made  in  part  of  foreign  wools,  because  as  to  these  fab 
American  wool  must  have  foreign  wool  mixed  with  it.  We  are  therefore  in  the  co: 
tion  that  we  cannot  produce  all  the  wool  we  need.  We  produce,  in  round  numt 
only  265,000,000  of  pounds  out  of  about  600,000,000  of  pounds  that  we  need. 

Counting  the  finished  product  and  the  wool  that  comes  in  in  the  raw  stale, 
counting  the  adulterants  which  the  excessive  protective  duties  require  to  be  put : 
our  clothing,  we  use  about  300,000,000  pounds  more  than  we  raise. 

WHAT  FREE  WOOL  WILL  DO  FOR  MANUFACTURES. 

Now,  I  have  used  this  leather  illustration  because  it  illustrates  what  we  cl 
will  be  the  result  of  the  operation  of  this  bill  in  relation  to  wool.  If  you  introd 
free  wool,  there  may  be  a  temporary  depression  in  the  price  of  American  woo 
there  was  a  temporary  depression  in  the  price  of  rawhides,  but  immediately 
reaction  will  begin.  We  shall  begin  to  increase  the  amount  of  goods  made  by 
mixture  of  our  own  wools  with  the  cheap  wools  brought  from  abroad,  wools  wl 
will  come  in  at  the  price  which  they  now  cost  the  English  manufacturer,  wool  wl 
can  be  freely  selected  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world  instead  of  being  chosen  asr 
for  reasons  connected  with  the  tariff. 

Those  wools  will  come  in,  I  say,  at  a  price  so  cheap  that  there  will  be 
increased  demand  for  American  wools,  precisely  as  there  is  now  for  American  r 
hides.  We  shall  continue  to  import  wool  somewhat  in  the  quantity  that  we  don 
but  in  its  raw  state  instead  of  the  finished  product.  Instead  of  thousands  of  thousa 
of  yards  of  woolens  being  made  in  England  and  brought  here,  fabrics  on  which 
English  wage-worker  has  earned  his  wage,  the  English  manufacturer  his  profit, 
English  ship-owner  his  freightage,  the  material  will  come  to  this  country  in 
shape  of  free  raw  wool,  to  be  mixed  with  our  own  wools,  and  in  the  mauufactur 
the  fabric  our  own  laborer  will  obtain  the  wage,  and  our  own  woolen  factO] 
instead  of  running  only  six  or  seven  months  in  the  year,  will  run 
whole  twelve  months;  our  wool-growers  will  be  prosperous  because  our  woe 
manufacturers  will  be  prosperous  and  will  give  a  stable  market  to  our  wool-grow 
We  shall  then  drive  from  the  American  market  the  foreign  manufacturer,  and  S( 
man  standing  here  in  Congress  as  I  stand  now  will  present  figures  similar  in  na 
to  show  that  our  woolen  industry,  under  the  stimulous  of  free  wool,  demonsU:« 
the  value  of  that  system  which  furnishes  the  labor  the  material  which  it  '^ 
human  use  free  from  burden  or  exaction. 


FREE  WOOL  WILL  INJURE  ENGLAND. 


I 


Mr.  Butterworth— A&  my  friend  goes  on  I  want  to  say  to  him  that  the 
manufacturer  does  not  adopt  the  view  which  he  presents  here. 

Mr.  Breckinridge  of  Kentucky — It  may  be  possible  that  he  does  not ;  but  if 
gentleman  means  that  the  English  manufacturer  wants  our  market  in  the  s( 
that  it  is  to  his  advantage  that  we  should  have  free  wool,  I  utterly  deny  it,  en 
can  produce  the  evidence  of  Sir  Lyon  Playfair,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  other  g 
thinkers  to  the  effect  that  the  reason  the  United  States  does  not  auccessfully  com; 
in  the  markets  of  the  world  with  England  and  the  other  European  nations,  ^ 
their  enormous  armaments,  their  enormous  taxation,  and  their  great  armies  ( 
tracted  from  their  productive  population,  is  because  of  our  unfortunate,  ua» 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  565 

',  protective  laws,  that  so  long  as  we  manacle  our  hands  and  chain  our  feet 
ey  will  run  ahead  of  us  in  the  great  progressive  industrial  march,  but  that  as  soon 

we  unshackle  our  own  limbs,  bring  the  crude  material  in  free,  and  put  the 
ichinery  at  work  which  will  transform  that  crude  material  into  the  finished  pro- 
ct,  we  shall  be  masters  of  the  situation. 

We  propose  by  this  bill  to  do  that,  to  do  in  relation  to  wool  precisely  as  we 
ve  done  heretofore  in  relation  to  leather.  As  our  population  increases  our  manu- 
itures  will  increase ;  as  we  increase  our  manufactures  our  exports  will  increase ; 
r  ships  will  be  seen  again  in  foreign  ports ;  there  will  be  American  merchants 
th  balances  in  foreign  com -nercial  cities;  there  will  be  American  vessels  owned 
American  capital,  carrying  American  cargoes  to  foreign  nations  and  bringing 
3k  in  return  cargoes  of  crude  materials  to  be  sold  to  the  American  manufacturer, 
be  mixed  with  American  materials,  to  be  worked  up  into  finished  fabrics  by 
aerican  workingmen,  the  profits  of  which  will  remain  in  American  pockets.  That 

temocratic  doctrine. 
COMPARISON  WITH  THE  WAR  TARIFF. 
w  orpREssivE  taxes  have  produced  startling  irregularities  in  the 
^ft         conditions  op  different  elemen'Ps  of  population. 
From  a  Speech  by  Henry  G.  Turner^  of  Georgia,  May  10. 

When  war  was  flagrant  and  the  Treasury  was  empty,  and  the  population  of  the 
ire  country,  including  the  Southern  States,  was  but  little  more  than  31,000,000, 

tariff  then  framed  to  meet  the  most  extraordinary  immergency  that  ever  arose 
this  continent,  imposed  during  the  first  year  of  its  operation  an  average  rate  of  36 
]cent.  After  twenty-three  years  of  profound  peace,  with  a  Treasury  full  to  reple- 
1,  struggling  with  an  accumulated  surplus  over  the  largest  wants  of  the  Goverment 
150,000,000,  with  a  population  of  over  60 ,000,000 ,;the  tariff  now  levies  an  average 
}  of  47  per  cent.  This  surplus  has  arisen  notwithstanding  an  immense  increase 
)ur  annual  expenditures,  and  is  itself  a  constant  temptation  to  wasteful  extrava- 
ce.  And  it  is  not  only  a  mischievous  influence  in  public  affairs,  but  it  meas- 
8  the  extent  to  which  the  Government  has  contracted  the  currency,  to  the 
Qinent  peril  of  every  private  interest.  The  people  need  more  money  than  they 
e  hitherto  had ;  and  to  take  from  them  this  immense  sum  which  the  Govern- 
it  does  not  need,  and  which  is  so  indispensable  to  the  business  of  the  country, 
idefensible  extortion  Heavy  taxation  of  a  people  having  an  inadequate  currency 
'  iCnough ;  but  unnecessary  taxation  of  such  a  people  is  a  crime. 


IT 


HOW  THE  PEOPLE  OP  THE  COUNTRY  ARE  TAXED. 


Our  aggregate  circulation  of  gold,  silver,  and  paper  money,  including  the  funds 
he  Treasury,  is  estimated  to  amount  to  about  $1 ,500,000,000,  The  people  paid 
he  Government  in  tariff  taxes  $317,000,000  and  in  excise  duties  one  hundred 

seventeen  millions,  making  a  total  taxation  of  |33 4,000,000  last  year.  This 
lense  tribute  is  over  22  per  cent,  of  all  the  money  in  the  country.  We  have 
7  $25  in  cash  for  each  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  country,  and  on  each 
1,  woman  and  child  is  levied  an  average  tax  of  over  $5.50  or  $27.50  on  each 
ily  of  five  persons. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  incidental  taxation  which  is  collected  under  the  tariff 
the  manufacturers.  The  total  value  of  all  the  manufactured  products  of  the 
ted  States  returned  according  to  the  last  census  amounted  to  $5,369,667,706. 

dutiable  imports  last  year  amounted  to  $450,000,000  in  round  numbers,  on 
ch  we  collected  over  $217,000,000.  As  our  duties  are  laid  confessedly  for  pro- 
ion,  it  is  very  probable  that  on  the  immense  aggregate  of  our  domestic  manu- 


6W  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 

factures,  in  competition  with  which  our  taxed   imports   are  sold  an  addition 
value  is  placed  equal  to  many  times  the  income  of  the  tariflf  to  the  Governmei 

But  taking  $217,000,000  as  a   measure  of  the  bounties  paid  last  year  to  o 
manufacturers,  let  us  commute  protection  into  an  annuity,  computed  at  the  Go 
ernment  rate  of   3|-  per  cent ;  the  principal  of  that   annuity  would  amount 
$6,200,000,000.    That  annuity  is  the  interest  on  a  sum  greater    than  the  cost 
the  war!    And  the  moderation  of  this  estimate  of  protection  no  man  will  den 

The  enormous  taxation  which  I  have  endeavored  to  outline  is  so  contrived 
to  bear  lightly  on  the  rich  and  prosperous  and  heavily  on  the  poor  and  unfortunal 
To  those  who  do  not  need,  it  is  a  largess  and  benefaction;  to  those  States  and  th( 
people  that  are  cramped  by  narrow  and  scant  means,  it  is  a  hindrance  and  oppn 
sion.  To  the  latter  it  is  a  deduction  from  the  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life,  frc 
the  education  of  their  children;  a  burden  upon  the  offices  of  religion  and  charity; 
tax  on  school,  on  church  and  on  home. 

When  I  heard  the  other  day  the  splendid  inventory  of  New  England's  weal 
presented  with  so  much  pride  by  the  gentleman  from  New  Hampshire,  and  reflect 
on  the  system  under  which  that  wealth  has  been  drawn  from  other  sections,  and  ( 
the  beggarly  reduction  of  taxation  which  our  bill  proposes,  I  felt  like  exclaimiD 
like  Lord  Clive  before  a  committee  of  Parliament:  "By  God,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  a 
astonished  at  my  own  moderation  !" 

THE  DUTY  A  TAX   ON  CONSUMPTION. 

The  tariff  is  a  tax  on  consumption.    It  is  not  laid  on  the  taxpayer  according 
what  he  has,  but  it  ia  levied  on  his  wants.    It  is  apportioned  among  men,  not  accoi 
ing  to  their  means,  but  according  to  their  necessities.     It  is  an  income  tax,  grad 
ated  not  according  to  what  men   make,  but  according  to  what  they  buy.    It 
therefore,  hardest  on  those  who  have  to  spend  all  that  they  make. 

But  inequality  is  the  foundation  of  the  system  of  protection,  and  the  on 
inducement  for  its  preservation.  If  a  scheme  of  protection  could  be  devised  1 
which  each  citizen  could  tax  his  neighbor  just  as  much  as  his  neighbor  could  t; 
him  it  would  be  equality,  but  it  would  meet  with  scant  favor.  The  present  syste 
is  worse,  because  it  is  brigandage  without  reciprocity. 

Let  us  expose  some  of  the  profits  of  protection  according  to  its  own  retur 
made  during  the  last  census  year.  The  capital  invested  in  manufactures  th 
amounted  to  $2,790,272,606;  materials  used  cost  $3,396,823,549;  wages,  $941,95 
795;  total  product,  $5,369,579,191.  It  can  be  easily  seen  from  these  figures  ti 
manufacturers  made  enormus  gains,  amounting  in  clear  net  profits  to  more  th 
four  times  the  income  of  ihe  Government  from  the  tariflf.  ^~ 


THE  SMALL  PROPORTION  OF  TAXES  PAID  TO  LABOR. 


enS 


But  it  is  said  that  protection  advances  wages.  If  this  is  not  mere  pretene 
then  wages  ought  to  keep  pace  with  protection.  Let  us  see.  In  1860  the  av( 
age  tarifi"  rate  on  the  dutiable  list  was  19  per  cent.,  which  has  been  frequen' 
denounced  as  free  trade  And  yet  during  that  year  labor  received  over  20  per  cei 
of  the  total  product  of  our  manufactures.  In  1870,  when  th'e  average  tariff  r? 
was  two  and  ahalf  times  as  high  as  in  1860,  amounting  to  47  per  cent.,  lat 
received  less  than  in  1860,  or  a  little  o>er  18  per  cent,  of  the  total  product  of  c 
manufactures.    And  in  1880  labor  received  17^  per  cent,  of  its  entire  products. 

These  figures  seem  to  demonstrate  that  the  increase  of  protection  is  not  acco 
panied  with  an  increase  in  wages. 

The  chief  argument  for  protection  is  founded  on  the  assumption  that  wages  i 
higher  in  this  country  than  in  Europe.  Seventeen  and  a- half  per  cent,  ofvl 
value  of  our  manufactures  covers  the  entire  cost. 

It  has  been  claimed  in  this  debate  that  protection  saved  the  Unioi 
money  with  which  the  soldiers  were  paid,  with  which  the  great  armies  and 
were  provided  and  maintained,  was  paid,  not  by  protection,  but  by  those  who  : 
its  victims.  The  only  office  of  protection  in  this  business  was  to  tax  for  its  o' 
benefit  those  who  did  save  the  Union.  It  charged  two  prices  for  the  clothing  1 
soldiers  wore,  for  the  shoes  in  which  they  marched,  for  the  blankets  under  wh. 


ID.  UJk.vi 

d  flP 


I 


'A  CQNDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  567 


^  slept,  for  the  comforts  and  Decessaries  required  by  their  wives  and  children, 
r  the  powder  and  lead  with  which  they  met  and  defeated  the  foes  of  the  IFnion, 
d  now  puts  a  tax  ot  47  per  cent,  on  the  pensions  of  their  widows  and  orphans. 

The  chief  mission  of  protection  during  the  struggle  was  to  establish  itself, 
•t  the  Union,  to  feather  its  own  nest,  to  put  money  in  its  purse,  and  while  the 
ave  and  patriotic  were  fighting  the  battles  of  the  Union  protection  bound  them 
jtd  and  foot. 


VII. 

VARIATION  OF  THE  RATE  OF  WAGES. 

EN    UNDER   THE    PRESENT    SYSTEM    THERE  IS  NOTHING    LIKE    UNIFORMITY  IN 

■  WAGES  IN  DIFFERENT   SECTIONS. 

From  a  Speech  by  WUliam  L.  Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  May  dd. 

I  have  here  an  address  delivered  before  the  Home  Market  Club  of  New  England, 
Senator  Frye,  of  Maine,  on  what  he  saw  in  Europe,  in  which,  after  the  good 
i-fashioned  protection  logic,  he  pictures  the  wretched  condition  of  European 
3or.  The  Home  Market  Club  is  composed  largely  of  gentlemen  who  derive  divi- 
nds  from  the  present  tariff,  and  who,  naturally,  do  not  want  it  disturbed.  The 
eface  of  the  address  has  a  statement  to  show  "the  vast  interests  New  England 
8  in  protective  tariff,"  and  it  gives  the  manufacturing  statistics  of  all  the  New 
igland  States  except  Rhode  Island.  According  to  this  statement,  the  capital 
vested  in  those  five  States  is  $548,652,118,  the  number  of  employes  584,495;  but 
ien  it  comes  to  wages  I  find  the  average  wages  of  an  employe  in  the  State  of 
aine  to  be  $257  a  year,  whereas  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  he  gets  $364,  and  in 
e  little  State  of  Connecticut  $385.  Now,  what  I  can  not  understand  is  this:  If  a 
riff,  a  law  of  Congress,  makes  wages,  why  does  it  operate  so  unevenly  as  between 
e  employe  in  Maine  and  the  employe  in  Connecticut,  and  why  is  the  Maine  man 
Drth  only  two-thirds  as  much  as  the  Connecticut  man  ?  And  when  we  come  to 
3rmont,  the  State  of  our  venerable  friend  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  I  find 
at  the  average  employe  gets  only  $303. 

If  a  tariff  does  make  wages,  then  the  protective  tariff  is  the  most  ungrateful 
ing  that  ever  existed  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Why  should  it  give  to  the 
low-citizen  and  compatriot  of  the  last  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
ly  $257  a  year,  while  it  gives  to  the  operative  in  the  good  old  State  that  voted 
r  the  author  of  the  last  Presidential  message  $385  a  year  ?  And  why  should  it 
re  to  the  fellow-citizen  of  the  author  of  the  tariff,  Mr.  Morrill,  but  $303  a  year? 

Hp  VARIATION  IN   THE  WAGES  OF  LABOR  AT  HOMB. 

But,  the  statistics  of  the  Home  Market  Club  are  exactly  in  line  with  the  figures 
ibraced  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor.  After  careful  inquiry 
to  many  industries  in  this  country.  Colonel  Wright  says  that  "  An  examination 
these  reports  will  show  that  thers  is  no  such  thing  as  an  American  rate  of  wages  " 
)r  example,  in  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  implements  a  blacksmith  gets  15 
r  cent,  more  in  Illinois  than  in  Indiana,  while  a  foreman  gets  50  per  cent,  more 
Pennsylvania  than  in  New  York,  and  a  painter  nearly  70  per  cent,  more  in  Penn- 
Ivania  than  in  Maine.  In  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  a  buffer  gets  $2.50  in  Penn- 
Ivania  and  only  $1.40  in  New  York,  and  we  find  that  a  button  hole  maker  in 
mnsylvania,  if  a  woman,  gets  78  cents,  while  New  York  pays  $1.04.  When  it 
mes  to  heelers,  New  York  gives  $3.56  and  Massachusetts  only  $1.72.  Massacliu- 
ttspays  her  packers  $1.95,  while  New  York  neglects  hers  with  a  cold  $1.08. 


568  "a  condition — not  a  theory." 

So  "when  we  come  to  the  table  of  cotton  goods  we  find  that  Great  Britain 
mule-spinners  $1.57,  Massachusetts  $1.25,  and  Vermont  only  $1.20,  and  that  thi 
average  rate  of  wages  paid  in  the  cotton  industr}^  in  Great  Britain  is  $1.17  per  day 
while  in  Vermont  it  is  only  $1.15 ;  so  that,  when  Senator  Morrill  became  so  alarmec 
for  fear  that  his  fellow  citizens  were  going  to  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  paupe: 
wages  in  England,  it  meant  simply  that  they  were  going  to  be  kicked  upstairs  fron 
$1.15  to  $1.17,  the  average  wages  in  the  cotton  industry  in  England. 

WHO  gets  the  benefit  op  the  protection? 

My  venerable  colleague  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Kelley]  was  one  of  the  con 
ference  committee  in  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  which  constructed  the  preeen 
tariff.  In  that  committee  they  put  up  the  duty  on  iron  ore  from  50  cents  a  ton,  a 
which  it  had  been  fixed  by  the  Tariff  Commission,  by  the  House  in  open  aessioD 
and  by  the  Senate  in  open  session,  to  75  cents  a  ton,  and  all  of  course  in  the  interes 
of  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  American  laboring  man. 

Now,  I  have  here  Penr.sylvania  Legislative  Documents  for  1884-'85,  volume  2 
in  which  I  find  the  twelfth  annual  report  of  the  bureau  of  industrial  statistics,  b; 
Joel  C.  McCamant.    Speaking  of  the  wages  of  the  iron-ore  miners,  he  says : 

The  mining  of  iron-ore  does  not  afford  constant  employment,  the  average  amountim 
to  but  thirty-six  weeks  per  annum  This  allows  scarcely  sufficient  wages  per  week,  for  th 
run  of  the  year,  to  maintain  a  single  individual;  how  those  wage- workers  having  familie 
to  maintain  can  accomplish  that  dlflGicult  task  is  a  problem  In  social  economies  that  can  b 
solved  only  by  those  who  have  been  in  similar  circumstances.  Many  miners  wear  belt 
instead  of  suspenders  to  support  the  weight  of  their  pantaloons:  and  one  of  these,  in  repl; 
to  the  question  askod  him  relative  to  his  ability  to  buy  food,  replied :  "  Lord  bless  you,  wi 
do  not  always  eat  when  we  are  hungry,  we  just  tighten  our  belts." 

Now,  what  has  become  of  the  75  cents  a  ton  which  was  secured  for  the  Amer 
ican  miner  of  iron  ore  in  that  conference?  Why,  up  to  that  date.  May  1, 1885,  mor 
than  two  years  afterward,  had  it  not  reached  him  ?  Is  it  lost,  strayed  or  stolen? 
suspect  it  has  found  its  way  into  the  literary  bureau  of  the  American  Iron  aD( 
Steei  Association,  and  has  been  expended  in  the  publication  of  tracts  to  prove  to  th 
miner  what  a  good  thing  a  protective  tariff  is  for  him.  I  would  say  to  that  philan 
thropic  association,  give  your  miners  less  tracts  and  better  food  under  their  belts. 

THE   LAW  OP  DEMAND   AND   SUPPLY. 

There  is  one  great  element  in  this  question  of  wages  that  is  carefully  kept  ou 
of  view.  Gentlemen  compare  the  wages  and  the  condition  of  the  American  work 
man  with  those  of  his  foreign  competitor  as  if  they  stood  upon  an  equality  in  othe 
respects.  They  ignore  the  fact  that  in  the  labor  market,  as  elsewhere,  the  law  o 
demand  and  supply  is  the  great  regulator  of  prices.  Where  labor  has  many  oppoi 
tunities  for  employment  wages  are  high ;  as  these  opportunities  diminish  wages  ar 
lessened. 

Now,  contrast  the  position  of  the  laborer  in  these  United  States  with  his  posi 
tion  in  the  other  countries  of  the  world.  The  sixty  million  of  people  that  no^ 
inhabit  this  country  are  but  the  vanguard  of  that  mighty  host  which  is  destined  t 
find  homes,  comfort  and  prosperity  here.  Not  until  the  sixty  millions  become  si: 
hundred  millions,  not  until  the  six  hundred  millions  grow  into  a  thousand  million 
will  men  crowd  each  other  here  in  the  fierce  struggle  for  existence  and  wealth  a 
they  do  in  Great  Britain  to-day. 

THE  farmer  and  HIS  BURDENS. 

But  there  is  one  class  of  our  laboring  men  as  to  whom  these  advocates  of  pre 
tection  clearly  see  the  difficulty  and  weakness  of  their  position,  and  that  is  th 
American  farmer.  Where  does  the  farmer  get  any  benefit  from  protection  ?  He  i 
the  patient  beast  of  burden  upon  whose  broad  shoulders  you  have  shifted  dow 
the  chief  burdens  of  supporting  a  government  of  sixty  millions  of  people. 

Where  is  the  benefit  to  him  under  the  tariff?    My  colleague  from  Micbij 
[Mr.  Burrows]  meets  the  question  with  the  bold  reply : 

The  farmer  is  not  hurt.    The  consumer  does  not  pay  these  taxes. 


^Pd 


'a  condition— not  a  theory."  569 


duty  that  is  paid  on  a  foreign  article  to  get  it  into  this  country  is  as  much 
^rt  of  its  original  cost  to  the  American  consumer  as  the  cost  of  its  manufacture 
I  fits  ocean  freight.  No  matter  who  the  importer  be,  foreigner  or  fellow-citizen, 
'  e  does  not  get  that  duty  back  in  its  sale  he  is  in  a  losing  business,  as  much  as  if 
( ailed  to  get  back  any  other  element  of  cost.  Trade  stops  at  once  if  it  brings 
1  )rofit.  Moreover,  the  amount  thus  added  to  its  cost  by  the  duty  saves  the  home 
1  lucer  of  a  like  article  from  having  to  compete  witb  it  at  the  cost  it  bore  before 
;  duty  was  added.  Sir,  I  commend  to  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  the  utter- 
I  is  of  some  of  their  party  leaders  on  this  point. 

Senator  Sherman  has  a  higher  idea  of  the  intelligence  of  the  farmer  than  my 
id  from  Michigan,  for  he  has  paid  in  this  House : 

:  said  it,  and  I  stand  by  it,  that  as  a  freneral  rule  the  duties  paid  upon  Imports  operate 
tax  upon  the  consumer. 

Senator  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  in  the  February  number  of  Harper's  Magazine^ 
eplying  to  Mr.  Watterson,  argued  at  length  that  the  larger  portion  of  import 
es  is  borne  by  the  foreign  producer ;  but  Senator  Edmunds,  speaking  on  the 
ar  question,  January  4,  1883,  made  a  much  more  correct  statement  when  he  said  r 

[n  the  main  all  these  taxes  come  out  of  the  consumer,  particularly  internal  revenue 
!8,  perhaps  all  of  them  hUbstantially. 

And  I  particularly  commend  to  his  colleagues  on  this  floor  the  emphatic 
,'uage  of  Senator  Plumb,  of  Kansas,  on  the  11th  of  January,  1883,  spoken  with 
irectness  and  earnestness  that  showed  an  impatience  of  any  contrary  suggestion: 
Who  pays  these  taxes?  When  the  manufacturer  of  iron  comes  to  the  Senate 
says  ''I  can  live,  or  I  can  make  a  profit,  if  a  certain  duty  is  imposed,"  what  is  he 
ing?  He  is  simply  saying  "If  you  give  me  a  certain  duty  you  put  it  in  my  power 
harge  over  that  duty  as  an  additional  tax  on  the  tarmers  of  the  United  States." 
The  mere  statement  of  this  question  is  its  conclusive  argument,  and  I  should 
further  refer  to  it  but  that  the  gentleman  from  Michigan  so  sharply  criticised 
President  for  expressing  views  like.those  of  Mr.  Sherman,  Mr.  Edmunds,  and  Mr. 
mb. 


Weh 


HOME  MABKET  ARGUMENT. 


'e  have  heard  on  this  floor  time  and  again  the  "  old.  old  story,"  of  the  '•  home 
•ket."  I  have  the  great  speech  made  by  Mr.  Clay  in  1832,  when  he  was  urging 
n  the  farmers  of  the  country  what  the  opponents  of  this  bill  would  denounce  as 
!  trade,  but  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  protective  tarifl".  Pie  says,  in  substance : 
rest  the  whole  case  on  two  grounds."  One  of  these  was  that  the  protective 
;em  would  build  up  a  home  demand  for  the  products  of  the  farm,  and  thus  main- 
i  or  advance  the  price  of  those  products. 

Whatever  force  may  have  been  in  that  argument  when  used  by  Mr.  Clay  is 
irely  dissipated  to-day.  Mr.  Clay  spoke  to  a  country  without  railroads,  without 
igrapbs.  There  were  no  steamships  traversing  the  ocean,  no  cables  under  the 
an.  He  spoke  to  a  country  whose  farmers,  with  the  exception  of  those  adjacent 
ts  Eastern  rivers  and  seaboard,  sought  a  market  for  their  produce  in  the  nearest 
n,  to  which  they  hauled  it  in  their  own  wagons ;  when  tbe  value  of  a  bushel  of 
3at  was  exhausted  by  a  haul  of  300  miles,  and  that  of  a  bushel  of  corn  by  a  haul  of 
miles.  It  was  a  day  when  "  manufacture  "  meant  something  very  different  from 
at  it  means  to-day.  As  late  as  eightyears  afterward,  Mr.  Webster  described  Amer- 
1  manufactures  as  "a  little  capital  mixed  with  manual  labor."  At  that  time  the 
?hboring  village  or  town,  with  its  woolen  mill,  its  hat  factory,  its  shoemakers,  its 
ied  industries,  was  flesh  and  blood  to  consume  the  farmer's  products  and  wear  the 
;hing  made  from  his  wool  and  cotton. 
The  world  has  been  created  anew  since  Mr.  Clay  made  that  speech.  To-day 
have  a  railroad  system  of  150,000  miles,  extending  into  every  corner  of 
I  country  where  population  or  product  invites  it.  To-day  we  have  instanta- 
•us  communication  with  every  section  of  the^country,  with  every  portion  of  the 
rid.  You  can  order  a  cargo  of  tea  from  China  and  it  will  be  loaded  on  the 
p  before  night.     An  order  for  wheat   from  Liverpool  to  San  Francisco  will 


570  "a  condition— not  a  theory." 

outstrip  the  lagging  sun  and  get  there  hours  before  him.    You  can  transfel 
lions  of  dollars  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye   from  the  money  market  of  Ca 
to  that  of  London  or  New  York,     The  whole  world  with   the   construct 
railroads,  with  the   building  of  steamships,  with   the  laying  of  cables  hi 
drawn  into  one  family.    The  price  of  the  farmer's  products  is  no  longer 
in  the  market  of  the  neighboring  village,  but  in  the  great  market  of  the 
The  price  of  the  farmer's  cotton,  his  wheat,  his  meat,  and  dairy  products 
longer  decided  even  in  his  own  country,  but  by  the  ft-ee,  untrammeled  co^ 
tion  of  the  markets  of  all  the  world. 

During  all  that  time  the  progress  of  invention  has  been  displacing  hum 
labor  by  machinery.     To-day  one  man  in  a  factory,  and  frequently  a  child,  tej  " 
some  great  mechanical  mvention,  produces  what  in  Henry  Clay's  day  woulc" 
taken  the  labor  of  ten  or  even  twenty  men. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MACHINERY. 


affiB! 


In  the  first  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  we  have  some  striking  iflt 
trations  of  this  displacement  of  labor  by  machinery.  In  a  raanufactory  of  agrici 
tural  implements  600  hands  do  the  work  that  formerly  required  2.145.  In  the  ma 
ufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  one  hand  does  the  work  of  five,  and  will  produce  enouj 
shoes  in  a  je&r  to  supply  a  thousand  men.  In  the  manufacture  of  carpets  one  hai 
with  the  improvements  in  machinery  does  the  work  that  required  from  ten 
twenty;  in  spinning,  the  work  of  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred.  In  the  man 
facture  of  some  kinds  of  hats  one  man  is  equal  to  nine.  In  a  large  establishment 
New  Hampshire  improved  machinery,  even  in  the  past  ten  years,  has  dispensi 
with  50  per  cent,  of  human  labor  in  the  making  of  cotton  goods.  By  the  use 
improvements  and  inventions  in  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years,  in  hammers  us( 
in  the  manufacture  of  steel,  there  has  been  a  displacement  of  employes  in  the  pr 
portion  of  nearly  ten  to  one.  In  the  manufacture  of  paper,  a  new  machine  for  dr 
ing  and  cutting,  run  by  four  men  and  sir  women,  will  do  the  wark  of  one  hundn 
persons.  In  the  manufacture  of  wall-paper  the  displacement  has  been  one  hundn 
to  one.  Equally  striking  facts  as  to  the  woolen  and  other  industries  might  be  give 
but  I  will  call  special  attention  to  this  general  statement.  The  mechanical  indu 
tries  of  the  United  States  carried  on  by  eteam  aad  water  represent  the  labor 
21,000,000  men.  On  our  railroads  to-day  250,000  men  do  the  work  which  when  M 
Clay  spoke  would  have  required  13,500,000  men  and  54,000,000  horses. 

To  do  the  work  now  done  by  power  and  power  machinery  in  our  mechanic 
industries  and  upon  our  railroads  would  require  men  representing  a  population  < 
175,500,000  in  addition  to  the  present  population  of  65,000,000. 

And  it  is  just  in  the  protected  industries  of  the  country,  employing  altogethe 
according  to  the  estimate  of  the  late  Secretary  Manning,  not  more  than  5  per  cec 
of  the  labor  of  the  country,  that  the  chief  displacement  of  human  labor  I 
machinery  has  occurred ;  and  j^et  we  all  know  that  while  Mr.  Clay  was  willing  i 
compromise  on  a  tariff"  of  20  per  cent,  to  protect  flesh  and  blood,  the  demand  to-d£ 
is  for  47  per  cent,  to  protect  machinery. 

WHAT  MANUFACTURERS  MEAN  NOW. 

To-day  American  manufacturers  no  longer  mean  as  they  did  to  Daniel  We 
Bter,  manual  labor  mixed  with  a  little  capital.  They  mean  great  capital  mix< 
wtih  a  little  manual  labor.  Moreover,  as  our  transportation  system  has  been  pe 
fected,  we  have  witnessed  the  gradual  diBapr>earance  of  local  manufactures  ai 
their  massing  in  immense  industrial  establishments  at  particular  points.  Th( 
are  to-day  sufficient  and  more  than  sufficient  to  supply  all  the  demands  of  oi 
home  consumption,  and  yet  the  farmer  has  to  look  abroad  for  purchasers  of  h 
surplus  products. 

Two-thirds  of  onr  cotton,  nearly  one-third  of  our  wheat,  immense  quantlti 
of  other  farm  products  must  be  sold  to  foreigners  for  lack  of  home  consumei 
and  yet  the  argument  is  daily  addressed  to  the  farmer,  "Tax  yourself  still  long' 
to  diversify  industry  and  build  up  purchasers  for  your  products."  Our  surpli 
wheat  crop  last  year  would  feed  thirty  millions  of  people.    Is  there  any  device  i 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  671 

taxation  by  which  the  farmer  could  build  up  a  home  demand  for  that  ?  You  say  to 
the  Minnesota  farmer,  complaining  that  he  gets  but  60  cents  a  bushel  for  liis  wheat, 
"Continue  to  uphold  the  tariff;  it  will  start  up  other  industries  in  your  State  to  buy 
your  wheat."  But  the  farmer,  if  he  is  intelligent,  knows  that  there  is  a  cry  of 
overproduction  from  our  manufacturers  to-day ;  that  we  already  have  more  than 
we  can  find  a  market  for ;  and  as  long  as  there  is  free  trade  among  the  States  of 
this  country  there  is  no  taxation  to  which  he  can  submit  that  will  necessarily  bring 
these  industries  to  Minnesota  aside  from  the  natural  advantages  as  would  bring 
them  there  without  such  taxation. 

But  suppose  you  give  him  a  rolling  mill  capable  of  supplying  all  the  steel  rails 
needed  for  the  railroads  of  his  State,  a  sugar  refinery  capable  of  supplying  all  the 
sugar  consumed  in  his  State,  and  a  boot  and  shoe  factory  sufficient  for  the  demands 
3f  the  entire  population  of  Minnesota,  there  will  not  be  human  labor  enough  in 
i,ny  one  of  them  to  consume  the  wheat  crop  of  a  single  large  farm.  With  all  the 
families  dependent  upon  them  they  would  add  not  one  mill  to  the  price  of  his 
wheat,  and  little,  if  any,  to  the  price  ol  his  other  products. 

So  much  for  the  home-market  idea.  It  is  but  »  snare  and  a  delusion  to  the 
American  farmer.  His  surplus  products  sent  abroad  determine  the  prices  of  those 
le  sells  at  home.  Without  such  foreign  market  they  would  sell  still  lower  at  home. 
3ut  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Home  Market  Club  of  New  England  the  home-market 
dea  is  a  most  solid  and  profitable  reality.  It  means  for  them  a  population  of 
•0,000,000  shut  in  by  a  benevolent  Government  and  forced  to  buy  of  them  at  prices 
vhich  the  Govern rnent  is  seeking  to  stimulate  47  per  cent,  higher  than  they  would 
)e  if  subjected  to  the  same  competition  under  which  the  farmer  sells  his  staple 
)roducts. 

If                                                     VI^I- 
[                  COST  OF  HIGH  TAXES  TO  THE  FARMER. 
PROFITS   OF  MANUFACTURERS    OF    STEEL    RAILS THE    COST  OF  THE  WOOL 

TAX  IN  ONE   STATE. 

KFrom  a  Speech  by  William  L.  Scott,  of  Pennsylvania,  May  11. 
he  bill  under  consideration  has  been  framed  by  the  majority  of  the  Committee 
n  Ways  and  Means  who  realize  and  appreciate  the  condition  of  affairs  existing  in 
le  country  to-day ;  and  however  desirous  they  might  be  to  extend  that  full  measure 
f  relief  to  the  wage-worker  and  the  great  agricultural  classes  of  the  country,  to 
hich  they  are  so  justly  entitled,  invested  capital  has  its  claims  upon  them.  They 
3preciate  the  fact  that  during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  under  the  present  system 
f  protected  industries,  immense  sums  of  money  have  been  invested  in  the  various 
manufacturing  industries  of  the  country,  and  that  any  bill  which  the  committee 
ight  introduce  should  have  due  regard  for  the  capital  invested  in  such  manufao- 
ires;  that  it  would  be  unwise  for  any  great  political  parly  having  the  power  to 
3  BO  to  at  once  attempt  to  readjust  the  conditions  of  to-day,  which  would  undoubt- 
lly  cause  serious  loss  to  those  who  had  invested  their  capital  under  a  previous  con- 
tion  of  affairs. 

Keeping  these  objects  in  view,  we  ought  first,  to  relieve  the?e  manufacturing 
dustries  by  placing  on  the  free-list,  as  far  as  we  possibly  could,  such  articles  as  are 
Bentially  necessary  to  them  to  enable  them  to  compete,  not  only  in  their  home 
arkets,  but  in  the  markets  of  th^  world.  Secondly,  in  the  revision  and  readjust- 
ent  of  the  various  schedules,  under  the  existing  tariff,  to  leave  ample  duties  on  all 
crchandise  that  could  possibly  be  imported  from  abroad  in  competition  with  our 
)me  products,  and  to  protect  our  home  manufacturers  and  the  labor  employed  by 
em ;  and,  as  the  best  evidence  of  our  efforts  in  this  direction,  I  can  only  compare 
e  average  rates  of  duties  under  the  existing  tariff  with  what  they  would  be  under 


573 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY. 


th's  bill  if  it  should  become  a  law,  namely,  the  average  ad  valorem  duties  on  dutiab| 
goods  under  the  existing  tariff  of  47.7  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and  the  average  und^ 
the  proposed  bill  of  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  This  shows  a  reduction  under  tl 
present  bill  equal  to  7.7  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Of  the  $.'58,720,447.22  reduction  of  duties  on  imports  under  the  proposed  bi 
should  it  become  a  law,  $22,189,505.48  are  derived  from  articles  placed  upon  the  fr 
list,  leaving  the  sum  of  $31,530,941.74  as  the  gross  reduction  made  or  proposed 
the  committee,  applicable  to  all  our  varied  induBtries;  and  yet,  sir,  the  majority 
this  House  and  of  the  committee  are  charged  with  being  free  traders ! 

THE  BURDENS  OP  THE  FARMING  POPULATION. 

In  my  opinion  upon  no  clas*  of  our  people  do  the  present  fiscal  burdens  of 

country  bear  so  heavily  as  upon  the  farming  class.    It  is  not  in  the  power  of  tl 

Government,  by  any  policy  that  can  be  adopted,  to  protect  the  farmer  in  vrhat  he  ' 
raises  and  has  to  sell ;  but  the  Government  can  impoverish  and  virtually  pauperize 
him  and  his  family  by  not  only  imposing  a  high  duty  upon  everything  he  consumes, 
which  is  or  may  be  imported,  but  also  by  prohibitory  duties  upon  commodities  made 
in  this  country  and  necessary  to  his  comfort,  which  place  it  in  the  power  of  the 
home  manufacturer,  by  combinations  and  trusts,  to  charge  what  he  pleases  for  his 
wares.  What  a  mockery  of  protection  the  Republican  tariff  of  1883  is  for  the  farmer  t 
In  a  speech  made  by  the  gentleman  from  Michigan  (Mr.  Burrowe),  referring  to  the 
advantages  that  the  protection  theory  gave  the  farmer,  he  used  the  following  lan- 
guage : 

Among  the  advantages  conferred  upon  the  farmer  by  our  protective  tariff,  is 
that  derived  from  a  direct  protection  to  the  products  of  his  farm  and  the  industries 
incident  thereto,  as  shown  by  the  following  table : 

(Referring  to  the  duties  upon  farm  products  under  the  existing  tariff:)  Beef  and 
pork,  1  cent  per  pound ;  hams  and  bacon,  2  cents  per  pound ;  butter,  4  cents  per 
pound ;  lard,  2  cents  per  pound ;  cheese,  4  cents  per  pound ;  wheat,  20  cents  per 
bushel ;  oats,  10  cents  per  bushel ;  corn,  10  cents  per  bushel ;  rye,  15  cents  per  bushel ; 
live  animals,  20  per  cent,  ad  valorem ;  wheat  flour,  20  per  cent,  ad  valorem  ;  com 
meal,  10  cents  per  bushel. 

I  claim,  sir,  that  not  an  article  named  in  the  foregoing  schedule  would  be 
imported  into  this  country  in  competition  with  the  American  farmer,  if  they  were 
all  upon  the  free  list,  with  the  exception  of  wheat,  which  could  only  come  from 
Canada,  and  if  every  bushel  of  wheat  raised  in  Canada  should  be  sold  in  the  United 
States  it  would  not  affect  the  price  of  the  American  wheat  one-teath  of  1  cent  per 
bushel,  but  the  country  would  be  the  gamer  if  it  were  sold  here,  so  far,  at  least,  as 
the  cost  of  transportation  and  commissions  for  storage  and  selling  accrued  to  our 
railroads  and  commission  men.  The  home  price  of  our  wheat,  com,  beef,  pork, 
butter,  lard,  and  cheese,  and  of  all  the  products  of  the  farm  produced  in  excess  of 
home  consumption,  and  which  have  to  be  exported  to  Europe  to  find  a  market,  is 
determined  by  the  price  of  the  commodity  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  plus  the  cost 
of  transportation. 

I  will  also  avail  myself  of  a  portion  of  the  tables  submitted  in  relation  to  the 
farm  products  of  this  country,  and  the  quantities  exported,  for  the  fiscal  year  of 
1886-1887,  as  follows: 


Production. 

Exportation. 

Products. 

Farm  value. 

Export  value. 

Farm  value 

Per  cen 

Breads  tuffs : 

Corn 

$610,311,000 
314,226,020 
748,000,000 

192,000,000 
32,000,000 

257,295,327 

|!20,0p2,704" 

142,666,563 

78,152,731 

1,983,698 
7,594,633 

206,222,057 

811,790,046 
87,668,833 
62,522,185 

1,487,773 
6,455,438 

177,895,501 

19 

Wheat 

27.9  * 

Meats 

8.4 

Dairy  products  : 

Butter 

.8 

Cheese 

20.2 

Textile  fabrics  : 

Cotton 

69.1 

"A  fONDITION — NOT  A  THEORY."  573 

ly  the  tariff  of  1883  did  not  contain  a  duty  upon  the  importation  of  cotton 
to  this  country,  I  do  not  understand;  for,  most  assuredly,  il  the  duties  provided 
r  under  the  tariff  of  1883  gave  protection  to  the  products  of  the  Northern  farmer, 
e  same  theory  ought  to  have  given  to  the  cotton  planter  of  the  South  ;  at  least  it 
)uld  be  just  as  consistent,  practically  applied,  when  we  consider  the  exportations 
the  farm  products  of  the  whole  country. 

If  the  products  of  our  farms  could  have  been  sold  at  home  for  the  one  thirty- 
3ond  part  of  1  cent  more  than  the  export  price,  not  one  pound  would  have  gone- 
road;  and  every  pound  consumed  at  home  would  have  been  exported  if  it  had 
mmanded  abroad  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  in  value  more  than  the  home  price ;  for 
3  home  price  is  governed  by  the  price  the  surplus  exported  will  command  in  the 
reign  markets.  One  of  the  strong  arguments  that  the  protectionist  makes  to  the 
•mer  is  the  home  market  that  protection  is  alleged  to  insure  for  his  produce.  It 
a  fallacy  and  a  fraud,  and  intelligent  farmers  will  not  be  longer  deceived  by  it. 


9 

Let 


THE  STEEL  MILL  AND  THE  FARMER  WITH  SOMETHING  TO  SELL. 


iCt  us  suppose  a  case  in  my  own  State :  Let  us  take,  say  the  Edgar  Thorn- 
1  Steel  Works,  located  at  Braddock,  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  10  miles 
5t  from  Pittsburgh  and  478  miles  from  Chicago,  employing  a  large  number  of 
in.  Contiguous  to  these  works  lives  an  industrious  farmer  with  a  hundred 
•es  of  land.  His  products  coaslst  of  wheat,  corn,  oats,  hay,  hogs  and  cattle. 
3  proximity  to  these  extensive  works,  where  his  surplus  produce  can  be  deliv- 
sd  in  an  hour,  and  where  thousands  of  hungry  mouths  are  ready  to  consume 

surely  gives  him  an  advantageous  market,  according  to  the  protectionist's- 
)ory.  But  let  us  see,  let  us  take  one  of  the  products  of  the  farm  as  an  example 
the  othei-e,  for  they  all  come  under  the  same  law  of  supply  and  demand  and 
ce.  The  man  in  the  iron  works  can  not  eat  wheat ;  it  must  first  be  reduced 
flour;  so  the  farmer  takes  a  load  of  33^  bushels  of  wheat,  just  1  ton,  to  the 
tier,  who  is  also  on  the  railroad  and  near  the  steel  works. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  controls  the  miller  in  making  a  price  to  the  farmer :  first, 
f-interest,  to  purchase  it  as  cheap  as  he  can ;  second,  to  buy  the  farmer's  wheat 
a  price  which  after  being  ground  into  flour  will  enable  him  to  sell  it  to  the  mill 
tn  in  competition  with  flour  sold  by  the  grocery  man  at  the  corner,  which  has 
m  manufactured  at  St.  Paul  or  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  leaving  him  (the  miller> 
aargin  of  profit  for  grinding  and  his  labor.  Surely  the  miller  can  not  pay  the 
mer  any  more  for  his  wheat  because  it  was  raised  on  land  adjoining  the  steei 
rks ;  he  can  only  pay  what  he  would  pay  for  the  same  quality  of  wheat  in 
J  Chicago  market,  plus  the  cost  of  transportation  to  his  mill.  The  miller 
plains  the  situation  to  the  farmer  and  gets  his  wheat  for  tnat  price,  or  prob- 
^y  less,  because  the  farmers's  market  is  restricted  practically  to  the  local  mill. 
t  where  does  Chicago  wheat  come  from?  Where  is  it  grown  and  what  law 
values  determines  its  selling  price?  It  comes  from  the  great  regions  of  the 
•rthwest;  is  grown  upon  the  rich  and  fertile  prairies  of  that  section,  upon  land 
it  can  be  had  almost  for  the  asking,  or  at  most  at  a  cost  of  from  $3  to  $15  per 
•e,  upon  land  requiring  no  barnyard  to  make  a  crop,  and  where  the  8traw_  is 
med  in  the  fields  as  the  easiest  and  cheapest  way  of  getting  rid  of  it.  The  price- 
the  Chicago  market  is  determined  day  by  day.  if  there  is  not  a  ''corner"  in  wheat, 
the  price  at  Mark  Lane,  London. 

The  farmer  at  Braddock,  after  selling  his  wheat,  returns  to  his  home  and 
lily.  He  had  bought  his  farm  at  a  cost  of  $100  per  acre,  made  a  payment  in  cash 
)n  it,  from  the  savings  of  years  of  toil  and  labor,  secured  the  deferred  payments 

a  mortgage,  hoping  that  by  his  industry  and  labor  upon  his  farm  and  its 
orable  location  he  would  make  money  enough  to  meet    the  interest  and  pay 

his  mortgage  at  maturity.  He  has  sold  his  wheat  at  90  cents  per  bushel,  grown 
3n  land  which  cost  him  $100  per  acre,  sown  and  harvested  this  wheat  by  labor 

which  he  had  to  pay  from  $15  to  $18  per  month  and  board,  and  after  the  taxes 
)n  the  land  and  his  help  are  paid,  and  other  debts  connected  with  the  raising  of 

crop  are  settled,  he  finds  that  both  ends  will  not  meet;  that  the  price  he  has- 
eiyed  for  his  wheat  will  not  cover  cost  of  production. 


I 


S74  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEOBY." 

GOES  TO  THE  STEEL  MILL  TO  BUY  SOMETHING. 

Discouraged,  but  not  disheartened,  the  farmer  rises  the  next  morning  before 
the  sun ;  hitches  up  his  team  and  drives  to  town.  He  needs  an  iron  or  steel 
beam  for  some  purpose  on  his  farm,  and  goes  to  the  steel  mill  to  buy  it ;  and 
^pon  asking  the  price  is  told  that  he  can  have  it  for  3.3  cents  per  pound,  or  at 
the  rate  of  $66  per  ton ;  and  he  is  further  informed  that  3.3  cents  per  pound  for 
steel  beams  is  the  uniform  price  at  all  the  steel  mills  in  the  United  States. 

Now,  the  farmer  protests  that  3.3  cents  per  pound  for  steel  beams  appears 
to  him  to  be  an  exorbitant  price;  that  his  boy  works  in  the  steel  mill,  in  the 
beam  department,  and  that  in  figuring  over  the  cost  of  making  steel  beams  last 
night  with  his  boy  they  could  not  make  them  out  to  cost  more  than  $29  or  $30 
per  ton  at  the  mill;  that  ^QQ  per  ton  gave  the  steel  works  a  profit  of  $36  per 
ton;  and  that  lie  thought  something  must  be  wrong;  what  it  was  he  did  not 
just  understand,  but  yesterday  he  brought  into  town  33i-  bushels  of  wheat,  just 
-one  ton,  and  he  could  only  get  90  cents  per  bushel  for  it,  li  cents  per  pound, 
the  equivalent  of  $30  per  ton,  and  that  this  price  did  not  pay  him  the  cost  of 
raising  it ;  in  fact,  he  lost  money  on  it  instead  of  making  $36  per  ton  profit,  tc 
meet  the  interest  and  pay  the  mortgage  on  his  farm  ;  that  he  could  not  under- 
stand why  he  should  be  obliged  to  raise  and  sell  73  bushels  of  wheat,  or  ovei 
two  tons,  to  enable  him  to  purchase  one  ton  of  steel  beams,  costing  less  than  $30 
per  ton  to  produce  and  make. 

The  answer  of  the  steel-man  was,  that  this  condition  of  affairs  all  grew  out 
•^of  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  and  the  necessity  of  protecting  home  labor,  and 
to  make  a  home  market  for  the  farmer's  wheat,  oats,  corn,  cattle  and  hogs.  The 
farmer  being  unable  to  refute  this  unanswerable  argument,  paid  3.3  cents  pei 
pound  for  his  beam  and  departed  a  wiser  man.  In  the  evening  the  son  returned 
and  with  the  fatber  began  to  discuss  the  transactions  of  the  last  two  days,  endeav 
oring  to  ascertain  why  the  farmer's  wheat  would  only  command  l^-  cents  pei 
pound  at  the  steel-works,  while  the  farmer  had  to  pay  3.3  cents  per  pound  foi 
liis  steel  beams.  The  fanner  feared  he  had  made  a  fatal  mistake  when  he  boughi 
the  farm ;  but  he  had  been  influenced  in  the  purchase  by  a  speech  he  had  heard  ir 
the  fall  of  1884,  delivered  by  a  very  distinguished  statesman,  one  Mr.  Kelley,  at  th( 
opera  house  in  Braddock,  in  which  that  gentleman  ably  set  forth  the  advantages 
of  protection  to  home  labor,  and  eloquently  dwelt  on  the  home  market  it  woulc 
•create  for  the  products  of  the  farm,  while  enhancing  the  wages  of  the  mil 
hands. 

But  the  son  could  not  see  the  advantage  of  Mr.  Kelley's  kind  of  protection 
•either  to  himself,  the  mill-hand,  or  his  father,  the  farmer.  The  price  of  the  latter's 
product  in  the  home  market  being  regulated  by  the  price  in  Mark  Lane,  London 
he  was  of  course  trading  in  an  open  market,  and  took  nothing  whatever  by  th( 
so-called  protection. 

As  to  his  own  wages  in  the  mill,  if  he  got  any  share  of  the  tariff  subsid} 
in  the  form  of  wages,  it  was  so  small  as  to  be  inappreciable  and  to  count  fo; 
practically  nothing  as  against  the  prices  he  was  made  to  pay  for  the  "tariflfed' 
necessaries  of  life;  but  considering  the  employer's  share,  and  the  necessities  of  i 
*'  protected  "  employer's  life,  he  was  not  so  surprised  that  the  "  boss,"  as  allegec 
in  the  newspapers,  could  rent  Cluny  Castle,  in  Invernes-shire,  Scotland,  to  spem 
liis  summers  in ;  and  as  he  believed  that  the  net  profits  of  Carnegie  Brothers  oi 
the  two  items  of  steel  rails  and  steel  beams  alone,  throwing  out  of  account  al 
other  items  of  their  production,  were,  on  30,000  tons  of  steel  beams,  $1,000,000 
and  on  192,998  tons  of  steel  rails,  at  $10  per  ton,  $1,929,980,  or  a  total  profit  oi 
these  two  items  alone  of  nearly  $3,000,000,  the  son,  with  an  eye  to  facts  an( 
/figures,  declared  his  extreme  amazement  at  the  proposition  of  Carnegie  Brother 
to  reduce  wages  10  per  cent.,  for  the  wage  workers  of  that  establishment  though 
they  might  decently  leave  this  pitiful  percentage  in  the  hands  of  that  labor  in  whosi 
name  and  for  whose  alleged  benefit  they  receive  the  enormous  bounty  extortec 
from  the  consumers  of  the  United  States  upon  those  two  capital  articles ;  and  tha 
while  the  employes  not  only  thought  they  were  justly  entitled  to  this  10  per  cent 
they  were  yet  fighting  for  a  principle  dearer  to  them  than  mere  dollars  and  cents 


I 


"a  condition— not  a  theory."  575 

;t  was  a  principal  involving  not  only  the  great  economic  problem  of  this  age,  but 
)f  past  ages,  and  must  be  the  geeat  problem  of  the  future — a  fair  division  between 
abor  and  capital ;  and  if  the  wage-worker  at  Carnegie  Brothers'  works  could  be 
breed  into  subjugation  by  Pinkerton  special  detectives,  their  just  rights  denied 
hem,  and  the  imported  pauper  labor  of  Europe  could  be  utilized  as  a  means  for  the 
ubversion  of  their  rights,  he  could  see  very  little  hope  in  the  future  for  the  wage- 
worker  in  this  country. 

IRON  AND  steel,  AND  THE   EDGAR  THOMSON  STEEL  WORKS. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  propose,  if  I  can,  to  prove  that  the  boy's  conclusions  la 
egard  to  his  own  wages  are  correct.  In  1886  Hon.  Daniel  Manning,  then  Secretary 
>f  the  Treasury,  issued  circulars  to  the  various  manufacturing  industries  of  the 
ountry,  asking  them  for  certain  information  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  manufactur- 
ng,  including  labor  and  material,  the  object  of  the  circular  being  to  gather  together 
ertain  data  to  lay  before  Congress  in  connection  with  a  revision  of  the  tariff. 
Lmong  others  to  whom  this  circular  was  sent  was  the  "American  Iron  and  SteeJ 
Association,"  with  offices  at  Philadelphia — an  association  representing,  I  may  say, 
he  entire  iron  and  steel  industry  of  this  country.  This  association  sent  out  to  the 
arious  manufacturing  industries  that  formed  the  association  a  circular-letter,  ask- 
flg  that  the  information  desired  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  be  reported 
D  them,  and  that  they  would  forward  it  to  the  Department.  Among  the  replies 
eceived  by  the  association  was  the  following  communication  from  Thomas  M. 
Jarnegie,  chairman  of  Carnegie  Brothers  &  Co., limited,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.: 

Notwithstanding  your  able  argument  in  favor  of  reporting  details  of  cost  of  produc- 
ion  of  iron  and  steel,  as  requested  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  in  a  less  objectlon- 
ble  form  by  yourself,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  our  interest  would  not  be  served  by  making- 
ach  returns  as  you  Indicate.  (See  page  373,  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  oa 
evision  of  the  tariff,  with  accompanying  documents,  1886.) 

I  am  prepared  to  supply  a  portion  of  the  information  desired  by  the  Depart- 
aent,  and  which  Carnegie  Brothers  &  Co.,  Limited,  declined  to  give,  taken  frona 
lieir  own  books. 

I  hold  in  my  hand,  a  copy  of  a  contract,  executed  under  seal,  which  I  saw 
opied  from  the  original  myself,  of  the  schedule  of  wages  as  awarded  by  the  board 
f  arbitration,  selected  by  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel 
Vorks,  fixing  the  wages  of  the  employes  of  that  company  in  the  steel-mill  depart- 
lent  for  the  year  1887;  and  from  this  contract  I  submit  a  statement  based  upon  the 
bsolute  amount  of  money  paid  to  these  employes  in  connection  with  the  steel-rail 
epartment  of  that  company.  They  are  not  theoretical  figures;  they  are  the  absolute 
38ult8in  dollars  and  cents,  and  fully  and  clearly  set  forth  the  earnings  of  the  wage- 
rorkers  working  in  that  company. 


m 


THE   COST  OP  STEEL  RAILS. 


Under  the  terms  and  conditions  of  this  contract  the  following  is  the  cost  of 
lanufacturing  a  ton  of  steel  rails,  of  2,240  pounds,  at  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel 
Vorks,  located  near  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  during  the  year  1887,  one  of  the  largest  estab- 
fihments  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States : 

[arket  price  for  one  ton  of  No.  1  Bessemer  pig-iron  at  the  mill $18  OO 

bnverting  same,  per  ton 1  50 

;looming,  per  ton 73 

inishing,  per  ton 1  8T 

1-6  tons  Connellsvllle  coke,  average  $1 35  per  ton 1  62 

123  n 
wdd  for  net  los3  on  material,  first  to  last,  13  per  cent 3  08 

Total $36  79 

ivlded  as  follows : 

«bor '  $4  09^ 

[aterial  and  waste • ■ 23  '^Q?' 


■ 


«76 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 


The  percentage  of  labor  cost  to  the  cost  of  production  is  15.80  per  cent.    T 
licrcentage  of  labor  cost  to  the  average  selling  price  of  steel  rails,  namely,  .^ 
price  of  rails,  $37.50;  labor,  per  ton,  $4.09,  is  10.09  per  cent.     The  present  m 
il7  per  ton  duty  on  steel  rails  is  equal,  under  the  present  tarlfl",  to  an  ad  valort 
^uty  of  85  per  cent. 

STEEL  BEAMS  OR  STRUCTURAL    IRON. 

The  principal  difference  in  cost  of  making  a  ton  of  beams  or  structural  su 

and  a  ton  of  stool  rails  is  about  30  per  cent,  additional  in  the  cost  of  labor  : 

€ost  of  steel  rails 

90  per  cent,  on  $4.09  labor 

Total 

The  value  of  steel  beama  imported  into  the  United  States  in  1887  at  f 
ports  of  shipment  was  1.3  cents  per  pound,  or  $20.88  per  ton,  and  the  duty 
the  same  under  the  present  tariti*  is  li  cents  per  pound,  or  the  equivalent  ot^  v 
per  ton,  or  102.75  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

These  estimates  of  cost  in  the  United  States  represent  net  cost,  without  profit' 
allowance  for  interest  on  or  depreciation  of  plant,  or  for  fuel  for  steam  power,  ( 
Spiegeleisen,  or  manganese,  the  coet  of  steam  power  and  Spiegeleisen  adding  vei 
little  to  the  cost  per  ton. 

The  cost  ot    labor   paid  for  the  manufacture  of  a  ton  of  steel  beams,  ^ 
upon  the  cost  of  production  per  ton,  namely,  labor  $5.;)3,  cost  $28.02  is  19  per 
The  percentage  labt^r  received  based  on  the  selliug  price  of  a  ton  of  steel  bc.,^ 
namely,  $5.33  for  lalx)r  and  $60  per  ton  selling  price,  is  8.7  per  cent. 

The  total  output  of  steel  rails,  blooms,  ingots,  and  beams  at  these  works  durii 
the  year  1887  was  as  follows . 

Tons  of  3,340  poun<^ 

t5tt>ol  rails..... .....%.....»«..%%. 1 

lUooiiis :.' 

iiixots • :: 

8toel  beams  (estimattMi) 

The  Humber  of  men  employed  in  producing  the  above,  classed  as  skilled  la 
.-  <j^d  the  actual  wages  paid  them  per  day,  as  awarded  by  the  boartl  of  abitration  i 
'j^j^jg Knights  of  Labor  and  accepted  by  the  managers  for  the  year  1887,  Mere  i 

Siit^  • 
•either  ic  converting  department. 

proQUc  t  «aob  72f  l^lnBT  on  turns  of  eijarht  hours,  roqulrinar  for  twenty-four 

ne  was  **''\  7t}  tuen  per  turn,  under  coutraot,  :faj0.03;  averatfe  daily  ^ 

60-CalU  U>T.artmt-iit,  a^J.oa. 

A 
in  the  138  m^^'^^-ttro  qj  kpaktment. 

neces  ^^  ^*'''^  '^ao.^Ja'yS^ouuf^"^  on  v,t  hours,  requlrloj?  for  twenty- four 

"p^Q  "•  ^"^  ^ me.oontract,  17603 ;  avenge  dally 

*a  tl  „  _ 

his  »  ISr^ntylilli'^.^J^.^.'  -^  •  ^^Sfli^, 

the  ^330.01.  »iyfi^'^  "feenr^ 

Oth  *.,     Wtai'''-'  .    G^^??Qm.irIcfo^-iniir  for  the  twenty-four] 

tl'  ^^oyetl  txQ()  hours,  under  oonl 

tX  ] 

,fj  lly  waffes  paid  678:  j 

^  Thomson  Steel 

i  'to  oonsideratioE 


flik  M  4^  Ml^^bM  i^^^a^*  ^^J  ^v*  T  ^^  ^^^^fcd  ^^^  ^^H  K  '^^A  V^W  ^^^^h  ^^M.  tt 


t£9,tam.i£ 


578 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY.' 


Thomson  Steel  Works  during  the  year  1887  was  about  $28.02.  But  let  us  call  it 
$33.  You  cannot  to-day  buy  a  ton  of  steel  beams  for  less  than  3.3  cents  per  pouud» 
or  $66  per  ton. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Bteel-beam  industry  of  this  country  to-day  is  in  a 
trust ;  and  I  have  further  shown  that  the  average  price  of  these  steel  beams  imported 
into  this  country  during  the  year  1887,  upon  which  duties  were  levied,  was  1.2  cents 
per  pound,  or  $36.88  per  ton,  and  that  the  duty  upon  them  under  the  existing  tariff 
is  li  cents  per  pound,  or  $28  88  per  ton,  the  duty  exceeding  the  value  of  the  imported 
article  $3  per  ton.  The  output  of  these  steel  beams  at  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel 
Works  during  the  year  1887  averaged  about  100  tons  per  day,  or  30,000  tons  per 
annum,  and  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  its  production,  $33  per  ton,  and  |6(> 
per  ton,  the  selling  price,  leaves  a  margin  of  $33  per  ton,  or  $1,000,000  profit  on 
this  one  product  alone ;  and  I  ask  this  House  and  the  country  whether  or  not  the 
Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  is  justified  in  reducing  the  duty  on  steel  rails  from 
$17  per  ton  to  $11  per  ton,  and  on  steel  beams  from  1;^  cents  per  pound  to  six-tenths 
of  1  cent  per  pound,  which  leaves  the  duty  on  steel  rails  under  the  proposed  bill 
equal  to  55  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  in  place  of  85  per  cent,  ad  valorem  under  the 
existing  tariff,  and  on  steel  beams  at  44|  per  cent,  ad  valorem  in  place  of  102  per 
cent,  under  the  present  law  ? 

Mulhall,  in  his  Historv  of  Prices,  in  referring  to  wages,  page  127,  says  that  the 
percentage  of  wages  paid  of  the  value  of  manufactures  produced  in  the  United 
States  since  1850  was :  In  1850,  23.3  per  cent.  ;  in  1860,  21.2  per  cent.;  in  1870, 19 
per  cent.,  and  in  1880  17.8  per  cent. ;  and  that  the  British  operatives  earn,  as  a  rule, 
in  wages  from  30  per  cent,  to  33  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  manufactures  they 
produce,  while  in  the  United  States  the  workman  gets  only  17.8  per  cent.  On  page 
125  he  states  the  advance  in  artisans'  wages  in  England  and  France  between  the 
years  1840  and  1880  was  as  follows : 


Occupation. 


Blacksmiths . . . . 

Masons 

Carpenters 

Plumbers 

Cotton  spinners 


Franck.    England. 


Per  cent. 
45 
55 
55 
57 
42 


Per  ce 


COST  OP  BEAMS  IN  OTHER  MILLS. 

I  also  have  before  me  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Edgar  Thomson  Steel  Worl 
dated  1887.     It  is  an  authentic  pamphlet,  furnishing  certain  data,  which  could  hat 
only  come  from  the  proprietors  of  the  company.    I  will  only  quote  an  extract 
from  the  last  page  : 

To  keep  the  works  running,  on  an  average  daily  output  of  1,400  tons  of  iron  and  man- 
ganese and  800  tons  of  rails,  requires  the  handling,  by  loading  and  unloidinflr,  of  7,930  gross 
tons  of  material  daily,  namely,  2,30(t  tons  of  iron  ore,  1,450  tons  of  coke,  670  tons  of  lime- 
stone, 1,400  tons  of  pig-metal,  1,000  tons  of  cinder,  800  tons  of  rails,  300  tons  coal,  sand,  brick, 
molds,  refractories,  etc.,  a  greater  tonnage  for  these  works  alone  than  the  entire  cotton 
crop  of  the  United  States. 

If  the  proprietors  of  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel  Works  were  indicted  befoi 
United  States  grand  jury  for  obtaining  money  under  false  pretenses,  namely, 
parties  to  the  tariff  act  of  1883,  if  this  admission  would  not  convict  them,  then  I  am'" 
at  a  loss  to  know  what  would.  With  an  average  output  daily  of  1,400  tons  of  pig- 
iron  and  800  tons  of  steel  rails,  their  total  consumption  of  coal  is  so  insignificamt  as 
to  be  included  in  the  items  of  "sand,  brick,  molds,  refractories,  etc.,"  at  300  tons 
total  of  these  articles ;  and  the  number  of  tons  of  coke  consumed,  1,450  tons,  which, 
at  the  market  price  of  today,  figures  $1.10,  would  make  a  total  cost  per  day  of 
$1,595,  equal  to  a  cost  for  fuel  of  only  72i  cents  per  ton  on  an  output  of  1,400  toi 
of  pig- iron  and  800  tons  of  steel  rails,  and  in  which  estimate  no  allowance  is 
for  natural  gas. 


J'^i 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  579 


I 

^Cbmparisons  are  always  odious,  but  the  latter  part  of  this  extract  says  : 

A  greater  tonnage  for  these  works  alone  than  the  entire  cotton  crop  of  the  United 
ates. 

I  will  endeavor  to  make  some  approximate  estimates  and  comparisons,  which 
is  pamphlet  has  failed  to  provide.  One  of  the  members  of  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel 
^orks,  Limited,  admitted  to  me  within  the  past  month,  within  200  feet  of  where  I  now 
md,  that  a  statement,  made  by  myself  in  iliefail  of  188G,  was  correct,  namely,  that 
drew  out  of  the  company  as  divide7ids  in  one  year  the  sum  of  $i,500M0,  the  equivalent 
^5,000  per  day  f 07'  three  hundred  days  in  the  year,  and  this  was  but  one  member  of  the 
m,  with  no  statement  of  profits  undivided.  No  intelligent  business  man  will  put  the 
ofits  of  this  company  at  less  than  |5,000,000  in  prosperous  years,  and  we  will 
ow  them  to  employ  7,500  wage-workers. 

I  wish  distinctly  to  state  here  that  I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  man  to 
cumulate  every  dollar  possible  in  tair  and  open  competition  with  his  fellow-men; 
d  that  the  dollar  so  accumlatcd  by  his  industry,  energy,  and  economy  is  entitled 
its  due  share  of  protection  by  the  Government  without  discrimination  as  between 
e  rich  and  poor.  I  care  not  how  many  millions  of  dollars  any  man  may  thus 
cumulate;  but  whet  I  protest  against  is  that  while  the  great  masses  of  the  people 
3  weighed  down  in  their  struggle  for  existence  the  favored  few  are  permitted  to 

r,  under  the  pretense  of  protection  to  home  industry  and  home  labor, 
COTTON. 

Let  us  find  out  if  we  can  what  the  cotton-planter  of  the  South  is  doing : 
e  average  price  per  pound  for  cotton  in  1886,  on  the  plantation,  was  %)i  cents  on  a 

)a]e  of  500  pounds  f  i2  50 

e  most  reliable  estimates  of  cost  of  production  gives  labor  50  per  cent. 

f  the  selling  price  of  cotton  on  the  plantation,  namely,  per  bale $21  35 

(As  against  only  8.7  per  cent,  of  the  selling  price  of  a  ton  of  steel  beams 
which  labor  receives  at  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel  Works.) 

oidental  cost  to  planter  over  labor  cost 6  25 

27  50 

oflt  to  planter  per  bale  for  interest  on  plantation  and  for  supervision $15  00 

This  sum,  $15  per  bale,  on  6,500,000  bales  yield  of  1886,  would  be  $97,500,000. 
le  total  plantation  value  of  the  cotton  crop  of  1886  was  $269,989,812,  equal  to  a 
D£s  return  for  each  acre  cultivated  of  $14.75. 

PROTECTED  AND   UNPROTECTED  INDUSTRIES. 

According  to  the  pamphlet  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  Edgar  Thomson 
3el  Works,  they  represent  that  their  whole  area  of  ground  is  154  acres,  and  we 
11  concede  that  they  employ  7,500  wage  workers — which  they  do  not — in  their 
rious  industries.  According  to  ofiicical  returns  of  the  Agricultural  Department, 
jre  are  now  under  cultivation  in  the  production  of  cotton  18,000,000  acres,  and  a 
r  estimate  of  the  number  of  adults  employed  in  cultivating  these  fields,  allowing 
ir  bales  to  an  adult,  is  1,625,000  wage- workers,  and  allowing  each  one  to  repre- 
it  a  family  of  five,  it  would  give  a  total  of  8,125,000  of  our  people  dependent  upon 
s  industry  for  a  support  and  a  living.  I  have  estimated  the  net  profits  of  the 
tire  cotton  crop  of  1886  at  $07,500,000,  which  represents  the  interest  on  the  cost 
the  18,000,000  acres  of  land  and  the  supervision  and  other  contingent  expenses 
i  liabilities  to  the  planter. 

Assuming  that  my  statement  that  the  said  company's  net  profits  in  the  most 
Dsperous  years  are  $5,000,000, 1  would  be  pleased  to  have  some  mathematician 
»rk  out  for  me  the  relative  comparative  profits  realized  by  the  protected  indus- 
es  of  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel  Works,  employing  7,500  men,  with  an  estimated 
3ital  of  $20,000,000,  occupying  154  acres  of  land  and  improvements  on  same,  and 
)  profits  realized  by  the  unprotected  planters  of  the  South,  cultivating  18,000,000 
•es  of  land,  and  employing  1,625,000  adults  in  this  industry,  supporting  8,125,000 
our  population.  Yet,  sir,  when  the  committee  introduced  this  bill  into  the  House 
i  proposed  to  put  the  cotton-ties  in  which  this  cotton  had  to  be  baled  for  exporta- 
n  on  the  free  list,  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  denounced  it  as  a 
crimination  against  home  industries  and  the  theory  of  protection. 


I 


580 


*'A  CONDITION— KOT  A  THEORY. 


ACCUMULATED  WEALTH   OF    THE   UNITED  STATES. 

The  truth  can  not  be  too  often  stated,  nor  falsehood  too  often  exposed.  Gentle 
men  on  the  other  side  have  frequently  referred  to  our  immense  strides  in  the  accu 
mulation  of  wealth  between  1850  and  1880,  and  this  I  admit ;  but  sir,  they  clain 
that  protection  has  done  this  in  the  building  up  of  our  manufacturing  industries 
I  will  take  their  own  figures,  upon  which  they  base  this  claim.  I  submit  the  fol 
lowing  official  table,  which  tells  its  own  story  : 

THE  WEALTH  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES  AND  ITS  DEVELOPMENT  FROM  1850  tO  188C 
[Compiled  from  the  reports  of  the  United  States  Census.] 


TRUE  VALUE  OF  REAL  ESTATE  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY. 


Total. 


Distribution. 


Total. 


1850.. 


1870.. 


1880.. 


$7,135,780,238 
16,159,616,068 
24,054,814,806 
43,642,000,000 


514 


624 


870 


Agriculture 14,967.343,580 

Manufactures 533,245,351 

Railroads '      296,260,128 

Another i  1,338,931,168 

Agriculture i  7,980,493,063 

Manufactures '  1,009,855,715 

Railroads '  1,134,452,909 

All  other I  6,034,814,381 

Agriculture '  8,899,966,997 

Manufactures !  1,694,567,152 

Railroads i  1,632,980,616 

All  other 111,827,300,041 

Agriculture '  12,104,081,440 

Manufactures !  2,790,272,606 

Railroads |  4,112,367,175 

All  other 1 24,635,278,779 


$171 

23 

13 

101 

254 

32 

36 

192 

231 

44 

42 

307 

241 

56 

82 

491 


Tears 


Increase  during  decade. 


Total. 

+i 

S 

$9,033,835,840 

136.46 

$330 

7,895,198,738 

48.86 

226 

19,587,185,194 

81.43 

443 

Distribution. 


Total. 


I860.. 


1870.. 


1880. 


Agriculture 
Manufactures 
Railroads. . . 
All  other  . . 
Agriculture 
Manufactures 
Railroads. . . 
All  other  . . 
Agriculture  . , 
Manufactures 
Railroads. . 
All  other  . 


$3,013, 

476, 

838, 

4,695, 

919, 

684, 

498, 

5,792, 

3,204, 

1,095, 

2,479, 

12,807, 


149,483 
610,364 
192,781 
883,313 
473,934 
711,437 
527,707 
485,660 
114,443 
705,454 
386,559 
978,738 


63.66 

89.39 

383.94 

350.73 

11.53 

67.80 

43.94 

95.98 

36.00 

64.66 

151.83 

108.30 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY/ 


581 


^K                                                Increase  since  1850. 

^m    Total. 

p 
o 

ft 

o 

Distribution. 

Total. 

■M 

t 

B 

;. 
^ 

■ 

r  Agriculture 

$3,013,149,483 

60.66 

$110 

^^9,023,835,840 

126.46 

«qQn  '  J  Manufactures. . . 
^^^"  ji  Railroads 

476,610,364 
838,193,781 

89.39 
282.94 

18 
31 

^^■: 

1  ,A11  other 

4,695,883,212 

350.72 

172 

^Hl 

1  '  Agriculture 

3,932,623,417 

79.17 

127 

^P6,919,033,578 

237.11 

e .  e  1 J  Manufactures. . . 
^^  1 1  Railroads 

1,161,321,801 
1,336,720,488 

217.78 
451.20 

37 
48 

^H 

1    All  other 

10,488,368,872 

758.69 

338 

^B 

I  r  Agriculture 

7,136,7.37,860 

143.66 

199 

^Je,  506,219, 772 

511.60 

1  mo  J  Manufactures. . . 
-^'^^^  i  Railroads 

2,257,027,255 
3,816,107,047 

423.26 
1,288.09 

63 
107 

P 

[Another 

23,296,347,610 

1,739.37 

650 

The  principal  facts  to  be  remembered  in  connection  with  the  foregoing  table, 


First.  That  of  the  gross  accumulations  of  wealth  between  1850  and  1880,  as 
m  by  the  census,  namely,  $36,506,219,723. 

Per  cent. 

.  lands  and  personal  property  on  same,  gave 19.55 

al  Invested  in  manufactures 6.18 

oads L0.45 

\^uc  industries  and  suburban  property 63.82 

B  100^ 

Second.  That  the  percentage  of  gain  in  manufactures  in  the  decades  named 

is  follows : 

Per  cent. 

een  1850  and  1860,  low  tariff 89.39 

een  1860  and  1870,  high  tariff 67.80 

een  1870  and  1880,  high  tariff 64.66 

Third.  That  the  percentage  of  gain  in  farming  lands  and  personal  property  on 

was  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

een  1850  and  1860,  low  tariff 60.66 

een  1860  and  1870,  high  tariff 11.52 

een  1870  and  1880,  high  tariff 38.00 

fourth.  That  had  the  agricultural  resources  of  the  country  between  1870  and 
maintained  the  same  relative  gain  shown  between  1850  and  1860,  the  latter 
d  being  under  a  tariff  for  revenue  and  the  former  under  a  protective  tariff, 
icrease  would  have  been  $3,125,000,000  more,  or  within  $665,273,606  of  the 
value  of  capital  invested  in  manufactures  in  the  United  States  in  1880. 
fifth.  That  the  percentage  of  manufactures  to  the  wealth  of  the  country  accu- 
ted  in  thirty  years  is  only  6.18  per  cent. 

0TE8.— Gold  being  at  a  premium  of  35  in  1870,   the  data  for  that  year  reported  by 

nited  States  Census  have  been  reduced  to  gold  value. 

\.griculture"  represents  the  value  of  the  farms,  farm  Implements  and  machinery,  and 

3  stock. 

Manufactures"  represents  the  capital  invested  in  manufactories. 

lailroads"  represents  the  cost  of  constructing  the  railroads. 


682  "A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY." 


I 


I  would  also  refer  here  to  the  fact  that  between  1860  and  1880,  the  number 
immigrants  that  arrived  in  this  country  was  5,093,333  ;  the  larger  proportion 
which,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

It  is  also  claimed  that  the  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor  since  1873  is  the  resi 
of  the  protective  theory.  From  1873  to  June,  30, 1887,  our  exports  exceeded  o 
imports  by  $1,611,973,748. 

Our  total  exports  for  the  year  1886  were  $665,964,529,  of  which  $484,954,5 
were  derived  from  agriculture;  and  the  exports  of  cotton  and  cotton-seed  oil,  rep: 
sented  in  the  latter  item,  were  $207,201,610,  or  nearly  50  per  cent,  of  the  agricultui 
products  exported,  and  the  ratio  of  agricultaral  products  exported  to  the  to 
exports  was  72.8  per  cent.  If,  sir,  the  same  ratio  is  applicable  to  the  balance  in  o 
favor  between  the  years  1873  and  1887,  it  will  show  that  of  this  balance  the  nc 
protected  industries  of  this  country — 

The  farmer  and  cotton-planter  gave  you  72.8,  or $1,173,516, 

Other  industries,  37.3,  or 438,4,56, 

Total $1,61^ 

WHAT  THE  WOOL   TARIFF  COSTS  IN  ONE   STATE.  * 

I  turn  now  to  another  vexed  question — wool.  This  bill  puts  wool  on  the  ff 
list.  It  does  so,  I  make  bold  to  maintain,  not  only  in  the  interest  of  the  wool 
manufacturer,  but  in  that  of  sheep  husbandry  itself. 

In  referring  to  the  woolen  schedule  and  its  effects  upon  the  people  of  my  o^ 
State,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  relatively  it  will  have  the  same  effect  upon  the  peo] 
of  the  other  States  of  the  Union.  I  am  compelled  to  refer  to  the  census  of  1880,  a 
to  resort  to  statistics,  which  are  not  as  interesting  to  the  general  reader  as  the  lat 
novel,  but  may  be  more  instructive.  According  to  the  Agricultural  Report  of  18 
the  number  of  sheep  in  Pennsylvania  was  1,189,481 ;  number  of  farms  in  the  St 
(census  of  1880)  213,542 ;  average  number  of  sheep  to  the  farm,  5.5  ;  pounds  of  Wi 
clipped,  5,645,984;  average  weight  of  fleece,  4|  pounds,  which,  at  the  estimai 
market  price  of  to-day,  32  cents  per  pound,  would  give  a  total  value  of  $1,806,714 
Should  the  bill  as  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  become  a  h 
the  result  upon  the  people  of  my  State  would  be  as  follows :  First,  upon  1 
farmers:  The  213,542  farms  produced,  as  stated  above,  in  1886,  5,645,984  pounds 
wool,  equal  to  26  pounds  of  wool  to  the  farm,  and  the  duties  upon  foreign  wools 
the  same  quality,  unwashed,  under  the  present  tariff  of  10  cents  per  pound  wo" 
amount  to  $564,598.40.  If  making  wool  free  would  cause  the  value  to  decline  eq 
to  the  duty  now  imposed,  which  it  would  not,  in  my  judgment,  it  would  shoT^ 
gross  loss  to  the  213,542  farms  of  $2.60  each,  or  a  total  of  $564,598.  Per  coni 
the  per  capita  consumption  of  domestic  and  imported  woolen  and  worsted  goc 
according  to  the  census  of  1880,  was  $6.50,  which  multiplied  by  five,  the  estimai 
average  number  in  a  family,  would  be  $32.50. 

The  proposed  reduction  in  the  woolen  schedule  is  39  per  cent,  from  the  present  tariff, 
or  89  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the  woolen  goods  consumed,  which  would  he  an  equiva- 
lent saving  of I 

The  proposed  reduction  of  the  duties  on  sugar,  namely,  $11,000,000  on  the  imports,  and 
$1,000,0(10  reduction  on  the  cost  of  home  production,  would  be  $12,000,000,  or  the 
equivalent  of  30  cents  per  capita  on  a  population  of  60,000,000,  or  on  a  family  of 
five I 

fl 

From  which  deduct  the  estimated  loss  to  each  family  of 

It  would  on  these  two  items  alone  show  a  saving  to  every  family  in  the  State  of  Pe 
sylvania  of 

The  profit  and  loss  account  of  the  bill  under  consideration  to  the  people  of 
State,  based  on  the  population  of  1880,  namely,  4,282,891,  would  show  a  saving 
$1.56  each,  or  $6,681,309.96  on  these  two  items  alone,  and  not  taking  into  coDf 
eration  the  large  savings  that  will  accrue  to  them  from  the  other  proposed  reductl 
under  the  bill.  But,  let  us  examine  the  woolen  schedule  as  proposed  in  the  I 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Pennsylvania  manufacturer  of  woolen  and  worsted  goc 


M 


I 


t 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  583 


i  which  I  claim  is  applicable  to  the  woolen  manufacturers  of  the  whole  country. 
.  ording  to  the  census  of  1880  there  were  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  manufac- 
;  ag  establishments  of  woolen  goods  as  follows : 

•  iber  of  mills  or  factories  producing— 

vVoolen  goods 324 

Woolen  hats 23 

»V orated  goods 28 

^^KTotal 375 

^^■fountof  capital  invested $24,537,743 

'  fW^aterial  used  for  one  year 29,497,945 

}8  wages  paid 7,046,273 

nds  of  wool  consumed,  grown  In  the  United  States 22,556,077 

orted  wools,  pounds 5,005,271 

Total  consumption  of  wool pounds . .    33,561,348 

Total  value  ot  the  manufactured  articles  produced  for  the  year  ending  June 
30,1880  $44,132,590 

rage  number  of  hands  employed : 

Vlales  over  sixteen 10,790 

?emales  above  fifteen 9,477 

Children 3,571 

Total  number  of  persons 23,838 

rerage  wages  paid  per  hand  per  year,  f287.20. 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  Pennsylvania  consumed  33,561,348  pounds  of  wool  in 
mills  in  the  vear  1880,  she  only  produced  within  the  State,  in  1886,  5,645,984 
nds,  or  16  4  5  per  cent,  of  the  quantity  required  in  1880,  and  that  there  were 
•loyed  in  this  industry  23,838  of  her  population. 

PROTECTION   INCREASES  THE  COST  OF  LIVING. 

I  claim  that  I  have  shown  by  the  facts  submitted  that  even  the  skilled  wage- 
ker  employed  in  the  protected  industries  of  the  country  receives  no  higher  and 
a  not  as  high  wages  as  the  wage- worker  in  the  unprotected  industries  of  the 
itry.  That  while  undue  protection  does  not  increase  the  wages  of  the  wage- 
ker  employed  in  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the  country,  it  adds  enormously 
le  cost  of  his  living,  as  well  as  to  that  of  the  minister  of  the  gospel,  the  doctor, 
lawyer,  the  carpenter,  the  mason,  the  blacksmith,  the  widow  and  the  orphan, 
that  large  class  of  our  people  living  upon  limited  incomes,  those  too  old  to 
k;  and  upon  no  class  is  its  effects  more  disastrous  than  upon  the  agricultural 
3e3 :  that  the  home  market  theory  to  the  farmer  is  a  fallacy ;  that  if  the  census 
880  is  reliable,  an  1  that  17,392,099  of  our  population  were  engaged  in  the  five 
it  classes  of  occupations,  that  of  the  ag/icultural  products  produced  and  con- 
ed in  the  United  States  the  relative  consumption  would  be  as  follows  : 

Per  cent. 

culture 7,670,493,  or  44.1 

fessional  and  personal  services  4,074,238,  or  23.4 

le  and  transportation 1,810,256.  or  10,4 

ing  and  engineering 1,104,517,  or   6.4 

uf  acturing 2,732,595,  or  15.7 

Total 17,392,099      100.0 

Which  would  show  that  the  farmers  and  those  dependent  upon  them  were  con- 
ers  to  the  extent  of  44.1  per  cent,  of  what  they  produced  themselves,  while 
e  classes  named  consumed  40.2  per  cent.,  leaving  only  15.7  per  cent,  for  those 
iged  in  manufacturing. 

That  the  protection  theory  has  exterminated  our  shipping  from  the  seas  of  the 
Id ;  that  the  tables  submitted,  showing  how  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the 
ted  States  has  been  made  between  the  years  1850  and  1880,  demonstrates  that 
ection  to  home  industries  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  it. 


I 


584 


'a  condition — NOT  A  THEORY.' 


IX. 
DECLINE  OF  SHEEP  RAISING. 

A  CLEAR  STATEMENT   SHOWING  THAT  UNDER  A     SYSTEM    OP    HIGH    TAXES 
PRODUCTION    HAS    DECREASED, 

From  a  speech  by  W.  D.  Bynum,  of  Indiana,  April  26. 
It  is  contended  that  a  duty  on  wool  is  a  necessary  protection  to  our  fai 
It  is  strange  that  the  protectionists  have  by  the  mere  assertion  of  the  truth  of  tt 
statement  been  able  to  pull  the  wool  over  the  eyes  of  many  of  our  farmers,  and  tb 
secure  their  support  in  sustaining  a  measure  which  has  plundered  them  at  hoc 
and  abroad  ;  at  home  upon  vfhat  they  have  consumed,  and  abroad  upon  what  th( 
have  exported.  How  has  protection  benefited  the  wool-growers  ?  Has  not  tl 
price  of  wool  steadily  fallen  since  1867,  when  the  highest  rate  of  duty  was  plac* 
upon  it?  The  advocates  of  protection  admit  this— not  only  admit  it,  but  many 
them  claim  it  as  the  result  of  "  protection."  Mr.  Haskell,  a  leading  member  of  th 
House  from  Kansas,  in  1882  said : 

I  have  here  the  figures.    To-day  wool  is  cheaper  per  pound,  and  has  been  for  the  pa 
five  years,  than  it  was  from  1855  to  1860  under  the  free-trade  rating  of  the  free- trade  part 


STEADY  DECLINE   IN  THE  PRICE   OP  WOOL. 

To  show  exactly  what  has  taken  place  by  way  of  a  fall  in  prices,  I  have  pr 
pared  a  table  giving  the  price  of  wool  for  four  years  preceding  the  Act  of  1867;  f 
four  years  succeeding  the  same ;  for  four  years  preceding  the  Act  of  1883,  wh( 
there  was  a  reduction  of  about  10  per  cent.,  and  for  the  last  four  years. 


Tear. 

Price 

per 

pound. 

Tear. 

Price 

per 

pound. 

Tear. 

Price 

per 

pound. 

Tear. 

i 
i 

Prie 

per 
poun 

1863..     .. 

Cents. 

75 
100 

75 

70 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

Gents. 
46 
48 
46 
62 

50K 

1879'. 

1880 

1881 

1882 

Cents. 

37 

46 
•  42 

42 

i 

j  1884 

Cent 
84 

1864 

1    L885 

31 

1865 

j  1886 

3B 

1866.  .. 

'  1887 

m 

I 

M 

Four  years' 
average. 

80 

41% 

i 

' 

The  average  price  of  wool  for  four  years  preceding  the  Act  of  1867  was  i 
cents  a  pound ;  while  for  four  years  succeeding  it  was  only  50  cents  a  pound.  F( 
four  years  preceding  the  reduction  in  1883  it  averaged  41f  cents  a  pound,  and  f( 
the  last  four  years  it  has  averaged  only  34  cents  a  pound.  It  cannot  be  claimed  tb 
the  reduction  in  price  during  the  last  four  years  was  the  result  of  the  reductions  i 
1883,  as  the  reductions  of  duty  were  only  10  per  cent.,  while  the  fall  in  price  hf 
been  much  larger.  The  fall  in  the  price  of  wool  has  gone  on  uninterruptedly  ev< 
since  the  duty  was  increased  in  1867.  Of  what  benefit,  then,  has  "protection  "  bee 
to  the  wool  grower. 

Mr.  Stebbins,  in  his  work  on  Protection,  following  the  suggestion  of  the  Tari 
Commission,  has  explained  or  undertaken  to  explain  wherein  the  wool-growe: 
have  been  benefited.    He  says : 

Its  results  as  to  wool  are  given  in  the  Tariff  Commission  report,  and  can  be  stated  i 
follows:  Sheep,  1860,  23,471,275  ;  1880,  43,576,897.  Pounds  of  wool  in  I860,  60,264,913 ;  in  18^ 
240.000,COO,  or  twice  as  much  per  bead  as  in  1860.  Prices  in  Boston  in  currency  averaged 
1867, 51  cents ;  in  1875,  43  cents ;  in  1880,  48  cents.  The  price  is  a  little  lower,  but  the  sum  fro 
each  fleece  nearly  double,  as  the  results  of  improved  breeds  under  protective  encourage 
ment  and  with  a  home  market. 


I 


*A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  585 


Let  US  try  to  ascertain  the  truth  about  this  subject.  I  do  not  claim  that  the 
iuction  in  the  price  of -wool  since  18C7  is  the  result,  solely,  of  the  high  duty  placed 
(on  it,  but  I  do  think  it  is  one  of  the  causes  which  have  brought  about  such  a 
iical  reduction.  The  establishment  of  large  ranches  in  Texas,  New  Mexico  and 
»lorado,  where  lands  and  pasturage  could  be  bad  at  nominal  rates,  and  sheep  kept 
a  much  less  cost  per  head  than  in  the  Northern  States,  had  a  marked  influence 
lon  the  price.  In  1867  New  Mexico,  Texas  and  Colorado  contained  but  1,454,717 
ad,  while  in  1885  they  contained  14,155,343.  Wool  can  be  raised  much  cheaper 
Tf  xas  and  New  Mexico  than  in  Ohio,  Michigan  and  Indiana,  and  this  illustrates 
3  great  fallacy  of  trying  to  protect  the  production  of  materials  which  can  be 
own  in  one  section  of  the  country  at  one-half  the  cost  in  another. 

DECLINE  IN  COMPARATIVE  NUMBER  OP   SHEEP  IN  THIS  COUNTRY. 

Why  tax  the  people  of  Minnesota  and  Dakota  upon  their  clothing  fthat  wool 
ly  be  grown  in  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  ?  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  you  can 
<t  stimulate  the  production  of  wool  by  a  high  tariff.  With  us  the  raising  of 
eep  is  not  for  the  wool,  but  for  the  meat.  Farmers  in  the  Northern  States  and  in 
.  the  States  will  always  raise  sheep,  and  the  number  of  head  will  increase  as  popu- 
.ion  increases  without  any  protection.  Farmers  will  raise  sheep  because  a  certain 
imber  can  always  be  profitably  kept  upon  any  farm.  They  assist  in  cultivating 
e  land,  they  eat  down  the  briars  and  shrubs  and  clean  up  the  hillsides,  thus  saving 
ach  labor  and  expense,  and  whatever  the  wool  brings  is  clear  profit.  The  profit 
raising  sheep,  except  where  the  climate  is  mild  and  pasturage  abundant,  is  not 
the  wool,  but  in  the  mutton. 

With  free  wool  the  United  Kingdom  upon  her  121,751  square  miles  in  1886  had 
,955,240  head  of  sheep,  while  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  three  great  wool- 
owing  States,  upon  their  139,028  square  miles  had  only  8,111,158  head.  France, 
)on  her  204,030  square  miles,  in  1885  had  .22,616,542  head,  while  Maine,  New 
Drk,  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Virginia  and  Maryland,  upon  their  200,473 
uare  miles,  had  only  5,020,053  head.  Germany,  with  her  208,624  square  miles 
1883  had  19,189,715  head,  while  Texas,  upon  her  274,356  square  miles,  had  only 
J77,500  head,  and  this  number  has  been  diminished  over  3,000,000  head  in  the  last 
ir  years. 

The  United  States,  with  twenty  years  of  protection,  has  about  14  head  of  sheep 
the  square  mile,  while  Germany,  with  free  wool,  has  92  head;  France,  with  free 
Dol,  100  head,  and  the  United  Kingdom,  with  free  wool,  235  head  to  the  square 
lie.  The  number  of  sheep  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  85  per  cent,  of  the  popula- 
m,  in  France  58  per  cent.,  and  in  the  United  States  75  per  cent.  Why  this  equal- 
Mn  the  number  of  sheep  as  compared  to  population,  and  great  inequality  as  to 
ea  of  territory  ?  It  must  be  that  it  requires  about  this  proportion  to  raise  the  mut- 
n  consumed  by  the  inhabitants.  In  1884  we  had,in  round  numbers,  50,000,000  sheep; 
It  in  1887  this  number  was  reduced  to  44,000,000,  not  because  there  was  no  demand 
r  wool — we  imported  large  quantities  of  wool  and  even  shoddy  during  these  years 
but  because  we  had  surpassed  the  number  required  to  raise  the  mutton  consumed 
'  us.  In  1885  we  exported  over  a  half  million  head,  not  to  produce  wool,  but  for 
lughter. 

The  wool-growers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  stated  to  the  Tariff  Commission 
at  it  cost  them  from  $2  to  $2.04  a  year  to  keep  a  sheep.  The  fleece  averaging  six 
)unds,  the  wool  would  have  to  bring  33^  cents  a  pound  to  pay  expenses;  adding 
reasonable  sum  for  shearing,  handling,  interest,  etc.,  it  is  fair  to  estimate  that  wool 
.nnot  be  raised  in  these  States  for  less  than  40  cents  a  pound. 

We  consume  annually  600,000,000  pounds;  this,  at  40  cents,  would  cost 
40,000,000.  We  can  purchase  foreign  wools  and  pay  for  them  in  the  products  of  labor 
r  one-half  this  sum.  Now,  why  make  the  people  of  the  United  States  pay  a  hun- 
ed  millions  more  for  their  wool  in  order  to  have  it  all  produced  at  home? 

In  countries  where  the  profit  is  in  raising  mutton  the  demand  for  mutton  will 
ntrol  and  regulate  the  number  of  sheep,  and  by  no  system  of  protection  can  the 
imber  of  sheep  be  increased  above  that  point.  In  countries  where  wool  can  be 
own  at  comparative  little  cost,  and  the  profit  to  the  shepherd  is  not  in  slaughter- 


586 


"a  condition— not  a  theory.' 


ing  but  in  shearing  his  sheep,  there  the  wool  will  be  grown  to  clothe  the  people  ii 
colder  climates  ;  and  to  exclude  the  same  from  our  shores  is  not  only  destructioj 
our  woolen  mills,  but  it  is  a  serious  blow  to  every  other  industry  and  to  every  " 
vidual  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  to  none  is  it  more  detrimental  than  to] 
great  body  of  our  people  who  live  by  their  hands. 


THE  DECLINE  IN  WOOLEN  MANUFACTURES. 

The  condition  of  our  woolen   manufacturers  is  well  known.    They  have  beet 

struggling  for  existence  under  a  protection  too  burdensome  for  the  people  to  longej 

tolerate.    Their  condition  has  been  well  described  in  a  letter  by  one  of  their  nui 

published  in  the  Boston  Herald  of  February  18, 1888.    He  says : 

In  addition  to  the  mills  I  have  mentioned  as  now  shut  down,  I  will  state  for  yo'ai 
information,  if  j-ou  do  not  already  know  it,  that  since  1880  29  woolen  mills  and  135  sets 
of  machinery  have  been  destroyed  b}'  fire  in  New  England,  and  have  not  been  replaced— 
a  fact  which  proves  more  forcibly  than  can  any  words  of  mine  the  uuprofltableness  oi 
the  woolen  manufacture  and  the  folly  of  a  protective  i^olicy  which  closes  against  it  tli( 
world's  markets  at  the  same  time  that  this  country  is  importing  w^oolen  j^oods  to  the  value 
of  $45,000,000  annually.  And  in  this  connection  I  will  ask  your  attention  to  the  follow 
ing  table : 


1 


Comparative  number  of  manufactories  and  sets  of  cards  in  tfte  woolen  manufacture  prope^M 
the  years  1870  and  1880,  compiled  from  census  returns.                          ^| 

Mills. 

Sets  of  cards.      ^| 

States. 

1870. 

1880. 

Decrease . 

1870. 

1880. 

Decr'se. 

In  all  the  States  and  Ter- 
ritories   

2,890 

1,990 

Per  cent. 
31.14 

8,352 

5,961 

Percent 

In  New  En;jland  States : 

108 

107 

185 

77 

65 

65 

78 
93 
167 
58 
50 
44 

28.00 
13.1 
9.7 
24.7 
23.2 
32.3 

660 
331 
1,367 
351 
474 
175 

435 
261 
1,3.56 
293 
432 
145 

34.1 

21.1 

0.8 

Maine 

Massachusetts 

New  Hampshire 

Rhode  Island 

1G.£ 

8.8 

Vermont 

17.1 

Totals 

607 

490       !       19.3        1     .S  3.58 

2,922 

13.4 

This  table  shows  that  in  the  country  at  large,  in  the  ten  years  between  1870  and  1880, 
the  number  of  woolen  mills  decreased  oVer  31  per  cent.,  and  "the  sets  of  cards  over  28  per 
cent.  Or,  if  we  confine  our  attention  to  our  own  vicinity,  in  New  England  the  decrease 
in  mills  has  been  nearly  20  per  cent.,  and  in  sets  of  cards"^over  13  per  cent.  Is  not  this  a 
significant  hint  of  the  extreme  prosperity  which  the  tariff  has  brought  to  wool  manufac- 
turing in  this  "favored  country  ?"  And  yet,  it  was  during  this  period  that  the  very  highest 
tariff  rates  prevailed. 

It  is  useless  for  us  to  ignore  the  fact  that  we  must  place  wool  on  the  free-list  or 
our  woolen  manufacturers  will  have  to  succumb.  They  cannot  live  under  this  high 
rate  of  duty  upon  wool,  and  they  know  that  the  time  has  passed  when  they  can  ask 
the  great  masses  to  shoulder  heavier  burthens. 


"A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  687 


^HbvT  THE  COUNTRY  GREW  UNDER   A    LIBERAL    SYSTEM    OP    TAXES— THE 
^^^  INCREASED  EFFICIENCY  AND  DECREASED  COST  OF   LABOR. 

W^KFrom  a  Speech  by  John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky,  Speaker  of  the  House,  May  19. 

Whenever  an  attempt  is  made  to  emancipate  labor  from  the  servitude  which  an 
Qcqual  system  of  taxation  imposes  upon  it ;  whenever  it  is  proposed  to  secure,  as 
,r  as  possible,  to  each  individual  citizen  the  full  fruits  of  his  own  earnings,  subject 
ily  to  the  actual  necessities  of  the  Government,  and  whenever  a  measure  is 
resented  for  the  removal  of  unnecessary  restrictions  from  domestic  industries  and 
iternational  commerce,  so  as  to  permit  freer  production  and  freer  exchanges,  the 
arm  is  sounded  and  all  the  cohorts  of  monopoly  are  assembled  lo  hear  their  hearlds 
'oclaim  the  immediate  and  irretrievable  ruin  ol  the  country. 

We  have  been  told  over  and  over  again  during  this  debate  that  the  passage  of 
le  pending  bill  will  destroy  many  valuable  industries  now  flourishing  in  various 
irts  of  the  country  ;  that  it  will  deprive  thousands  of  laborers  of  employment  and 
•eatly  reduce  the  wages  of  those  who  continue  to  work;  if  I  believed  that  the 
issage  of  this  measure  would  injure  a  single  honest  industry  or  reduce  the  wages 
■  those  who  are  employed  in  it,  I  would,  notwithstanding  the  great  emergency 
hich  confronts  us,  hesitate  long  before  giving  it  my  support.  But  in  my  opinion 
e  reductions  now  proposed  on  dutiable  imports,  and  the  proposed  additions  to  the 
96  list,  will  be  beneficial  to  the  manufacturers  themselves  as  well  as  to  their 
borers  and  the  consumers  of  their  products;  and  as  the  Representatives  from  New 
agland  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  appear  to  be  especially  alarmed  concerning 
e  injurious  eSects  of  this  bill  upon  the  great  manufacturing  industries  in  their 
irt  of  the  country,  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  call  their  attention  to  a  few 
storical  facts  connected  with  our  tariff  legislation  in  the  past  and  the  effects  of  low 
tes  of  duty  upon  the  prosperity  of  their  people. 

The  highest  rates  of  duty  imposed  by  the  tariff  act  of  1846  upon  any  class  of 
Dolen  goods,  cotton  fabrics,  manufactures  of  leather  and  of  hardware,  was  30  per 
nt.  ad  valorem,  and  upon  most  kinds  of  cotton  goods  it  was  only  25  per  cent. 
lese  were  the  industries  in  which  New  England  was  most  largely  engaged,  and  her 
jpresentatives  here,  except  those  from  the  State  of  Maine,  who  were  divided  upon 
e  question,  protested  against  the  passage  of  that  act,  as  they  now  protest  against 
e  passage  of  the  pending  bill,  upon  the  ground  that  it  would  paralyze  and  ruin 
ese  great  interests.  The  Representatives  from  Massachsuetts,  Rhode  Island, 
)nnecticut,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  voted  unanimously  against  the  bill, 
th  the  exception  of  Mr.  Collamer,  of  Vermont,  who  did  not  vote  at  all.  But  it 
ssed,  nevertheless,  and  became  a  law ;  and  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  let  us  see  what 
effect  was  upon  the  most  Important  industries  of  these  great  manufacturing 
ates,  and  what  the  subsequent  action  of  their  Representatives  was,  after  an  experi- 
ce  of  eleven  years  under  these  moderate  rates  of  duty. 

EFFECT  OF  A  LIBERAL   TARIFF  ON  MANUFACTURING  DEVELOPMENT. 

We  have  no  authentic  statistics  showing  the  progress  made  by  manufacturing 
iustries  between  1846  and  18")7  as  a  separate  and  distinct  period  of  time,  but  it 
ly  be  fairly  assumed  that  the  full  force  and  effect  of  the  new  rates  of  duty  were 
ilized  at  least  as  early  as  the  census  year  1849,  and  we  have  the  census  returns  of 
50  and  1860,  the  latter  based  upon  the  productions  of  the  year  1859,  to  which  I 
5  leave  to  invite  the  attention  of  gentlemen  from  New  England  and  other  gentle- 
)n  who  believe  that  low  tariffs  destroy  manufactures  and  pauperize  labor.  During 
)  period  mentioned  the  value  of  all  our  woolen  manufactures  increased  more 
in  42  percent.,  the  number  of  hands  employed  increased  18i  percent.,  but  the 
al  amount  of  wages  paid  increased  nearly  37  per  cent.,  showing  that  the  per- 


588  "A  CONDITION — NOT  A   THEORY." 

centage  of  increase  in  the  ar/.ount  of  wages  paid  was  twice  as  great  as  the  percentage 
of  increase  in  the  number  of  hands  employed.  Taking  all  the  New  England  States 
together  the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  product  in  Ihis  industry  was  62  per  cent. 
The  increase  in  Massachusetts  was  54  per  cent. ;  in  Rhode  Island,  176  per  cent. ;  in 
Vermont,  61|  per  cent.,  and  in  Maine,  831  per  cent.  In  the  manufacture  of  hosiery 
the  progress  during  the  ten  years  under  consideration  was  almost  marvelous.  In 
the  Eastern  States  the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  product  was  481  per  cent.  It 
was  523  per  cent,  in  Connecticut,  377  per  cent,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  373  per 
cent,  in  Massachusetts. 

What  was  the  etfect  upon  the  manufacture  of  cotton  fabrics  in  New  England 
and  in  the  whole  country  ?  The  value  of  the  production  in  the  United  States 
increased  77  per  cent.,  the  number  of  hands  employed  increased  28i  per  cent.,  and 
the  total  amount  of  wages  paid  increased  39  per  cent.  In  New  England  the  increase' 
in  the  value  of  the  product  was  over  81  per  cent.,  in  the  number  of  hands  employed 
28  per  cent.,  and  in  the  amount  of  wages  paid  36  per  cent.  Massachusetts  increased 
her  product  77  per  cent.,  New  Hampshire  55  per  cent.,  Rhode  Island  over  87  per 
cent.,  Connecticut  116  per  cent.,  Maine  137  per  cent.,  and  Vermont  27^  per  cent. 

In  the  six  New  England  States  the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  product  in  the 
manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  was  83  per  cent.:  in  Massachusetts  the  increase 
was  92  per  cent ,  in  Connecticut  10  per  cent.,  in  Maine  99  per  cent.,  and  in  Rhode 
Island  337  per  cent.  The  production  in  New  England  alone  in  1860  was  greater 
than  the  aggregate  production  of  all  the  States  of  the  Union  in  1850.  In  the  man- 
ufacture of  hardware  New  England  increased  the  value  of  her  product  100  per 
cent ,  and  in  this  industry  also  her  product  in  1860  was  greater  than  the  product  of 
all  Ihe  States  in  1850. 

Instead  of  paralyzing  the  industries  and  pauperizing  labor  in  New  England,  or 
any  other  part  of  the  country  for  that  matter,  the  tariff  act  of  1846  infused  new  life  and 
vigor  into  our  languishing  manufactures  and  secured  more  constant  employment  and 
higher  wages  to  our  laboring  people ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  even  the  strong 
prejudices  of  New  England  were  removed  by  actual  experience,  and  in  1857  every 
Representative  from  that  part  of  the  country  who  voted  at  all  voted  for  a  bill  mak* 
ing  an  almost  uniform  reduction  of  20  per  cent,  from  the  rates  imposed  by  the  act 
of  1846,  and  placing  many  additional  articles  on  the  free  list. 

STILL  FURTHER  LIBERALIZED  IN  1857. 

Here  is  the  vote  upon  the  tariff  act  of  1857,  as  it  first  passed  a  Republican 
House  over  which  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts,  presided  as  Speaker. 
Five  of  the  six  Representatives  from  Maine  voted  for  it,  and  the  other  one,  who  was^ 
absent  when  the  vote  was  taken,  had  made  a  Sj^eech  in  favor  of  its  passage.  Nine 
of  the  ten  Representatives  from  Massachusetts  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  the  other 
was  in  the  chair  and  did  not  vote.  Every  Representative  from  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island  was  present  and  voted  for  the  bill,  and 
among  them  appears  the  name  of  the  venerable  and  distinguished  Senator  who 
still  serves  his  State  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  Hon.  Justin  S.  Morrill. 

The  bill  to  w^hich  I  have  referred  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  where  it  was  amended 
by  making  a  very  slight  increase  in  the  reductions  on  certain  articles,  and,  finally, 
upon  agreeing  to  the  conference  report,  eighteen  Representatives  from  New  England 
voted  in  the  affirmative  and  nine  in  the  negative.  Two  thirds  of  the  men  chosen  by 
the  people  of  New  England  to  represent  their  interests  in  Congress  declared  by  this 
vote  that  a  further  reduction  would  be  beneficial  to  their  industries,  and  thus  the 
tariff  act  of  1857,  which  we  have  so  often  heard  denounced  on  the  other  side  of  the 
House,  became  the  law  of  the  land  by  the  votes  of  Republican  and  New  England 
Representatives.  r^ 

THE  PUBLIC  CREDIT   IN   1860.  fl 

It  is  customary  in  all  our  debates  on  the  tariff  for  gentlemen  on  the  other  mM 
to  depict  in  the  darkest  colors  the  condition  of  the  country  during  the  financial 
depression  of  1857.  That  depression,  from  which  the  country  recovered  in  a  few 
months,  was  an  insignificant  incident  in  our  history  in  comparison  with  the  gl^ 


I 


*A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  589 


industrial,  commercial  and  financial  storm  which  began  here  in  1873  and  devastate(3 
the  country  for  five  j'-ears,  closing  mills  and  factories,  extinguishing  the  fires  in  our 
furnaces,  ruining  bankitig  and  mercantile  houses,  and  throwing  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  laboring  people  out  of  employment.  Under  a  low  tariff  our  industries  soon 
revived  and  the  country  started  again,  like  an  awakened  giant,  on  its  march  to 
wealth  and  power,  but  under  a  high  tariff  it  struggled  on  for  five  weary  years,  and, 
for  the  first  time  in  its  history,  was  brought  face  to  face  with  those  difiicult  and  dan- 
gerous  social  problems  which  still  confront  us,  and  which  it  will  require  all  the 
wisdom  and  patriotism  of  her  ablest  and  best  citizens  to  solve. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  charged  btre  and  elsewhere  that  the  credit  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  so  reduced  by  the  act  of  1857,  that  it  was  compelled  to  sell  its  bonds  at  & 
discount  of  12  per  cent. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  a  volume  issued  from  the  Treasury  Department  in  1881, 
while  Mr.  Windom  was  Secretary,  giving  the  history  of  all  the  loans  negotiated  by 
the  Government  from  the  time  of  its  organization  to  the  date  of  the  publication ; 
and  this  account,  taken  from  the  oflSicial  records,  shows  that  from  tlie  time  of  the- 
passage  of  the  tariff  act  of  1846  down  to  the  last  few  days  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  admin- 
istration, when  civil  war  was  imminent,  not  a  bond  or  Treasury  note,  or  Govern- 
ment obhgation  in  sny  form,  was  sold  at  less  than  par,  while  many  of  them  having- 
but  a  short  time  to  run  and  bearing  but 5  percent,  interest  were  sold  at  a  very  con- 
siderable premium  in  gold.  After  the  psssage  of  the  Morrill  tariff  bill,  in  March,. 
1861,  and  after  the  Democratic  administration  had  gone  out  and  a  Republican 
administration  had  come  in,  twenty-year  bonds,  bearing  6  per  cent,  interest,  were)- 
sold  at  15  per  cent,  discount.  But  does  the  gentleman  think  it  would  be  fair 
to  charge  this  to  the  high  tariff  of  1861  ?  Does  the  gentleman  think  that  it  would 
be  fair  for  me  to  say  that  these  bonds  were  sold  at  a  discount  because  the  rates  of 
duty  on  imported  goods  had  been  increased  by  the  act  of  March  2,  1861?  I  would 
be  ashamed  of  myselfif  I  should  make  such  a  charge. 

The  truth  is  that  the  credit  of  the  Government  was  always  good  until  the- 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  or  at  least  until  it  became  evident  that  there  was  to- 
be  a  great  civil  commotion  in  this  country. 

AN  AVERAGE  OF  MORE  THAN  FORTY  PER  CENT.  DUTY. 

During  the  last  fiscal  year  the  average  rate  of  duty  upon  dutiable  imports 
was  about  $48  upon  each  $100  worth  of  goods,  and  the  revenue  collected  from 
that  source  was  more  than  $212,000,000.  During  the  same  time  the  Govern- 
ment collected  about  $119,000,000  under  the  internal  revenue  laws,  nearly  all  of 
which  came  from  the  taxes  on  distilled  spirits,  fermented  liquors  and  manufacture(J 
tobacco.  In  the  fiscal  year  1866,  which  was  the  first  entire  fiscal  year  after  the  close 
Df  the  war,  the  receipts  from  internal  revenue  taxes  amounted  to  nearly  $311,000,000; 
while  receipts  from  customs,  or  tariff  taxes,  amounted  to  $179,000,000,  and  the  rate- 
upon  dutiable  goods  was  $40.19  upon  each  $100  worth. 

This  brief  statement  shows  that  while  the  receipts  from  customs  have- 
largely  increased,  the  receipts  under  the  internal  revenue  laws  have  been  greatly 
iiminished. 

The  fjamers  of  the  pending  bill,  recognizing  and  respecting  the  differences  of 
)pinion  which  exist  upon  this  question,  have  proposed  to  deal  with  both  systems  of 
;axation.  They  propose  to  make  a  reduction  of  $78,000,000  based  upon  the  receipts- 
)f  the  fiscal  year  1887.  About  $54,000,000  of  this  is  proposed  to  be  taken  from  the 
;ariff  taxes  and  about  $24,000,000  from  the  internal  revenue  receipts  by  the  repeal 
)f  the  tax  on  tobacco  and  the  abolition  of  certain  special  taxes  upon  dealers  an(S 
)thers. 

So  far  the  opposition  to  the  bill  has  been  directed  mainly  against  that  part  of  it 
jv^hich  proposes  to  repeal  or  reduce  the  tax  upon  certain  classes  of  imported  goods ;. 
md  gentlemen,  speaking  for  the  interests  which  have  long  ago  been  relieved  of  all 
he  burdens  imposed  upon  their  industries,  earnestly  protest  that  the  consumers  of 
.heir  products  shall  have  no  relief,  or  at  least  that  they  shall  not  have  the  full 
measure  of  relief  contemplated  by  this  bill.    In  1860  there  was  collected  from  the 


1 


^90  "a  condition — NOT  A   THEORY." 

mcomes  of  those  having  net  annual  receipts  exceeding  $600  the  sum  of  $72,982,13 
^nd  from  the  manufacturers  and  their  products,  excluding  distilled  spirits,  ferment 
liquors  and  tobacco,  the  sum  of  $127,230,609. 

REDUCTION   OF  THE   SUGAR  DUTIES. 

It  seems  that  our  friends  on  the  other  side  have  at  last  concluded  that  th( 
ought  to  be  a  reductioa  of  the  revenue,  and  many  gentlemen  who  have  spoken 
opposition  to  the  pending  bill  have  foreshadowed  their  policy.  Its  main  feature 
in  fact  about  its  only  feature  as  regards  the  tariff— is  the  total  repeal  of  the  duty 
sugar  and  the  payment  of  a  bounty  to  the  producers  of  that  article;  not  to  tl 
laborer  who  tills  the  soil  and  converts  the  cane-juice  into  sugar,  but  to  the  capitalist 
who  owns  the  plantation  and  the  refinery. 

But  let  us  see  what  would  be  the  effect  of  the  repeal  of  the  duty  on  sugar — t 
effect  upon  the  revenue  and  upon  the  people  who  are  compelled  to  pay  taxes 
8ome  form  for  the  support  of  the  Government. 

The  latest  reports  I  have  at  hand  showing  the  total  amount  of  sugar  produc 
in  this  country  and  the  total  amount  consumed  are  for  the  year  1866,  and  they  sh( 
that  the  domestic  production  was  303,754,486  pounds,  while  the  total  consumption 
was  3,111,640,000  pounds.  It  tbus  appears  that  considerably  less  than  one-tenth  of 
the  domestic  consumption  is  produced  at  home,  and  that  the  remainder  is  imported 
and  pays  duty  at  the  custom-house.  The  duty  collected  during  the  last  fiscal  year 
was  $57,000,000.  Now,  assuming  that  the  whole  amount  of  the  duty  is  added  to  the 
price  of  the  domestic  article,  it  is  clear  that  whenever  $1  is  taken  out  of  the  pocket 
of  the  consumer  on  account  of  this  increased  price  more  than  |10  are  paid  into  the 
public  Treasury  for  the  support  of  the  Government  and  the  discharge  of  its  obli- 
"tions. 

The  repeal  of  this  duty,  therefore,  while  it  would  undoubtedly  reduce  the  reve- 
nue, would  afford  very  little  relief  to  the  people  in  comparison  with  the  relief  that 
would  be  afforded  by  the  repeal  of  duties  upon  many  (jther  articles  in  common  use. 
For  instance,  the  duty  collected  last  year  upon  woolen  goods,  cotton  goods  and  iron 
and  steel  was  $62,000,000;  but  this  was  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  burden 
actually  imposed  upon  the  consumers  of  these  articles.  There  were  produced  in 
this  country  during  the  year  1887,  2,354,130  gro3S  tons  of  Bessemer  steel  rails.  The 
■duty  upon  this  article  is  $17  per  ton.  Applying  the  same  rule  to  this  article  which 
I  have  applied  to  sugar,  and  which  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  also  apply  to  sugar, 
that  is,  that  the  whole  amount  of  the  duty  is  added  to  the  price  ot  the  domestic 
product,  it  i3  easy  to  see  that  the  increased  cost  of  steel  rails  alone  to  the  people  of 
this  country  in  1837  was  over  $40,000,000,  although  the  Government  received  only 
about  $1,000  000  revenue  from  this  source. 

The  proposition  to  pay  a  bounty  of  2  cents  per  pound  out  of  the  Treasury  to 
the  sugar  grower  is  a  confession  of  all  that  has  been  charged  against  the  present 
system  of  tariff  taxation.  It  is  a  confession  that  the  tariff  tax  is  a  bounty  to  the 
-manufacturers  or  other  producers  of  the  domestic  article  of  the  same  character  as 
the  imported  article,  and  it  is  a  confession  that  the  amount  of  the  duty  on  the  foreign 
product  is  added  to  the  price  of  the  domestic  one ;  for  if  these  charges  be  not  true, 
there  is  no  semblance  of  justice  or  propriety  in  the  proposition  to  pay  a  bounty  of 
3  cents  per  pound  as  a  compensation  tor  the  repeal  of  the  duty. 

Sir,  I  am  just  as  much  opposed  to  the  raising  of  a  fund  by  taxation  for  the  pur- 
pose of  paying  a  bounty  to  the  sugar-growers  of  Louisiana  as  I  would  be  if  it  were 
to  be  paid  to  the  cotton -growers  of  Georgia  or  the  wheat-growers  of  Minnesota.  It 
is  a  vicious  and  demoralizing  policy,  and  can  never  become  permanent  in  this  coun- 
try. If  gentlemen  desire  to  extend  relief  to  the  producers  of  sugar,  and  at  the  same 
time  help  all  the  other  people  of  the  country,  let  them  propose  to  reduce  or  repeal 
'the  taxes  upon  the  iron  and  steel  implements  used  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil; 
upon  the  machinery  employed  in  the  preparation  of  their  crops  for  the  market ; 
upon  the  materials  used  in  the  construction  of  their  buildings,  and  upon  the  cloth- 
ing which  they  and  their  families  and  laborers  are  compelled  to  wear.  This  would 
be  a  general  and  not  a  partial  measure  of  relief,  and  would  be  creditable  to  a  great 
political  party  which  seeks  to  govern  the  whole  country.    The  people  who  are 


IDtcx6S 


'A  CONDITION— NOT  A  THEORY."  59t 


isted  in  the  production  of  sugar  can  neither  be  bribed  nor  deceived  by  the  offer 
of  a  bounty,  for  they  know  that  their  fellow-citizens  engaged  in  other  pursuits  will* 
lot  consent  to  be  taxed  for  any  great  length  of  time  for  any  such  purpose. 


not  cc 


THE  PRICES  OP  TAXED   COMMODITIES. 


It  has  been  stubbornly  contended  all  through  this  debate  that  high  rates  of  dutjr 
upon  imported  goods  are  beneficial  to  the  great  body  of  consumers,  because  such- 
duties,  instead  of  increasing  the  prices  of  the  domestic  articles  of  the  same  kind,, 
actually  reduce  the  prices.  If  this  be  true,  all  the  other  arguments  in  support  of  the 
existing  system  are  not  only  supc  fluous,  but  manifestly  unsound.  The  proposition 
that  a  high  tariff  enables  the  producer  to  pay  higher  wages  for  his  labor,  and  the 
proposition  that  it  also  reduces  the  prices  of  the  articles  he  has  to  sell,  which  are  the 
products  of  that  labor,  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  each  other,  and  no  ingenuity  of 
the  casuist  can  possibly  reconcile  them.  Labor  is  paid  out  of  its  own  product,  and 
unless  that  product  can  be  sold  for  a  price  which  will  enable  the  employer  to  realize 
a  reasonable  profit  and  pay  the  established  rates  of  wages,  the  business  must  cease  or 
the  rates  of  wages  must  be  reduced.  When  the  price  of  the  finished  product  is 
reduced  by  reason  of  the  increased  efficiency  of  labor,  or  by  reason  of  the  reduced^ 
cost  of  the  raw  material,  the  employer  may  continue  to  pay  the  same  or  even  a- 
higher  rate  of  wages  and  still  make  his  usual  profits.  But  the  tariff  neither  increases- 
the  efficiency  of  labor  nor  reduces  the  cost  of  the  raw  material. 

I  do  not  deny  that  prices  have  greatly  fallen  during  the  last  fifty  years,  not  onljr 
in  this  country,  but  all  over  the  civilized  world — in  free  trade  countries  as  well  as  in 
protectionist  countries.  Nor  do  I  deny  that  during  the  same  time  the  general  ten- 
dency has  been  towards  an  increase  in  the  rates  of  wages;  and  this  is  true  also  of  all 
civilized  countries,  free  trade  and  protection  alike.  It  is  not  possible  for  me  now  ta- 
enumerate,  much  less  discuss,  all  the  causes,  that  have  contributed  to  these  results. 
One  of  the  most  efficient  causes,  in  fact  the  most  efficient  cause,  is  the  combination 
of  skilled  labor  with  machinery  in  the  production  of  commodities.  The  introduc- 
tion and  use  of  improved  machinery  has  wrought  a  complete  revolution  in  nearly 
all  our  manufacturing  industries,  and  in  many  cases  has  enabled  one  man  to  do- 
the  work  which  it  required  one  hundred  men  to  do  before.  Here  is  a  statement  fur- 
nished by  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor  to  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Ways  and  Means,  showing  the  value  of  the  product  of  a  week's  labor  in 
spinning  cotton  yarn  by  hand  and  the  value  of  the  [roduct  of  a  week's  labor  com- 
bined with  machinery  in  the  same  industry.  In  1813  oie  man,  working  sixty  hours, 
by  hand  could  turn  out  3  pounds  of  cotton  yarn,  worth  $2.25,  or  75  cents  per  pound; 
now  the  same  man,  if  he  were  living,  could  turn  out  in  sixty  hours  with  the  use  of 
machinery  3,000  pounds  of  cotton  yarn  of  the  same  character,  worth  $450  or  15 
cents  per  pound.  The  cotton  spinner  now  receives  as  wages  for  his  week's  work 
more  than  three  times  as  much  as  the  total  value  of  the  product  of  a  week's  work, 
including  the  value  of  the  material,  in  1813;  and  yet  labor  is  far  cheaper  to  the 
employer  now  than  it  was  then.  Although  the  employer  now  receives  only  one-fifth 
as  much  per  pound  for  his  cotton  yarn  as  he  did  in  I'^IS,  he  realizes  from  the  sale  of 
the  products  of  a  week's  labor  just  two  hundred  times  as  much  as  he  did  then. 

•  HOW  MACHINERY  HAS  INCREASED  PRODUCTIVENESS. 

I  have  also  a  statement  prepared  by  the  same  official,  showing  the  relative  pro- 
duction and  value  of  product  of  a  weaver  using  hand  and  power  machinery,  from 
which  it  appears  that  a  weaver  by  hand  turned  out  in  seventy-two  hours,  in  1813, 4£^' 
yards  of  cotton  goods  (shirtings),  worth  $17.91,  while  a  weaver  now,  using 
machinery,  turns  out  in  sixty  hours  1,440  yards,  worth  $108.  Substantially  the  same 
exhibit  could  be  made  in  regard  to  a  very  large  number  of  our  manufacturing  indus- 
tries. 

Is  it  strange,  in  view  of  these  facts,  that  the  prices  of  manufactured  goods  have 
fallen  or  that  the  wages  of  the  laborers  who  produce  them  have  risen  ?  Is  it  not 
remarkable  that  there  has  not  been  a  greater  fall  in  prices  and  a  greater  increase  in 
wages  ?  Undoubtedly  there  would  have  been  a  greater  reduction  in  prices  and  a 
greater  increase  in  wages  if  there  had  been  a  wider  market  for  the  products  and  a 
lower  cost  for  the  material. 


I 


592  "a  condition— not  a  theory." 

The  tremendous  productive  forces  at  work  all  over  the  world  in  these  modem 
times,  and  the  small  cost  of  manual  labor  in  comparison  with  the  value  of  the  products 
of  these  combined  forces,  cannot  be  realized  from  any  general  statement  upon  the  sub. 
ject.  In  order  to  form  some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  these  natural  and  mechanical 
forces,  and  the  efficiency  of  manual  labor  and  skill  when  connected  with  them,  let 
us  look  at  the  situation  in  six  of  our  own  manufacturing  industries.  In  the  manu- 
facture of  cotton  goods,  woolen  goods,  iron  and  steel,  sawed  lumber,  paper,  and  in 
our  flouring  and  grist  mills,  there  were  employed,  according  to  the  latest  statistics, 
517,299  persons,  not  all  men,  but  many  of  tliem  women  and  children.  This  labor 
was  supplemented  by  steam  and  water  power  equal  to  2,496,299  horse-power.  This 
is  equal  to  the  power  of  14,977,794  men ;  and  thus  we  find  that  a  little  over  517,000 
persons  of  all  ages  and  sexes  are  performing,  in  connection  with  steam  and  water 
power,  the  work  of  15,495,093  adult  and  healthy  men. 

The  railroad,  the  steam-vessel,  the  telegraph,  the  improved  facilities  for  the  con- 
duct of  financial  transactions,  and  many  other  conveniences  introduced  into  our 
modern  systems  of  production  and  distribution  and  exchange,  have  all  contributed 
their  share  towards  the  reduction  of  prices,  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  inquire 
what  their  influence  has  been ;  but  I  cannot  pursue  this  particular  subject  further 
"without  occupying  too  much  time. 

THE    STEEL-RAIL   TARIFF. 

Gentlemen  are  in  the  habit  of  referring  to  the  great  decline  in  the  price  of  steel 
rails  in  this  country  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  tarifl"  reduces  the 
cost  of  manufactured  products  to  the  consumer.  Tliey  could  not,  in  my  opinion, 
Jiave  selected  a  more  unfortunate  illustration  In  the  first  place,  the  price  of  steel 
rails  has  fallen  all  over  the  world,  and  especially  in  England,  whire  they  are  and 
always  have  been  admitted  free  of  duty.  The  price  there  is  now  and  has  at  all 
times  been  very  much  lower  than  here.  In  the  second  place,  the  price  was  falling 
rapidly  both  h^re  and  in  England  before  the  imposition  of  the  duty  of  $28  per  ton 
by  act  of  Congress  in  1870.  During  the  five  years  next  preceding  the  imposition  of 
that  duty  the  price  in  England  had  fallen  steadily,  year  by  year,  and  had  declined 
from  $85.65  per  ton  to  $50.37  per  ton ;  and  in  the  United  States  the  same  process 
had  been  going  on,  and  the  price  had  fallen  from  $U8.50  per  ton  in  gold  in  1804,  to 
$91.17  in  1870.  Then  the  increased  duty  was  imposed,  and  what  was  the  result? 
The  price  immediately  began  to  rise,  both  here  and  in  England,  so  that  in  1873  the 
average  price  in  England  was  $80.05  per  ton,  and  the  average  price  here  was 
$103.91  per  ton  in  gold.  Then  came,  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  great  industrial 
and  financial  depression  which  arrested  the  growth  and  development  of  the  country, 
suspended  the  construction  of  works  of  internal  improvement,  paralyzed  our  indus- 
tries, and  brought  down  the  prices  of  nearly  everything  that  the  people  produced. 
Steel  rails,  of  course,  like  all  other  manufactured  products,  felt  the  influence  of  this 
depression,  and  the  price  declined  and  has  never  since  been  as  high  as  it  was  befo: 


THE  TARIFF  AND  THE  FARMER. 


I 


But  we  are  told  that  a  tarifl"  is  beneficial  to  the  farmer,  because,  first,  it  protects 
him  against  competition  from  the  agricultural  products  of  other  countries,  and,  sec- 
ondly, caused  by  diversifying  our  industries  and  increasing  the  number  of  persons 
engaged  in  other  than  agricultural  pursuits,  it  furnishes  him  with  a  profitable  home 
market  for  his  products.  It  cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to  make  an  argument  to 
.show  that  no  rate  of  duty,  however  high,  upon  articles  which  the  farmer  is  com- 
pelled to  send  abroad  and  sell  at  foreign  prices,  can  possibly  benefit  him  here  at 
home  or  elsewhere.  This  has  been  so  often  shown,  and  is  so  thoroughly  under- 
stood by  the  farmers  themselves,  that  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  dwell  upon  t' 
subject. 

Of  course  our  home  market  has  been  constantly  improving,  and  under  a:  ^ 
system  of  taxation  will  continue  to  improve,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  with  th' 
increase  of  population  and  wealth,  the  extension  of  the  use*  of  machinery,  which 
reduces  the  cost  of  production,  and  the  multiplication  of  facilities  for  communi 
iion  and  transportation,  which  reduces  the  cost  of  distribution.    But  how  long 


I 


'A  CONDITION — NOT  A  THEORY. 


ur  farmers  to  be  compelled  to  pay  tribute  to  other  induatries  and  wait  for  the 
reation  of  a  home  market  that  will  take  all  their  own  products  at  fair  prices? 
LDiong  our  greatest  agriculiural  products  are  wheat  and  cotton.  They  constitute 
tie  main  reliance  of  millions  of  our  people  for  a  profitable  use  of  their  lands,  and 
aany  hundred  millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  the  soil  and  buildings  and 
aachinery  devoted  to  their  prod  action.  Taking  the  average  crop  of  wheat  in  this 
ountry  for  several  years  past,  and  assuming  that  there  shall  be  no  increase  what- 
ver  in  production,  and  that  the  domestic  consumption  per  capita  shall  remain  just 
t  what  it  now  is,  there  would  still  be  no  sufficient  home  market  for  this  great 
gricultural  staple  until  our  population  had  reached  nearly  one  hundred  million. 

WHERE  THE  PARMER  MUST  SELL  HIS  PRODUCT. 

e  official  statistics  of  the  domestic  production,  exportation,  and  home  con- 
amption  of  raw  cotton  show  that  it  would  require  three  times  as  much  machinery 
nd  three  times  as  many  operatives  as  we  now  have  to  convert  this  material  into 
ommercial  fabrics  here  at  home  ;  in  other  words,  we  are  now  compelled  to  export 
970- thirds  of  our  product  to  be  manufactured  in  toreign  countries,  while  one-third 
nly  is  manufactured  at  home  by  all  the  machinery  and  labor  now  employed.  In  1880 
iere  were  |31 9,505,000  invested  in  cotton  manufactures,  and  there  were  employed  in 
aat  industry  172,554  hands.  To  work  up  our  present  production  of  raw  cotton 
rould  require  an  investment  in  this  manufacture  of  $660,000,000  and  the  employ- 
lent  of  517,662  hands.  If  we  have  been  more  than  one  hundred  years,  part  of  the 
me  under  very  high  tariffs,  in  so  developing  our  cotton  manufactures  as  so  enable 
aem  to  take  one-third  of  our  product  at  European  prices,  how  many  more 
snturies  will  be  required  to  enable  them  to  consume  the  Avhole  product  at  prices 
xed  by  competition  here  at  home  ? 

When  gentlemen  have  solved  this  problem  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  American 
otton-grower,  he  may  be  able  to  listen  with  patience  to  the  arguments  by  which 
aey  attempt  to  convince  him  of  the  immense  advantages  of  a  home  market 
lat  will  never  exist.  What  is  to  be  done  with  these  great  agricultural  products, 
nd  with  many  others  which  are  now  exported,  while  the  farmers  are  waiting  for 
le  home  market  which  the  advocates  of  restrictive  legislation  have  been  promising 
lem  for  so  many  years?  Are  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  North  and  South  to 
bandon  their  wheat  and  cot' on  lands,  or  cultivate  crops  not  suited  to  their  soil  or 
lioaate,  while  gentlemen  are  making  experiments  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  a  home 
larket  may  not  be  created  by  legislation?  No  matter  what  gentlemen  may  predict 
r  what  they  may  promise,  these  great  industries  must  go  on,  and  the  American 
-rmer  must  sell  his  products  in  any  market  he  can  reach  and  at  any  price  he  can 


WHERE   COMPETITION   COMES  FROM. 


rndpubtedly  the  amount  of  produciion  here  has  some  influence  upon  the  prices 
broad,  but  the  controllmg  elements  are  the  world's  supply  and  the  world's  demands, 
'ur  farmers  do  not  compete  among  themselves  alone  in  the  provision  rrarkets  of 
urope.  Our  wheat-growers,  for  instance,  compete  with  the  wheat-growers  of 
ingland,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  Hungary,  India,  and  all  the  other  grain-growers 
f  Europe  and  Asia,  and  their  product  meets  in  the  open  and  free  markets  of  the 
'orld  the  products  of  the  poorest  paid  labor  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  lately-emancipated  serfs  of  Russia;  the  oppressed  peasantry  of  Hungary ; 
le  ryot  of  India,  who  lives  on  millet  and  rice,  wears  no  garment  except  a  coarse 
)tton  shirt,  and  sleeps  on  the  floor  of  a  bamboo  hut — all  pour  the  products  of  their 
.bor  into  the  free  markets  of  Europe  to  be  sold  in  competition  with  the  grain  from 
ar  Western  States  and  Territories.  Our  agricultural  constituents  are  not  ignorant 
5"  the  true  situation.  They  know  very  well  that  as  to  all  the  articles  which  we  are 
ipable  of  exporting  and  arc  actually  exporting— and  this  includes  all  the  principal 
reductions  of  their  industry — the  foreign  market  is  just  as  valuable  to  them  as  the 
3me  market,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the  prices  are  fixed  abroad,  and  they 
iceive  here  only  what  they  could  receive  there,  after  deducting  the  cost  of  trans- 
^rtation. 


I 


594 


•a  condition— not  a  theoky. 


I 


What  the  American  farmer  most  needs  is  a  home  market  in  which  he  can  pur- 
chase his  supplies  as  cheaply  as  his  competitors  purchase  theirs  ;  and  if  he  can  not 
secure  this,  then  he  simply  asks  the  poor  privilege  of  making  his  purchases  where 
he  is  compelled  to  make  his  sales,  and  to  be  permitted  to  bring  his  goods  home  with- 
out being  compelled  to  pay  unreasonable  taxes  and  fines  by  his  Government  lor 
carrying  on  a  harmless  and  legitimate  business. 

We  want  not  only  the  home  market,  but  all  the  markets  of  the  world  for  the 
varied  products  of  this  great  country.  We  want  to  send  our  agricultural  pro  lucts, 
our  cotton  and  our  breadstuffs  and  our  provisions  to  the  naked  and  hungry  manu* 
facturing  peoples  of  Europe,  and  our  manufactured  products  to  the  agricultural 
peoples  of  South  America,  Mexico  and  Asia.  We  can  do  this  when  we  determine 
to  trade  with  other  people  upon  fair  terms,  but  we  can  not  do  it  so  long  as  we  pro- 
tect England  and  other  manufacturing  countries  in  the  great  markets  of  the  world 
upon  the  pretense  of  protecting  ourselves  in  our  own.  Let  us  diminish  the  cost  of 
production  in  our  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industries,  not  by  diminishing 
the  wages  of  labor,  but  by  reducing  taxation  upon  the  necessaries  of  life  and  upon 
the  materials  which  constitute  the  basis  of  our  finished  products,  and  by  removing, 
as  far  as  we  can,  the  restrictions  which  embarrass  our  people  in  their  eflbrts  to 
exchange  the  fruits  of  their  own  toil  which  they  do  not  need  for  the  commodities 
of  other  countries  which  they  do  need. 


BBIiATlVE  PRODUCTION,  VAIiUE  OF  PRODUCT,  AND  EARNINGS  OF  A  SPINNER  USING  HAND 
AND  POWER    MACHINERY. 


Industry. 

Year. 

Descrip- 
tion of 
unit. 

Product  of  one  spin- 
ner per  week. 

Earnings  of  one 
spinner  per  week. 

IK 

Amount. 

Value. 

Highest. 

Lowest. 

ill 

1813 

1880 

No.  10 
No.  10 

Founds, 

3 

3,000 

t2  25 
450  00 

n 

J)q            

$9  30 



$7  20 

a 

I 


BEIiATIVE  PBODUOTION,  VALUE  OF  PRODUCT,  AND  EARNINGS  OF  A  WEAVER  USING  HAM 
AND  POWER  MACHINERY. 


Industry. 

Year. 

Descrip- 
tion of 
unit. 

Production  of  one 
weaver  per  week. 

Earnings  of  one 
weaver  per  week. 

ill 

Amount. 

Value. 

Highest. 

Lowest, 

Cotton  goods  (shirting) 
Do         

1813 
1880 

No.  17>^ 

lK!^?7^^ 
(yam.) 

Yards. 
45 

1,440 

$17  91 
108  00 

1 

$8  00 

$4  00 

1 

J 

I  „.....^.,.„..  . 

IfBER     OF    ESTABLISHMENTS,     NUMBER    OF     EMPLOYES',    STEAM     AND     WATER     POWER 
REDUCED  TO  HORSE  POWER. 


(  ton  goods 

]  uring  and  grist  mills 

]  aand  steel 

]  tuber,  sawed 

:  )er 

'  -olengoods 

Total 


Number 
of  estab- 
lishments, 


Number 

of 
employes. 


Supplemented 
by  steam  and 
water  power 
equal  to  horse 
power  below. 


Reckoning  six'^  f  o  v  §  s  Ind 
men  to  a  horsei  g^  °  ^  ^  L,^^? 
power,,  equal  Jo^d^^^P^/U 


to  men  below. 


employes. 


956 

24,268 
781 

35,680 

693 

1,984 


135,519 

58,448 
77,555 
149,997 
17,910 
77,870 


375,504 
771,201 
397,247 
831,938 
133,913 
106,507 


1,653,024 
4,637,206 
2,383,483 
4,931,568 
743,472 
639,043 


1,788,543 
4,685,654 
2,461,037 
5,081,565 
761,383 
716,912 


54,351 


517,299 


14,977,794 


15^495,093 


696  TAKING  OFF  BUBOENS. 


CHAPTER  XLVIL 
TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


THE     PEINCIPLES     UPOX    WHICH     THE    PROPOSED     REDUCTION 
BURDENSOME   WAR  TAXES   ARE   SUPPORTED. 


Extracts  from  the  Debates  in  Congress  on  the  Schedules  \ 
the  Tax  Reduction  Bill — How  the  Experts  in  various 
Lines  LooTced  at  its  Effects. 


I. 

DECLINE  OF  AMERICAN  SHIPPING  IN  THIRTY  YEARS. 

THE     AMI3RICAN     FLA.G     IIA8    BEEN    DRIVEN     MORE     AND    MORE  FROM  THE    SEAS 
UNDER  THE  EXACTIONS  OF    HIGH   TAXES. 

Bepresentative  Timothy  E.  Tarsney,  of  Michigan,  May,  1880. 

pr'^^Another  element  wMch  enters  into  the  consideration  of  this  problem  is  the 
shipbuilding  and  navigatinn  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  countries.  By 
an  examination  of  statistics  it  appears  that  the  progress  of  American  shipbuilding 
was  continuous  and  rapid  from  the  organization  of  the  Government  down  to  1861. 
The  time  was  when,  under  a  revenue  tariff,  the  United  States  was  almost  mistress 
of  the  seas  Her  flag  could  be  found  floating  in  the  ports  of  every  commercial 
nation  on  the  globe.  The  American  clipper  ship  was  the  prodigy  of  the  world; 
built  of  American  material  by  American  workmen,  and  manned  by  American 
Officers  and  American  seamen.  Our  merchant  marine  was  the  pride  of  the  country. 
But  "0 1  how  has  the  mighty  fallen." 

Go  with  me  to-night  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  stand  on  Brooklyn  bridge 
and  look  down  the  river  to  the  bay;  go  through  the  harbor  and  amongst  the  thous- 
ands of  spars,  and  the  flags  that  float  from  the  mastheads,  you  wil  not  find  one  in 
five  hundred  that  floats  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  these  few  are  coasters.  Not  one 
line  of  ships  engaged  regularly  in  the  transportation  of  commerce  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. Why  all  this?  Our  materials  are  in  existence,  the  brain  and  the  sinew  of 
the  American  builder  and  the  sailor  are  not  lost.  The  indomitable  spirit  that  will 
brave  the  tempest  and  the  storm  is  with  us  still.  But  why  this  falling  off  in  ship- 
ping? The  time  was  when  in  American  bottoms  we  sent  to  foreign  nations  77  per 
cent,  of  our  exports  under  the  American  flag.  The  order  is  reversed,  and  now  it  is 
less  than  12  per  cent. 


TAKING   OFF  BURDENS. 


TEE  DECLINE  OF  A  GREAT  INDUSTRY. 


597 




1  seaports  of  the  United  States  for  foreign  countries,  from  1858  to  1887,  inclusive. 


Total 

Total      i 

Foreign. 

American.! 

Tons. 

Tons,     i; 

1,303,635 

3,127,746 

1,552,101 

3,315,335 

1,755,871 

3.501,465    ' 

1,536.205 

3,873,720   1 

1  637.168 

2.567,763    ; 

3,076,893 

2,266,312    : 

3,61o,S>51 

1,66^,332    i 

2,450,201 

1,710,330    i' 

3.131.077 

3.029,755    li 

3,230,392 

2,270,096    !! 

3,186,200 

2.635,ft31    ! 

3,612  138 

2  503,200    , 

3,832  050 

2.529,598    ' 

4,2"t2,96l 

2  634,841    i' 

5.141,147 

2,597,611    i 

Tear. 


1873. 

1874. 
1875. 
1876. 
1877. 
1878. 
1879. 
1880. 
18S1. 
1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
1885. 
1888. 
1887. 


Total 
Foreign. 


Tons. 

5,940,849 

7,096,947 

6,379,345 

6,803,096 

7,345,436 

8,647,080 

10,545,403 

12,217,973 

12,754,4.53 

11,910,956 

10,669,945 

9,360,610 

9,687,700 

9,606  976 

10,740  017 


Total 
American. 


7ons. 
2.574,031 
3,961,103 
3,061,354 
3,037,363 
3,043,158 
3,196,491 
3,071,387 
3,077,734 
3  039,514 
3.935,513 
3,8  5,077 
3,845,109 
2,803,,575 
3,806,3.59 
3,770,518 


'bu  ask  the  cau^e.  Some  attribute  it  to  our  navigation  laws  with  some  of  their 
lictions.  True,  this  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  enter  into  the  result,  but  the  chief 
se,  and  the  principal  one  which  1  desire  to  present  to  this  House  to-day,  is  the 
,  that  we  have  not  that  free  and  unrestricted  commerce  with  the  world  that  we 
1  in  the  days  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  when  our  ships  could  go  out  laden 
h  the  product  of  our  own  country,  and  go  to  the  port  of  any  nation  of  the  world 
I  bring  back  in  exchange  their  product.  Therefore  I  say  to  this  House  that  the 
icy  of  this  country  should  be  to  so  revise  the  tariff  laws  that  we  will  bring  our- 
'ea  to  the  base  line  of  necessary  taxation  for  governm'intal  purposes  honestly 
ainistered;  discourage  the  idea  of  local  protection  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  favored 
ividuals,  and  legislate  for  the  common  good  of  our  population.  When  we  do 
},  and  upon  fiir  and  reciprocal  relations  with  the  world,  we  will  find  that 
leiican  ingenuity,  American  pluck,  and  American  skill  will  once  more  launch 
>n  the  high  seas  a  merchant  marine  which  will  m  ike  our  flag  respected  in  every 
ion  of  the  world  where  to-day  it  is  sneered  and  scoffed  at  because  of  our  com- 
rclal  weakness. 


II. 


DECLINE  IN  COMPARATIVE  NUMBER  OF  HOMES. 

THE  NUMBER  OF   PEOPLE   OWNING   HOMES  IN  THIS  COUNTRY  CONTINUALLY 
^Bl  DECREASING  UNDER  HIGH  TAXES. 

Representative  Charles  H.  Mansur,  of  Missouri,  Miy  8,  1888. 

Now  let  us  look  to  its  effects  upon  married  life  and  to  its  housing ;  for  be  it 
)wn  to  you,  a  protective  tariff  is  th3  universal  great  panacea,  the  one  great  solvent, 
■t  unfolds  all  the  secrets  in  Nature's  hidden  arcana.  It  creates  fortunes;  it  popu- 
js  the  wilderness,  builds  cities,  tunnels  mountains,  and,  I  will  add,  builds 
aopolies,  m  ikes  giant  trusts,  with  anaconda  folds,  to  embrace  a  whole  country 


I 


/ 


/ 


598  TAKING   OFF  BURDENS. 

and  sixty  millions  of  people ;  also  creates  giant  fortunes  in  a  shorter  era  of 
than  ever  before  known  in  any  country  in  any  age  or  any  era,  and  ought,  of  com 
make  happy  families  also. 

Aladdin's  lamp  pales  its  glory  before  the  shining  luster  of  a  protective 
and  the  slave  of  that  lamp  stands  ready  to  abdicate  his  mystic  power  because 
cannot  serve  the  spirit  of  a  protective  tariff  instead  of  bis  lamp. 

HOMES   FOR   ALL   THE   PEOPLE. 

In  1850  there  were  3,598,240  families  in  this  country  who  had  3,362,337  d^ 
ings  to  live  in ;  at  that  time  only  235,903  families  were  apparently  without  sepa 
homes  for  themselves.  In  1860  there  were  5,210,934  families,  and  thev  live< 
4,969,692  houses  or  dwellings.  Thus  241,242  families  were  without  separate  he 
in  all  the  land.  The  families  had  increased  1,612,694  in  number,  and  all  of  them ' 
new  homes  but  5,339.  The  millennium  is  at  hand,  and  the  protective  tariff  has  don 
this  surely.  One  million  six  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety- fou 
new  families  in  the  past  decade,  and  all  but  5,339  possessed  of  new  homes.  Al 
hail  and  glory  to  a  protective  tariff!  But  hold  on  !  This  period  from  1850  to  186( 
was  the  period  of  lowest  tariffs  this  country  ever  knew  or  had.  ^ 

From  September  14, 1851,  to  March  3,  1857,  it  had  enacted  four  tariff  law8,IH 
duties  running  lower  and  lower  until  the  last  only  ranged  from  4  to  30  per  ceM. 
averaging  18  per  cent.,  instead  of  from  10  to  300  per  cent,  and  averaging  48  pe 
cent,  as  does  our  present  tariff.  What  comfort  in  the  land  is  expressed  in  th( 
figures  1,612,694  new  families  in  ten  years,  and  all  living  in  new  houses  excep 
5,339 !  Surely  it  must  be  a  low  or  revenue  tariff  that  did  it.  No  discontent  abroac 
in  the  land  then!     Tramps  unknown  ;  the  word  is  not  yet  coined. 


THE  MORE  TAXES  THE  FEWER  HOMES. 


iJBI 


Now  let  us  look  at  the  decade  from  1860  to  1870,  a  decade  under  the  hij^ 
tariff  this  country  has  ever  known  ;  one  claimed  by  its  friends  to  be  a  distinctlj 
protective  tariff.  In  1870  there  were  7,579,363  families  living  in  7,042,833  dwellings 
During  the  decade  from  1860  to  1870  the  number  of  families  without  dwellings  hac 
increased  to  536,510,  an  increase,  not  of  3  per  cent.,  or  5,339  only,  but  an  increase o: 
295,268  lamilies  without  houses  or  dwellings,  an  increase  of  over  100  percent.— yea 
of  123  per  cent. 

But,  observe,  this  is  under  a  new  era  of  a  high  protective  tariff,  imposec 
between  1800  and  1870.  Yet  what  misery  is  involved  in  the  figures  295,268  families 
unable  to  find  a  separate  home  or  dwelling,  either  to  buy,  build,  or  rent  to  live  in 
as  against  5,339  families  in  the  decade  from  1850  to  1860.  But  the  opposition  wil 
say  this  is  a  consequence  of  the  war  period.  Be  patient  and  let  us  see  what  we  wil 
see. 

We  will  now  Icok  to  the  decade  from  1870  to  1880  for  its  story.  In  188C 
9,945,916  families  had  8,955,812  dwellings  to  live  in  or  occupy.  In  this  decade  tb 
families  increased  2,366,558  in  number,  but  the  dwellings  oidy  increased  1,912,07S 
leaving  a  total  of  990,108  families  in  the  land  without  separate  homes  or  dwell 
ings. 

Thus  in  this  decade  the  536,510  unhoused  families  of  1870  had  become  990,106 
an  increase  of  433,598  in  ten  years,  an  increase  of  almost  100  per  cent,  in  the  decadt 
as  against  123  per  cent,  from  1860  to  1870,  as  against  3  per  cent,  from  1850  to  186C 
of  homeless  and  houseless  families  for  Democratic  times  and  a  low  tariff;  as  agaiiifi 
123  per  cent,  and  nearly  100  per  cent,  for  Republican  rule  and  a  protective  tari] 
running  through  two  decades. 

WHERE   THE  INCREASE  WENT. 

I  now  ask,  who  apparently  got  the  "boodle"  of  the  ten  years  from  1870  t 
1880. 

We  see  the  manufacturers  by  their  owji  reports,  for  they  furnish  the  statistic 
that  make  the  census  reports,  got  an  increase  of  capital  of  $674,063,837  at  this  dii 


m 


TAKING   OFF  BURDENS.  599 


itent  and  misery  of  453,598  homeless  and  unsheltered  families  in  the  same  period. 
|t  I  am  not  quite  done  with  families  and  their  dwellings.  Between  1850  and  1860 
I  increase  of  families  was  44  8  per  cent,  in  numbers,  and  the  increase  of  their 
i  ellings  was  3S.4  per  cent.  This  was  in  low-tariff  times.  Comparing  now  between 
I  0  and  1880,  in  high  tariff  times,  the  increase  in  number  of  families  was  31.2  per 
i  it,  while  the  increase  in  their  dwellings  was  only  37  per  cent.  This  shows  an 
[  vantage  for  the  first  decade  of  13.6  per  cent,  in  families,  and  5.4  per  cent,  in 
:  ellings. 

In  this  last  decade,  ia  1873,  with  the  greatest  panic,  came  a  new  order  of  beings 
retofore  unknown  in  this  country.  Tramps.  Five  hundred  thousand  strong; 
inps,  tramping  over  the  country.     Skilled  laborer,  mechanic,  agriculturist,  all 

the  baneful  effect  of  the  panic.  A  new  era  is  ushered  in;  and  since  then  strikes, 
kouis,  tramps,  discontent,  degradation  and  misery  have  appeared  in  such  numbers 
I  so  universally  over  and  throughout  the  country,  and  even  still  abide  with  us,  as 

recent  commotion  on  Western  railroads  and  in  the  Reading  coal  regions  attest, 
,0  all  alike  indicate  that  if  capital  is  satisfied  labor  is  discontented  and  day  by  day 
omes  more  so.    And  all  this  in  spite  of  a  protective  tariff.     Can  I  not  say  it  is 

legitimate  fruit  of  an  unequal  and  unjust  system  of  tribute  that  robs  the  poor  to 
ke  the  rich  richer  ? 


III. 
WORKERS  IN  NON-PROTECTIVE  INDUSTRIES. 

3  NUMBER  OF  PERSONS  WHO  ARE  NOT  ONLY  NOT  BENEFITED  BUT  SUBJECTED  TO 
INJURY  BY  BURDENSOME  TAXES. 

Representative  Samuel  S.  Cox,  of  Nexo  York^  May  17. 

It  has  often  been  repeated  here  that  the  last  census  shows  that  of  the  17,392,099 
)ur  population  engaged  in  industries,  7,670,493  were  employed  in  agriculture ; 
,  in  round  numbers,  about  4,000,000  in  professional  and  personal  services,  nearly 
»0,000  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  nearly  4,000,000  in  manufacturing  and 
ling.  At  least  1,214,023  were  engaged  in  pursuits  which  were  not  benefited  but 
ler  injured  by  a  high  tariff.  They  were  injured,  I  say,  because  the  protective 
ff,  which  is  alleged  to  mike  high  wages  for  others,  did  not  benefit  these.  The 
<ern  makers,  the  brick-layers,  the  molders,  the  house  carpenters,  and  many 
•kers  in  other  branches  of  business  which  are  absolutely  unprotected,  command 
aer  wages  than  those  working  on  protected  articles. 

There  are  nearly  400,000  carpenters  and  joiners,  300,000  milliners  and  dress- 
cers  and  seamstresses,  nearly  200,000  blacksmiths,  138,000  tailors  and  tailoresses, 
,000  misons,  76,000  butchers,  41,000  bakers,  22,000  plasterers,  and  others  engaged 
mprotected  pursuits,  who  bear  the  burden  without  receiving  the  supposed  benefit 
,he  favored  class. 

Counting  out  the  number  of  unprotected  farmers— and  over  one-half  of  our 
re  population  are  dependent  upon  farms— I  have  before  me  a  list  of  trades  and 
)loyment8.  It  includes  over  one  hundred  classes,  frooa  the  architect  to  the  wood- 
pper,  who  derive  no  sort  of  reward,  but  whose  business  is  crucified  between  the 
I  thieves — ad  valorem  and  specific  duties,  levied  upon  all  they  consume. 


600 


TAKING   OFF  BURDENS 


Here  is  a  list  of  the  number  of  our  population  engaged  in  1880  in  non-pi 
industries : 

ENGAGED  IN  THE  NGN  PROTECTIVE  INDUSTRIES. 


Architects 

Artists  and  teachers  of  art. 

Auctioneers 

Barbers  and  hair-dressers. . 
Boarding-house  keepers . . . . 

Clergymen 

Clerks  and  copyists 

Clerks  in  hotels 

Dentists .  . 

Domestic  servants 

Employes  of  hotels 

Civil  eng-ineers 

Hostlers 

Hotel-  keepers 

Journalists 

Laborers 


3,375 

9,104 

3,3.31 

44,8,^1 

19,058 

64,698 

35,467 

10,916 

12,314 

1,075,655 

77,413 

8,261 

31,697 

32,453 

12,308 

1,859,223 


Pallors. 

Salesmen  and  saleswomen ^. 

Stearaboatmen  and  worn  en 12, 

Stewards  and  stewardesses 2, 

Tollgate-keepers 2, 

Trader^ 114, 

Dealers  in  books  and  stationery. 

Traders  in  boots  and  shoes 

Traders  in  wood  and  coal 

Traders  in  cotton  and  tobacco... 

Undertakers 

Weighers  and  gangers. 


Laundresses 121,942 


Lawyers. 

Livery-stable  keepers. . . . 

Messengers 

Musicians 

Nurses 

Physicians  and  surgeons. 

Restaurant  keepers 

Sextons 


64.137 
14,213 
13,985 
30,477 
13,483 
85,671 
13  074 
3,449 

Teachers  and  scientific  persons -327,710 

Veterinary  surgeons 

Private  watchmen 

Whitewashers 

Boatmen  and  watermen 

Book-keepers  in  stores 

Canal  men 

Clerks  in  stores 

Commercial  travelers 

Clerks  in  i  ailroad  offices 

Clerks  in  insurance  offices. . . 

Clerks  in  express  companies. 


4, 
9, 
10. 
22. 
5 
3. 

Druggists 27, 

Dealers  in  real  estate 11. 

Dealers  in  provisions  35, 

Dealers  in  dry  go  Ids 45, 

Dealers  in  groceries 101, 

Dealers  in  iron  and  tin 15,i 

Dealers  in  hides 2,: 

Dealers  in  lumber  and  marble 12,i 

Dealers  in  newspapers 2, 

Dealers  in  paints  and  oils 1,' 

Dealers  in  paper 1,; 

Bakers 41,: 

Blacksmiths 172,' 

Brick  and  tile  makers 36.i 

2,130  i  Bridge  builders 2.: 

13.384  :  House  builders 10.: 

3,316!  Butchers 76.; 

30,368  I  Carpenters  and  joiners 373, 

59,790  1  Carmakers 4.' 

4,328  I  Charcoal  and  lime  burners 5,! 

353,444  I  Coopers 49, 

28,158  I  Engin  eers  and  firemen 79,i 

13,3;U  !  Engravers 4,; 

Fishermen  and  oystermen 

Brick  and  stonemasons , 

Millers 

Miners ^.o-u- 

Oil  well  laborers 7,! 

Painters 128,,' 

9,343  [  Paper  hangers 5.( 

3,374  i  Photographers 9,'. 

11,925    ~ 


2,H30 

1,856 

Draymen  and  teamsters 177,586 

Employes  in  warehouses...  5,023 

Employes  of  railroad  companies 236.058 

Peddlers 53.491 

Milk  men  and  women. 
Newspaper  carriers  — 

Street  railroad  employes 11,925  J  Plasterers 23,( 

Telegraph  employes 22,809    Printers  and  stereotypers 72.' 

Telephone  employes 1,196    Quarrymen 15.] 

Packers 4,176    Quartz  slaters 4.( 

Pilots 3.770    Stave  makers 4,( 

Porters  and  laborers 33,193  1  Wood-choppers 12,; 

It  is  this  class  of  people  that  I  have  the  honor  in  large  part  to  represent.  Th< 
live  in  our  cities,  and  though  they  may  be  largely  engaged  in  manufacturing  nccor 
ing  to  our  census  returns,  they  are  nut  manufacturing  those  articles  which  have  t 
special  favor  of  our  tariff. 

Gentlemen  may  tell  us  that  they  do  not  tax  the  wages  of  these  men,  wheth 
high  or  low,  by  their  tariff. 

I  know  that  they  do  not  tax  their  wages;  but  they  tax  all  that  their  wages bu 
They  thus  reduce  the  purchasing  power  of  the  little  money  that  is  left  at  the  end 
the  week  or  month;  for  every  article  that  enters  into  their  expenditure,  from  tl 
potatoes,  taxed  specifically  15  cents  a  bushel,  to  the  salt,  at  over  80  per  cent,  i 
valorem,  and  from  the  rent  of  their  houses,  which  is  enhanced  by  the  tax  on  lumb 
and  iron,  etc.,  to  the  blankets  that  give  them  comfort  in  the  winter  nights. 


LUXURIES  AND  NECESSARIES. 


Allow  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  place  in  parallel  cohimns  a  statement  of  a  numb 
oi  these  insectivera.  One  column  will  show  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  which  cor 
in  free  under  the  present  tariff,  and  the  other  the  duties  on  the  articles  of  neccssil 


TAKING  OFF  BUKDENS. 


601 


ret,  for  years  and  years  in  this  House,  gentlemen  have  refaped  even  to  consider 
Ivisability  of  reducing  the  one  or  raising  the  other  of  these  taxes  and  harmo- 
'  their  discordant  elements : 


Duty  on  articles  of  luxury. 

>f  roses,  free. 

_[,  or  orange- flower  oil,  free. 

lonrig,  10  per  cent, 
aw  Silk.  free. 
)welry,  35  per  cent, 
old  studs,  35  per  cent, 
inest  still  wines,  In  bottles,  39  per  cent. 

nest  thread  lace,  30  per  cent. 

ne   Aubnsson    and   Axminstcr   carpets, 

costing  abroad  $3.77  a  yard,  46  per  cent. 

inest  India  Shawls,  costing  abroad,  say 

$20  a  pound  weight,  35  cents  a  pound  and 

40  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  or  say  40^  per 

cent. 

Ik  Stockings,  50  per  cent. 

nest  Broadcloth,  costing  $5  a  pound 
abroad,  35  cents  a  pound  and  40  per  cent., 
equal  to  about  41  per  cent. 

ite  de  f  oie  gras,  35  per  cent. 

usical  instruments',  of  all  kinds,  35  per 

cent. 

uty  on  a  quart  bottle  of  champagne,  cost- 
ing abroad  |1  a  bottle,  58  cents. 

u-ry  and  curry  powder,  free, 
lives,  green  or  prepared,  free. 
)Ices  all  kinds,  free. 


I  Duty  on  articles  of  necessity. 

Castor- oil,  180  per  cent. 
1     Linseed  Oil,  63  per  cent. 

Common  window-glass,  87  per  cent. 
I    Raw  wool,  45  per  cent. 

Steel  rails,  85  per  cent. 

Horseshoe  nails,  IIG  per  cent. 

Cheapest    mixed    woolen    goods,  costing^ 
abroad  34  cents  per  yard,  77  per  cent. 

Spool  thread,  51  per  cent. 
;     Common  druggets,  costing  abroad  26  cents 
I        a  yard,  86  per  cent. 

\    Common  woolen  shawls,  costing  abroad  68 
1        cents  a  pound,  86  ptr  cent. 

j     Common    worsted    stockings,   costing    36 

I        cents  a  pound  abroad,  73  per  cent.         "^*^ 

Common  cloth,  costing  65  cents  a  pound 

abroad,  duty  35  cents  a  pound  and  3  per 

cent,  ad  valorem,  equal  to  89  per  eent* 


Rice,  106  per  cent. 

Galvanized  wire  smaller  than  No.  16  and 

not  smaller  than  No.  36  wire  gauge,  133 

per  cent. ;   smaller  than  No.  36,  155  per 

cent. 
Duty  on  a  dollar's  worth  of  bleached  cotton 

fabric,  costing  abroad  5>^  cents  a  square 

yard,  66>^  cents. 
Potatoes,  15  cents  duty  per  bushel. 
Corn  starch,  85 >^  per  cent.  duty. 
Sajt,  85  per  cent.  duty. 


THE  AD  ABSURDUM. 

It  would  be  a  very  difficult  task  to  persuade  men  who  are  selfish  to  indulge  in 
If-love,  much  less  in  disinterestedness.  Perhaps  the  most  cogent  reasoning  upon 
is  subject  would  be  after  the  manner  of  our  humorists,  known  as  the  ad  dbmrdumy 
hich  Aristotle  ranks  among  the  best  rudiments  of  logic. 

We  have  a  humorist  known  as  "  Bill  Nye."  This  clever  writer  has  been  acting 
I  a  rural  gentleman.  He  has  ideas  of  stock-growing,  garden  sauce,  and  other 
)me-spun  matters  about  farming  in  the  West.    I  quote : 

"Well,  farmin'  is  like  runnin'  a  paper  in  regards  to  some  things.  Every  feller  in  the 
orld  will  take  and  turn  in  and  tell  you  bow  to  do  it,  even  if  he  don't  know  a  blame  thing 
)0Ut  it.  There  ain't  a  man  in  the  United  States  to-day  that  don't  secretly  think  he  could 
m  airy  one  if  his  other  business  busted  on  him,  whether  he  knows  the  ditference  between 
new  milch  cow  and  a  horse  hay-rake  or  not.  We  had  one  of  these  embroidered  night- 
lirt  farmers  come  from  town  better'n  three  years  ago.  Been  a  toilet-soap  man  and  done 
ell,  and  so  he  came  out  and  bought  a  farm  that  had  nothing  lo  it  but  a  fancy  house  and 
irn,  a  lot  of  medder  in  the  front  yard,  and  a  southern  aspect.  The  Jarm  was  no  good, 
ou  couldn't  raise  a  disturbance  on  it  Wei),  what  does  he  do  ?  Goes  and  gets  a  passle  of 
im-tailed  yelier  cows  from  New  Jersey,  and  aims  to  handle  cream  and  diversified  farming, 
ist  year  the  cuss  sent  a  load  of  cream  over  and  tried  to  sell  it  at  the  new  crematory  while 
le  funeral  and  hollercost  was  goin'  on.  I  may  be  a  sort  of  a  chump  myself,  but  I  read  my 
aper  and  don't  get  left  like  that." 

"What  are  the  prospects  for  farmers  in  your  State  ?  " 

"Well,  they  are  pore.  Never  was  so  pore,  in  fact,  sence  I've  been  there.  Folks  wonder 
hy  boys  leaves  the  farm.  My  boys  left  so  as  to  get  protected,  they  said,  and  so  they  went 
ito  a  clothing  store,  one  of  'em,  and  one  went  into  hardware,  and  one  is  talkin'  protection 
I  the  Legislature  this  winter.  They  said  that  farmin'  was  gettin'  to  be  like  fishin'  and 
untin',  well  enough  for  a  man  that  has  means  and  leisure,  but  they  couldn't  make  a  livin' 
sit,  they  said.  Another  boy  is  in  a  drug  store,  and  the  man  that  hires  him  says  he  is  a 
)yal  feller." 

"Kind  of  a  castor  royal  feller,"  I  said  with  a  skriek  of  laughter. 

He  waited  until  1  had  laughed  all  I  wanted  to,  and  then  he  said  : 

"I've  always  hollered  for  high  tariff  in  order  to  hyst  the  public  debt,  but  now  that  we've 
ot  the  national  debt  coopered,  I  wish  they'd  take  a  little  hack  at  mine.  I've  put  in  fifty 
ears  farmin'.    I  never  drank  licker  in  any  form.    I've  worked  from  ten  to  eightec  n  hours 


/ 


I 


602  TAKING  OFF  BUKDENS. 

a  day;  been  economical  in  cloze  and  never  went  to  a  show  more'n  a  dozen  times  in  my] 
raised  a  family  and  learned  upwards  of  two  hundred  calves  to  drink  out  of  a  tin  pail 
out  blowing-  all  their  vittles  up  my  sleeve.    My  wife  worked  alongside  o'  me  sewin* 
seats  on  the  boys'  pants,  skimmin  milk,  and  even  helpin'  me  load  hay. 

*'ror  forty  years  we  toiled  along-  together  and  hardly  got  time  to  look  into  each  otK_ 
faces  or  dared  to  stop  and  get  acquainted  with  each  other.    Then  her  health  ailed.  Ketche 
cold  in  the  spring-house,  prob'ly  skimmin' milk  and  washin'  pans  and  scaldin'  pails  an 
spankln'  butter.    Anyhow,  she  took  in  a  long  breath  one  day  while  the  doctor  and  me  mk  i 
wat chin' her,  and  she  says  to  me,  'Henry,'  says  she,  'I've  got  a  chance  to  rest,'  and  sh^H 
one  tired,  wore-out  hand  on  top  of  the  other  tired,  wore-out  hand,  and  I  knew  she'd  ^B  | 
where  they  don't  work  all  day  and  do  chores  all  night.  ^^ 

"I  took  time  to  kiss  her  then.  I'd  been  too  busy  for  a  good  while  previous  to  that,  atn 
then  I  called  in  the  boys.  After  the  funeral  it  was  too  much  for  them  to  stay  around  am 
eat  the  kind  of  cookin  we  had  to  put  up  with,  and  nobody  spoke  up  around  the  house  a 
we  used  to.  The  boys  quit  whistlin'  around  the  barn  and  talked  kind  of  low  by  themselve 
about  goin'  to  town  and  gettin'  a  job. 

"They're  all  gone  now,  and  the  snow  is  four  feet  deep  on  mother's  grave  up  there  ir 
old  berryin'  ground." 

Then  both  of  us  looked  out  of  the  car  window  quite  a  long  time  without  saying 
thing.  

"I  don't  blame  the  boys  for  going  into  something  else,  longs  other  things  pays  better 
but  I  say— and  I  say  what  I  know— that  the  man  who  holds  the  prosperity  of  this  countr 
in  his  hands,  the  man  that  actually  makes  money  for  other  people  to  spend,  the  man  tha 
eats  three  good,  simple,  square  meals  a  day  and  goes  to  bed  at  9  o'clock,  so  that  future  gen 
erations  with  good  blood  and  cool  brains  can  go  from  his  farm  to  the  Senate  and  Congres 
and  the  White  House— he  is  the  man  that  gets  left  at  last  to  run  his  farm,  with  nobody  t( 
help  him  but  a  hired  man  and  a  high  protective  tariff. 

"The  farms  in  our  State  are  mortgaged  for  over  $700,000,000.  Ten  of  our  Western  Statei 
— I  see  by  the  papers— have  got  about  three  billion  and  a  half  mortgages  on  their  farms 
and  that  don't  count  the  chattel  mortgages  filed  with  town  clerks  on  farm  machinery 
stock,  wagons,  and  even  crops,  by  gosh  !  that  ain't  two  inches  high  under  the  snow.  That'i 
what  the  prospects  is  for  farms  now.  The  Government  Is  rich,  but  the  men  that  made  it 
the  men  that  fought  perairie  fires  and  perarie  wolves  and  Injuns  and  potato-bugs  and  bliz 
zards,  and  has  paid  the  war  debt  and  pensions  and  everything  else,  and  hollered  for  th< 
Union  and  Republican  party  and  high  tariff  and  anything  else  that  they  was  told  to,  is  lef ; 
high  and  dry  this  cold  winter  with  a  mortgage  of  $7,500,000,000  on  the  farms  they  hav( 
earned  and  saved  a  thousand  times  over." 

Yes ;  but  look  at  the  glory  of  sending  from  the  farm  the  future  President,  the  future 
Senator,  and  the  future  member  of  Congress. 

"That  looks  well  on  paper,  but  what  does  it  really  amount  to?  Soon  as  a  farmer-boy 
gits  in  a  place  like  that  he  forgets  the  soil  that  produced  him  and  holds  his  head  as  high  as 
a  hollyhock.  He  bellers  for  protection  to  everybody  but  the  farmer,  and  while  he  sails 
round  in  a  highty-tighty  room  with  a  fire  in  it  night  and  day,  his  father  on  the  farm  has  tc 
kindle  his  own  fire  in  the  morning  with  elm  slivers  and  has  to  wear  his  son's  lawn  tennis 
suit  next  to  him  or  freeze  to  death,  and  he  has  to  milk  in  an  old  gray  shawl  that  has  held 
that  member  of  Congress  when  he  was  a  baby,  by  gorry !  and  the  old  lady  has  to  sojourn 
through  the  winter  in  the  flannels  that  Silas  wore  at  the  rigatter  before  he  went  to  Con- 

38." 

So  I  say,  and  I  think  that  Congress  agrees  with  me.  Damn  a  farmer,  anyhow ! 


IV. 

SOME  OP  THE  KA.TES  OF  TAXA.TIOK 

LOWEST  DUTIES  ON  LUXURIES ;   HIGHEST  ON  NECESSARIES— AS  A    RESULT   OF  THE 

PRESENT  METHOD   OF   LEVYING   TAXES. 

Senator  ZebvUon  B.  Vance,  of  North  Carolina,  January  13, 1888. 

IRON  AND  STEEL. 

Amount  imported  in  18S7 $50,618,985 

Duty  paid  thereon 30,713,232 

'Being  an  average  of  41  per  cent. 

JEWELRY  AND  PRECIOUS  STONES. 

Amount  imported  in  1887 $10,981,191 

Duty  paid  thereon  1,163,300 

Being  a  duty  of  lOX  per  cent. 

This  shows  whatever  be  the  excuse  for  it,  that  the  iron  and  steel,  without  which  no 
Industry  can  move,  and  which  are  an  absolute  necessity  of  life,  are  made  to  pay  four  times 
as  much  as  the  adornments  of  the  rich. 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  603 

WOOL  AND  WOOLEN  GOODS. 

[■hats :  Per  cent. 

''alued  at  40  cents  per  pound  and  under 75.00 

'alued  at  from  40  to  60  cents  per  pound 73.00 

'alued  at  from  60  to  80  cents  per  pound 66  00 

'alued  at  above  80  cents  per  pound 52.00 

l8  the  article  rises  in  value  it  decreases  in  duty  or  tax. 
roods  : 

''orth  not  exceeding  30  cents  per  pound 88.33)^ 

'orth  from  30  to  40  cents  per  pound 65.20 

'orth  from  4"  to  CO  cents  per  pound 69.00 

'alued  at  80  cents  per  pound  and  upwards 63.00 

>n  Shawls : 

'alued  at  80  cents  per  pound  and  under , 88.50 

'alued  above  80  cents  per  pound 65.50 

m  goods,  dress  goods,  etc  : 

'alued  at  80  cents  per  pound  or  under 88.80 

Worth  over  80  cents  per  pound 64.46 

Worsted,  alpaca,  and  so  on : 

Valued  at  30  cents  per  pound  or  under 76.50 

Worth  from  30  to  40  cents  per  pound 69.33>^ 

Worth  from  40  to  60  cents  per  pound 68.25 

Flannels : 

Cheapest,  valued  at  30  cents  or  uuder,  per  pound > 73.42 

Valued  from  30  to  40  cents  per  pound 66.20 

Valued  at  above  60  cents  and  not  exceeding  80  cents  per  pound •  67  05 

ilV omen's  and  children's  dress  goods,  Italian  cloths,  etc.: 

Worth  30  cents  per  square  yard  or  under 67.89 

All  above  20  cents  per  square  yard 59.00 

ill  woolen  goods  or  mixtures  of  alpaca  and  other  material : 

Weighing  four  ounces  or  less  per  square  yard 83.00 

Weighing  over  four  ounces  per  square  yard 69.68 

Blankets: 

Worth  30  cents  per  pound  or  under 79.66 

Worth  from  30  to  40  cents  per  pound 63.85 

All  worth  above  80  cents  per  pound 70.00 

Whilst  the  woolen  shawl  of  the  poor  woman  is  taxed  88  per  cent,  the  silk  shawl  of  her 
vealthier  sister  Is  taxed  only  50  per  cent. 

Whilst  the  cheap  alpaca  of  the  laborer's  wife  is  taxed  83  per  cent,  the  silk  or  velvet 
Iress  of  his  employer's  wife  and  the  laces  and  ribbons  with  which  it  is  trimmed  are  taxed 
)Ut50per  cent. 

Whilst  the  plow-boy's  coarse  wool  hat  is  taxed  75  per  cent,  the  shining  silk  beaver  of 
;he  dude  is  taxed  only  50  per  cent. 

Files  are  taxed  56  per  cent ;  trace-chains,  47  per  cent.;   horseshoe-nails,  76  per  cent.; 
vhilst  sporting  fire-arms,  pistols,  etc.,  are  taxed  only  35  per  cent.,  and  iron  rails  continue  to 
>ay  93  per  cent,  and  steel  rails  84. 
iVindow  Glass : 

Cylinder,  crown  and  common  window,  unpolished,  not  exceeding  10  by  15  inches 

square 60.71 

Above  and  not  exceeding  16  by  24  square 93.11 

Jylinder  and  crown,  polished,  unsilvered : 

10  by  15 7.28 

Not  exceeding  16  by  24 16.79 

i*late-glass,  rough : 

Not  exceeding  10  by  15  inches  square 14'16 

Not  exceeding  16  by  24  inches  square 23.88 

?late-glass.  polished,  unsilvered : 

10  by  15  inches,  square l"-3? 

16  by  24  laches 20.L> 

*late-glas8,  polished  and  silvered  : 

10  by  15  inches  square 10-8o 

16  by  24  inches  square ISM 


HOW  THE  POOR  PAY  THIS  TAX. 


lese  are  only  a  few  items  showing  the  manner  in  which  these  taxes  are  levied, 
rd  how  anyone  so  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  whole  subject  can  conclude  that 
hese  taxes  are  levied  mainly  upon  articles  of  luxury  is  another  mystery  that  the 
riends  of  protection  alone  can  explain.  The  heavy  taxes  placed  upon  iron,  farming 
aaplements,  cotton-ties,  coarse  blankets  and  coarse  woolens,  and  the  comparatively 


604  TAKING   OFF  BURDENS. 

light  tax  upon  jewelry,  plate-glass,  silks  and  velvets  contradict  the  proposition 
show  that  it  is  the  reverse  of  true.  The  effect  ol  this  arrangement  of  duties  is, 
whether  intended  or  not,  to  compi  1  the  poor  and  laboring  classes  to  pay  not  more 
taxes  to  the  Government  perhaps,  because  they  purchase  but  few  hnported  goods, 
but  to  pay  to  the  manufacturers  of  American  goods  a  sum  far  in  excess  of  the  entire 
sum  collected  by  the  Government  upon  imported  goods  over  and  above  that  which 
they  would  be  compelled  to  pay  for  these  necessaries  if  this  duty  was  not  impose  - 
And  the  amount  paid  the  Govtrrnment  as  a  tariff  upon  imported  goods  is 
#220.000,000  annually. 


V. 

ENHANCING  THE  COST  OF  LIVING. 

THE  PAYMENT  OF    EXORBITANT  TAXES  MAKES  THE   CONDITIONS   OP  LIFE   HARDER 

AND    HARDER  IN   AMERICAN   CITIES. 

Representative  Ashbel  P.  Fitcfi,  of  New  York  {Republican),  May  16. 
The  upper  part  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  mainly  a  lesidence  district.  The* 
majority  of  the  people  who  live  there  live  on  fixed  incomes  paid  them  as  salaries  or 
wages  every  month,  or  by  the  proceeds  of  professional  employment  in  which  their 
incomes  are  limited.  Some  of  them  are  architects,  artists,  clergymen,  clerks  iu 
banks,  insurance  and  law  offices,  journalists,  musicians,  lawyers,  physicians,  teach- 
ers, book-keepers,  railroad  employes,  drivers,  conductors,  policemen,  firemen, 
telegraph  and  telephone  operators,  salesmen,  mechanical  engineers,  civil  engineers, 
stenographers,  printers,  and  skilled  mechanics  of  all  sorts  not  employed  in  industries 
which  have  protection  under  the  present  tariff. 

A  WORD  FOR   PEOPLE   WHO  HAVE  NO  PROTECTION. 

In  that  district  lives,  too,  an  army  of  deserving  women  who  earn  their  living 
by  unprotected  labor,  and  often  that  of  others  dependent  upon  them.  There  is  per- 
haps a  necessity  within  the  course  of  this  long  debate  that  somebody  should  say  a 
word  for  these  people.  The  farmer  has  his  eloquent  advocate  trKined  in  the  county 
and  State  fairs,  who  is  in  arms  to  defend  every  product  of  his  ground.  The  work- 
men in  factories  and  the  manulacturers  have  their  special  advocates,  who  lie  awake 
at  night  to  study  their  interests  and  whose  voices  have  been  heard  nere  every  day 
since  the  beginning  of  this  session,  asking  for  one  measure  or  another  for  their 
protection.  Almost  every  cla^s  has  had  its  advocates  here,  except  perhaps  the 
millionaires,  whom  nobody  will  own  to  represent,  and  who  have  no  friends  in  this 
House. 

Suppose,  as  examples  of  the  class  of  people  to  whom  I  refer  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  we  take  the  policeman,  who  guards  our  bouses;  the  fireman,  who  will  risk 
his  life  for  our  children  ;  the  reporter  and  the  printer,  who  spend  the  night  in  pre- 
paring our  morning  papers;  the  carrier,  who  brings  it  through  all  kinds  of  weather^ 
and  the  locomotive  engineer  on  the  elevated  railroad,  who  takes  us  up  and  down 
town.  These  classes  of  workmen  have  no  direct  protection.  They  are  not  over- 
paid, nor  is  their  life  more  luxurious  than  it  ought  to  be.  The  money  which  they 
draw  at  the  end  of  every  month  is  not  more  than  they  need,  and  they  are  often 
sorely  pinched  to  buy  even  the  taxed  doll  to  fill  the  taxed  Christmas  stocking  or  to> 
pay  for  the  taxed  medicine  necessary  for  any  member  of  the  family. 

DESERVING   OF    CONSIDERATION. 

Perhaps  an  impartial  examination  may  show  that  these  people  are  as  intelligent,. 
as  patriotic,  and  as  deserving  of  consideration  in  the  matter  now  before  the  Hous^Q- 
as  are  the  Rhode  Island  mill  operators  or  the  Kansas  farmers.    Their  wishes 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  605 

views  maybe  even  as  important  to  the  Republican  party.  If  you  are  to  get  any 
Republican  votes  in  New  York  City  you  must  get  them  from  these  people.  These^ 
classes  gave  you  under  the  wise  management  of  Arthur  votes  enough  to  keep  down' 
the  Democratic  majoritv  in  the  city  so  that  a  Republican  President  was  elected  by" 
the  vote  of  the  State  of  New  York.  They  gave  in  my  district  a  Republican  an  elec- 
tion to  Congress,  largely  because  his  Democratic  opponent  refused  to  support  any 
measure  of  tariff  reform,  and  voted  against  the  consideration  of  the  Morrison  bill. 

You  can  hardly  afford  to  pass  these  voters  over  in  your  desire  to  conciliate  the 
factory  operatives  and  the  farmers,  unless,  indeed,  you  have  decided  to  elect  your 
candidate  without  the  vote  of  New  York  State.  I  have  had  it  explained  to  me  that 
this  can  easily  be  done.  It  is  a  favorite  theory  apparently  of  the  same  gentlemen 
who  have  decided  that  the  city  workingmen  who  gave  the  most  outspoken  atd 
determined  free-trader  in  this  country,  Mr.  Henry  George,  (J8,000  votes  at  an  elec- 
tion when  we  could  only  get  f'.0,000  for  so  good  a  candidate  as  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
are  wild  with  enthusiasm  for  the  absolute  maintenance  of  the  present  tariff;  and  of" 
those  other  wise  leaders  of  the  party  whose  declared  policy  is  to  alienate  the  Ger- 
man voters  who  are  still  true  to  the  Republican  party,  in  order  to  please  the  Prohi- 
bitionists, who  laugh  at  their  concessions  and  have  always  sought  and  always  willi 
seek  the  downfall  of  that  party. 

PAYING  ON  EVERYTHING  THEY  TOUCH  OR  HANDLE. 

I  for  one  am  not  willing  to  accept  such  theories  or  acknowledge  such  leader-- 
ship.  In  the  interest  of  the  Republican  party,  and  in  the  iijterest  of  common  fair- 
ness, I  propose  to  ask  gentlemen  on  this  side  of  the  House  to  consider  for  a  moment 
how  the  present  tariff,  which  we  have  promised  to  revise,  now  affects  the  people 
whom  I  have  described,  and  to  consider  what  they  pay  taxes  on  in  the  general  dis- 
tribution of  the  customs  tax'  s  now  in  force. 

They  pay  upon  everything.  Look  for  a  moment  at  what  they  eat.  There  ie  a 
tariff  duty  on  beef,  on  pork,  hams  and  bacon,  butter  and  lard,  cheese,  molasses,, 
grapes,  wheat  flour,  oats,  corn  meal  rye,  barley,  potatoes,  raisins,  vinegar,  honey,, 
rice  and  rice  meal,  sugar,  extract  of  meat,  pickles,  currants,  apples,  salt,  and  con- 
densed milk.  The  list  is  substar  tially  an  inventory  of  the  stock  of  the  grocery  store- 
at  which  they  buy.  There  is  a  duty  on  the  coal  which  warms  them,  on  their  cook- 
ing and  household  utensil^,  on  their  entire  clothing  from  their  hats  to  their  stock- 
ings, on  the  medicines  given  them  when  they  are  sick,  and  on  the  roofs  over  their 
heads. 

The  commerce  of  New  York,  where  most  of  the  customs  duties  are  colhcted,. 
while  it  asks  in  vain  for  the  money  which  is  necessary  to  improve  the  water  ways 
where  $147,000,000  of  our  revenue  is  collected  every  year,  pays  cheerfully  taxes- 
which  are  used  to  keep  up  custom-houses  where  nothing  is  ever  collected,  andto- 
carry  the  mails  on  routes  which  use  up  the  great  profits  of  the  city  offices,  to  build' 
harbors  in  Texas,  where  a  sailor  who  happened  to  be  stranded  would  be  lost  and 
lonesome,  to  improve  rapids  in  TenncLsee  which  no  one  but  the  lumberman  ever 
sees,  and  to  dredge  out  creeks  in  Georgia  which  the  Government  engineers  who  are 
given  charge  of  the  work  spend  a  month  in  trying  to  find.  Just  so  the  people  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  sooner  than  object  in  any  way  to  the  protective  tariff,  which, 
they  believe  to  be,  if  properly  laid  and  fairly  administered,  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  country,  have  paid  without  objection  and  cheerfully,  on  everything  they  use 
or  touch  or  handle,  from  the  beginning,  these  customs  duties  for  the  benefit  of  the- 
manufacturer  and  his  employe  and  the  long-suffering  farmer. 

WHY  A  READJUSTMENT  IS  ASKED. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  a  revision  of  the  tariff  has  been  promised  by 
both  parties,  and  when  the  present  duties  yield  so  large  a  revenue  that  its  further 
accumulation  has  become  admittedly  dangerous.  Is  it  strange  that  at  this  time  and 
under  tbese  circumstances  they  ask  that  a  readjustment,  partially  at  least,  in 
their  interest,  may  take  place?  And  is  it  unreasonable  to  ask  that  a  tariff  whicb 
puts  jewelry  at  25  per  cent,  and  oil-c]oth  for  tenement  house  floors  at  40  per  cent, 
ad  valorem;  which  brings  in  silver-plated  harness  at  35  per  cent,  and  children'^ 


I 


^06  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

-cotton  stockinajs  at  40  per  cent.;  under  which.  India  shawls  of  the  finest  quality  pl^ 
40  per  cent,  and  common  woolen  shawls  8G  per  cent.,  shoull  be  modified?  On  the 
theory  of  protecting  or  pleasing  the  manufacturing  laborer  and  the  farmer  the  mass 
of  people  in  my  district  in  the  city  of  New  York  have  paid  for  many  years,  each  of 
them,  out  of  money  which  they  can  ill  spare,  more  for  their  meals,  their  shelter^ 
their  clothes,  and  their  medicines  than  these  things  ought  to  cost  them. 


VI. 
GARFIELD  AND  THE  COBDEN  CLUB. 

fflCIS  MEMBERSHIP,  AT  HIS  DEATH,  OP   THAT  FREE   TRADE  ORGANIZATION  CLEi 

SHOWN    BY  IRREFUTABLE  EVIDENCE. 

Representative  W.  D.  Bynum,  of  Indiana,  May  10,  1883. 

In  regard  to  the  record  of  General  Garfield  as  a  member  of  that  club,  I  showed 
.from  the  list  of  membership  that  he  was  a  member  in  1871  and  in  1876.  I  stated  that 
his  membership,  no  doubt,  was  brought  about  by  the  sentiments  which  lie  had 
^expressed  on  the  question  of  free  trade.  In  that  statement  I  think  I  am  fully  sus- 
tained by  the  public  declarations  of  that  able  and  distinguished  man.  In  1866 
'General  Garfield  made  a  speech  in  the  House,  in  which  he  used  the  following 
language : 

If  Congress  pursues  this  line  of  policy  steadily  we  shall,  year  by  year,  approach  more 
nearly  to  the  basis  of  free  trade,  because  we  shall  bo  more  nearly  able  to  compete  with 
•other  nations  on  equal  terms.  I  am  for  a  protection  which  leads  to  ultimate  free  trade.  I 
am.  for  that  free  trade  which  can  only  be  achieved  through  a  reasonable  protection. 

Again,  General  Garfield,  on  July  10, 1866,  in  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  said: 
I  am  willing,  as  a  compromise,  to  favor  the  reduction  of  the  proposed  duty  on  railroad 
Iron,  and  I  presume  the  Committee  on  ttailroads  will  agree  with  me  in  this.    I  think  we 
should  also  reduce  the  proposed  duty  on  salt,  and  I  have  no  doubt  in  several  other  particu- 
lars we  will  reduce  the  rate  of  duty. 

Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens  replied  as  follows : 
Why  not  come  out  honestly  and  accept  the  proposition  of  the  gentleman  from  Iowa 
<Mr.  Wilson,  who  favored  a  tariff  for  revenue  only),  which  is  a  much  more  ingenuous  one? 

To  which  General  Garfield  responded  that— 
Against  the  abstract  doctrine  of  free  trade  as  such  very  little  can  be  said.    As  a  theory 
there  is  much  to  commend  it.    But  it  can  never  b3  applied  to  values,  except  in  time  of 
>peace. 

OCCUPIED   A   MIDDLE   GROUND. 

I  read  from  a  speech  delivered  on  June  4,  1878,  by  Mr.  Garfied,  and  I  must  say 
that  I  find  nothing  in  the  quotation  Irom  which  I  read  to  which  I  d'ssent.  I  cer- 
tainly think  there  is  much  to  commend  and  but  little,  if  any,  to  condemn  in  the 
sentiments  expressed  by  him.  If  the  sentiments  he  then  expressed  as  to  the  ulti- 
mate result  of  a  reasonable  tariff"  should  prove  as  accurate  as  the  prediction  of  the 
result  of  high  protection,  I  think  we  can  well  calculate  what  will  be  the  result  if 
the  present  bill  is  defeated.    He  says : 

Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  on  this  question  I  have  long  occupied  a  position  between 
two  extremes  of  ooinion.  I  have  long  believed,  and  I  still  believe,  that  the  wo^st  evil 
which  has  afflicted  the  interests  of  American  artisans  and  manufacturers  has  been  the  ten- 
dency to  extremes  in  our  tariff  legislation.  Our  history  for  the  last  fifty  years  has  been  a 
repetition  of  the  same  mistake.  One  party  comes  into  power,  and  believing  that  a  protec- 
tive tariff  is  a  good  thing,  establishes  a  fair  rate  of  duty.  Not  content  with  that,  they  say : 
*'  This  works  well ;  let  us  have  more  of  it."  And  they  raise  the  rates  still  higher,  and  per- 
iiaps  go  beyond  the  limits  of  national  interest. 

Every  additional  step  in  that  direction  increases  the  opposition  and  threatens  the 
etabihty  of  the  whole  system. 


TAKING   OFF  BURDENS.  607 

lontinuing,  Mr.  Garfield  says  : 

HOW  A  HIGH  TARIFF  WORKS. 

When  the  policy  of  increase  is  pushed  beyond  a  certain  point  the  popular  reaction  seta- 
a;  the  opposite  party  gets  into  power  and  cuts  down  the  high  rates.  Not  content  with 
educing  the  rates  that  are  unreasonable,  they  attack  and  destroy  the  whole  protective 
ystem.  Then  ff  Hows  a  deficit  in  i  he  Treasury,  the  destruction  of  manufacturing  interests, 
mtil  the  reaction  again  sets  in,  the  free-traders  are  overthrown,  and  a  protective  system  is 
gain  established.  In  not  less  than  four  distinct  periods  during  the  last  fifty  years  has  this- 
ort  of  revolution  taken  place  in  our  industrial  system.  Our  great  national  industries  have 
bus  been  tossed  up  and  down  between  two  extremes  of  op'nion. 

During  my  term  of  service  in  this  House  I  have  resisted  the  effort  to  increase  the  rae& 
if  dutjr  whenever  I  thought  an  increase  would  be  dangerous  to  the  stability  of  our  manu- 
acturing  interests,  and  by  doing  so  I  have  sometimes  b«  en  thought  unfriendly  to  the 
•olicy  of  protecting  American  industry.  When  the  necessity  of  the  revenues  and  the 
afety  of  our  manufactures  warranted  I  have  favored  a  reduction  of  rates,  and  these  reduc- 
ions  have  aided  to  preserve  the  stability  of  the  system.  In  one  year,  soon  after  the  close 
f  the  war,  we  raised  $213,000,000  of  revenue  from  customs. 

In  1870  we  reduced  the  customs  duties  by  the  sum  of  twenty-nine  and  one-half  million* 
f  dollars.  In  1873  they  were  again  reduced  by  the  sum  of  forty-tour  and  one-half  millions, 
'hose  two  reductions  were  in  the  main  wise  and  judicious ;  and  aithous^h  I  did  not  vote  for- 
tiem  all,  yet  they  have  put  the  fair-minded  men  of  this  country  in  a  position  where  they 
an  jiistly  resist  any  considerable  reduction  below  the  present  rates. 

My  view  of  the  danger  of  extreme  positions  on  the  questions  of  tariff  rntesmaybe- 
lustrated  by  a  remark  made  by  Horace  Greeley  in  the  last  conversation  I  ever  had  with 
lat  distinguished  man.    Said  he : 

"My  fault  with  you  is  thai  you  are  not  sufficiently  high  protective  in  your  views." 
I  replied: 

"  W  hat  would  you  advise  ?  " 
He  said : 

"  If  I  had  my  way— if  I  were  king  of  this  country— I  would  put  a  duty  of  $100  a  ton  on 
ig-iron  and  a  proportionate  duty  on  everything  else  that  can  be  produced  in  America, 
he  result  would  be  that  our  people  would  be  obliged  to  supply  their  own  wants ;  manufac- 
ires  would  spring  up;  competition  would  flually  reduce  prices,  and  we  should  live  wholly 
ithin  ourselves." 

I  replied  that  the  fatal  objection  io  his  theory  was  that  no  man  is  king  of  this  country, 
ith  power  to  make  his  policy  permanent.  But  as  all  our  policies  depend  upon  popular 
ipport,  the  extreme  measure  proposed  would  beget  an  opposite  extreme,  and  our  indus- 
les  would  suffer  from  violent  reactions.  For  this  reason  I  believe  that  we  ought  to  seek 
lat  point  of  stable  equilibrium  somewhere  between  a  prohibitory  tariff  on  the  one  hand 
id  a  tariff  that  gives  no  protection  on  the  other.  What  is  that  point  of  stable  equilibrium  ? 
1  my  judgment,  it  is  this :  A  rate  so  high  that  foreign  producers  cannot  flood  our  markets 
id  break  down  our  home  manufacturers,  but  not  so  high  as  to  keep  them  altogether  out, 
labling  our  manulacturers  to  combine  and  raise  the  prices,  nor  so  high  as  to  s'imulate  an 
anatural  and  unhealthy  groAvth  of  manufactures. 

In  other  won  s,  I  would  have  the  duty  so  adjusted  that  every  great  American  industry 
n  fairly  live  and  make  fair  profits ;  and  yet  so  low  that  if  our  manufacturers  at  tempted 
put  up  prices  unreasona'^ly  the  competition  from  abroad  would  come  in  and  bring  down 
•ices  to  a  fair  rate.  Su  h  a  tariff  I  believe  will  be  supported  by  the  great  majority  of 
tnericans. 

I  commend  the  words  and  sentiments  of  General  Garfield  to  the  other  side  of 
is  House.    He  would  not  have  a  tariff  so  high  as  to  •'  enable  our  manufacturers  to 
mbine  and  raise  the  prices."    This  is  just  what  has  taken  place  under  the  present 
I  tiftpf  duty. 

^m  DENOUNCED  BY  HIS  OWN  PARTY. 

The  gentleman  from  Maine  [Mr.  Boutelle]  promised  to  show  that  Mr.  Garfield 
d  renounced  his  allegiance  to  the  Cobden  Club.  With  all  due  deference  to  what 
has  said,  I  do  not  think  he  has  done  so. 

Mr.  Boutelle.    I  read  Mr.  Garfield's  letter. 

Mr.  Bynum.  The  gentleman  did  read  a  letter  from  Mr.  Garfield  which  he  says 
18  written  in  April,  1877.  Mr.  Garfield,  in  the  letter  read,  says  he  was  elected  a 
jmber  of  the  club,  not  on  account  of  his  sentiments  in  favor  of  free  trade,  which  I 
ve  shown  he  had  prior  to  his  election  repeatedly  expressed,  but  by  reason  of  the 
sition  he  took  in  favor  of  resumption ;  that  at  the  time  of  his  election  he  did  not 
ow  that  the  club  favored  free  trade,  and  only  learned  so  afterwards.  But  he 
where,  as  I  now  recall,  said  that  after  learning  what  the  purposes  of  the  club 
Te,  he  withdrew  Irom  the  same.  If  this  letter  of  General  Garfield,  which  the 
atleman  has  read,  and  says  was  written  in  April,  1877,  was  accepted  by  his  party 
a  renunciation  of  his  adhesion  to  the  principles  of  the  Cobden  Club  and  of  hia 


'608  TA^KING  OFF  BURDENS. 

Pennsylvania  in  refusing  to  support  him  for  the  Speakership  in  the  Forty  fifth  and 
Forty-sixth  Congresses  was  very  strange.  Long  after  the  gentleman  says  Mr.  Gar- 
■field  renounced  his  connection  with  the  club,  we  find  a  Republican  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Pennsylvania  defending  the  action  of  himself  and  his  colleagues  for  with- 
holding from  him  their  support. 

They  were  censured  in  Pennsylvania  for  refusing  to  give  him  their  votes,  and 
Mr.  Killinojer  addressed  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Times,  dated  Octo- 
ber 17, 1877,  giving  the  reasons  why  the  members  from  that  State  withheld  their 
support,  which  I  desire  to  read. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Times : 

In  reply  to  the  inquiry,  I  w\\\  say  that  in  the  vote  for  speaker  we  chose  the  lesser  of  the 
two  evils.  We  could  not  elect  the  speaker,  and  the  only  significance  our  action  had  was  its 
indication  of  expression  of  confidence  in  tho  nominee  on  the  great  and  vital  question  of  pro- 
tection to  our  industries,  and  employment  for  our  laborers. 

In  my  judgment  all  questions  are  subordinate  to  this.  When,  therefore,  the  caucus 
determined  to  compliment  Mr.  Garflsld  in  this  way  I  had  to  choose  between  sanctioning' by 
my  vote  such  an  action  or  to  express  my  dissent  by  withholding-  it.  Mr.  Garfield's  record  on 
this  question  is  well  known  to  the  country,  and  some  of  it  has  come  under  my  own  obser- 
%'ation.  I  could  not,  therefore,  pass  it  by  as  insignificant  or  unimportant.  Without  mean- 
ins?  any  disrespect  to  him  I  am  compelled  to  say  that  his  status'  has  been  equivocal,  if  not 
actually  hostile,  to  the  opinions  we  hold  in  Pennsylvania. 

I  have  never  found  him  to  s'and  squarely  for  projection.  He  would  not  be  accepted  by 
the  Kepublicans  of  my  district  as  an  exponent  of  their  views,  and  I  could  not  compliment 
him  with  their  vote  for  the  Speakership  without  manifest  inconsistency  and  doing  violence 
to  all  my  convictions  of  duty  and  principle.  No  friend  of  American  system  of  revenue  and 
finance  has  ever  been  complimented  with  honorary  membership  in  the  British  free  trade 
ieas-ues.  The  object  of  these  leagues  is  well  known  to  be  the  strengthening  of  British 
inliaence  in  foreign  countries  They  aim  to  secure  markets  here  for  British  manufactures, 
and  to  that  end  are  hostile  to  our  home  industries. 

In  common  with  William  C.  Bryant,  Samuel  S.  Cox  and  D.  A.  Wells,  notorious  free- 
traders, Mr.  Garfield  stands  in  connection  with  such  a  league.  So  long  as  he  retains  such 
connections  and  does  not  disavow  its  pernicious  heresies,  1  do  not  see  how  to  acquit  him  of 
holding  the  opinions  of  Bri  ish  co-laborers.  It  needed  some  resolution  to  express  our  dis- 
sent from  the  conclusions  reached  by  the  caucus.  The  Republican  organization  should  be 
maintained  by  the  party's  representatives,  especially  at  this  juncture  when  we  are  threat- 
ened with  disintegration  in  high  quarters.  But  unless  we  can  at  the  same  time  maintain 
the  principles  which  gave  value  and  vitality  to  the  organiz  uion,  party  ties  will  weaken  and 
our  early  dissolution  is  certain.  So  I  chose  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils  in  withholding  the 
vote  of  the  Fourteenth  district  from  a  nominee  who  fails  to  be  in  accord  with  its  people  on 
the  greatest  question  before  the  country. 

J.  W.  KILLINGER. 

Washington,  D.  C,  October  17, 1877. 

PROOF  POSITIVE   OF  HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  CLUB. 

Now  I  read  from  a  letter,  dated  April  23,  1888,  from  David  A.  Wells,  wl 
fully  and  explicitly  explains  Mr.  Garfield's  connection  with  the  Cobden  Club. 

Norwich,  Conn.,  Aprils,  188 
Dear  Sir  :  In  response  to  your  question  as  to  the  connection  of  General  Garfield 
the  Cobden  Club,  I  would  say  that  he  was  proposed  and  elected  a  member  of  the  clubl 
1869,  at  the  same  ti-ne  ani  in  company  with  Edward  Atkinson,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  E.  P. 
Whipple,  John  Quincy  Adams,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  of  Massachusetts,  and  William 
•Cullen  Bryant,  Henry  Ward  Beccher,  and  David  Dudley  Field,  of  New  York.  He  acknowl- 
edged the  compliment  and  accepted  the  membership  in  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of  the  club, 
and  his  membership  continued  without  any  revocation  on  his  part  until  the  day  of  his 
death. 

The  statement  that  eminent  men  are,  or  have  been,  "frequently  elected  as  honorary 
members  of  the  Cobden  Club  simply  as  a  recognition  of  their  scholarship"  is  not  correct. 
No  man  is  ever  elected  unless  his  consent  has  been  previously  obtained,  either  directly  from 
himself  or  indirectly  through  friends  who  propose  his  name  for  election,  and  who  does  not 
understand  that  an  election  to  membership  of  the  club  involves  an  indoisement  of  its  prin- 
ciples. The  motto  of  the  club,  which  appears  in  all  its  publications  and  correspondence, 
namely,  "Free-trade,  peace  and  good-will  among  nations,^'  obviously  does  not  allow  of  any 
individual  self-deception,  certainly  not  in  the  case  of  a  man  like  General  Garfield. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  men  who  founded  the  Cobden  Club,  like  John  Bright. 
Thomas  B.  Potter,  Milnor  Gibson,  and  others,  were  men  who  through  the  darkest  hours  ol 
the  rebellion  stood  up  in  Parliament  and  out  of  Parliament  for  the  Union,  and  did  more 
than  any  or  all  others  in  preventing  Lord  Palmerston  and  his  cabinet  from  uniting  with 
Louis  Napoleon  in  recognizing  the  Southern  Confederacy  and  breaking  the  blockade,  whicb 
in  time  meant  calamity  if  not  ruin  to  the  Northern  cause.  And  yet  it  now  suits  the  extreme 
^protectionists  to  revile  these  men  as  the  relentless  foes  of  the  American  laborer. 


TAKING   OFF   BURDENS,  '  G09 

T  will  furtber  add  that,  of  my  own  certain  knowledge.  General  Garfield  was  a  believer 
the  principles  of  free  trade  down  to  a  period  as  late  as  a  year  prior  to  his  nomination  for 
e  Presidency,  and  that  it  was  in  no  small  part  throug-h  intercourse  and  discussion  with 
m  in  1867  and  ise.8  I  abandone  t  my  original  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  protection  and  sub- 
qupnily  (1870)  accepted  membership  in  the  Cobden  Ciub 

In  making  these  statements  I  preferno  accusation  of  dising'enuousness  or  hypocrisy 
Hinst  (.general  Garfleid.  and  neither  do  I  think  him  open  to  a  suspicion  of  such  conduct. 
e  probably  accepted  the  definition  of  Canning  that  true  statesmanship  consists  in  finding 
e  line  of  safe  change:  and  while  accepting  the  principles  of  free  trade  and  looking  for- 
ird  to  the  day  when  they  will  constitute  the  basis  of  commercial  intercourse  between  all 
itions,  he  at  the  same  time  held  that  such  a  result  in  this  country  could  be  best  and  most 
eedily  attained  through  gradual  and  tentativo  reforms ;  and  that  in  the  then  temper  of 
e  American  people  the  advocacy  of  radical  measures  was  both  inexpedient  and  useless. 

I  am,  yours  respectfully, 

DAVID  A.  WELLS. 

It  was  not  my  intention  to  occupy  so  much  time  of  the  House  in  presenting 
lis  matter,  and  my  only  upology  for  doing  so  is  that  I  desired  all  the  facts  to  go 
ifore  the  country.  In  conclusion  I  wish  to  say  that  I  have  always  had  the  greatest 
[miration  for  the  abilities  of  General  Garfield,  and  taking  his  statements  to  the 
ethods  by  and  through  which  he  expected  to  arrive  at  free  trade,  I  do  not  think 
3  connection  with  the  Cobden  Club  discreditable  to  his  public  life  or  to  his 
eraory. 


VII. 
HOW  IRELAND  HAS  SUFFERED  FROM  HIGH  TAXES. 

E  PRINCIPAL  ELEMENT  WHICH  HAS  BROUGHT  IRELAND  TO  ITS  PRESENT  POSITION, 

*AND  THE  INTEREST  OF  ITS  PEOPLE  IN  REDUCTION  OF  TAXES. 
Eepresentative  R.  P.  Bland^  of  Missouri^  May  10,  1S88. 
*  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  about  the  effects  of  free  trade  on  Ireland.  But  any 
3  acquainted  with  the  history  of  that  country,  as  shown  by  the  extract  which  has 
t  been  read,  knows  it  is  the  reverse  of  free  trade  that  has  brought  Ireland  to  the 
t  of  England,  depopulated  the  Green  Isle,  and  sent  her  cliildren  wanderers  over 
earth,  oue  half  of  them  in  the  list  half  century,  reducing  the  population  from 
mt  eight  millions  forty  years  ago  to  about  one-half  of  that  now.  It  was  the 
trictive  policy  of  the  navigation  laws,  preventing  Ireland  from  exporting  her 
'ducts  to  any  ports  other  than  those  of  England,  that  broke  down  her  factories 
I  subjugated  her  people,  until  today  the  landlords  own  nearly  the  whole  of 
land.  Old  England  has  her  Ireland;  shall  New  England  also  have  a  a  Ireland 
he  West? 

It  was  the  want  of  freedom  of  trade,  it  was  the  restrictions  of  her  trade  and 
«  imerce  under  the  navigation  laws  that  prevented  her  sending  her  products  to 
other  ports  save  those  of  England,  the  inimical  legislation  on  the  part  of 
.  jland,  that  broke  down  her  factories  in  the  interest  of  the  English  manufacturers. 
'  !se  unequal  and  unjust  laws  imbued  the  spirit  of  rebellion  in  Ireland  against  the 
1   ^nny  of  England  that  has  caused  them  for  the  century  past  to  resist  as  best  they 

<  d  these  injustices.  They  have  demanded  of  England  the  right  of  free  trade,  the 
:   it  of  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  the  right  of  free  government. 

i  And  because  these  demanls  have  not  been  acceded  to,  Ireland  has  been  in  a 
«    )nic  state  of  war  with  England  since  the  union     This  chronic  state  of  war  and 

<  ontent  has  been  answered  by  idiotic  coercion  acts  in  as  many  years,  so  that 
'  md  has  not  only  suffered  by  tnese  acts,  but  also  by  tyrannical  military  rule  that 
I  prostrated  her  in  the  dust,  that  has  kept  her  people  in  constant  strife  to  regain 
3  liberties,  and,  although  in  recent  years  these  restrictions  may  have  been  removed, 
^  :t  came  too  late,  for  comparative  freedom  of  trade  was  offered  her  after  she  had 
p  I  despoiled  of  her  heritage,  and  her  land  owned  by  alien  1  mdlords  and  her  sub- 
»    36  mortgaged  to  the  aristocracy  of  England.    She  has  devoted  the  latter  portion 

years  to  an  effort  to  shake  off  the  tyranny  of  England,  and  has  had  no  profii- 
•portuuity  to  engage  in  manufacture  and  agriculture. 


I 


610 


TAKING  OFF  BUEDENS. 


Give  Ireland  self-government,  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  the  freedom  of  trad 
the  whole  world  over,  and  the  man  who  says  she  would  not  rise  from  her  degrad£ 
tion  and  beccme  one  of  the  powerful  nations  of  the  earth,  able  to  compete  in  trad 
and  commerce  and  all  that  makes  nations  great,  belies  the  history  of  that  gres 
people  and  slanders  a  noble,  generous,  and  an  industrious  race.  I  have  said  thi 
much  because  it  has  been  the  constant  aid  of  protectionists  on  this  floor  to  allud 
to  Ireland  as  an  example  of  the  baneful  effect  of  free  trade,  when  the  reverse  i 
known  to  be  true  by  every  gentleman  acquainted  with  the  history  of  that  peoph 
To  tell  me  free  trade  has  reduced  Ireland  to  this  condition  is  to  say  that  which 
resent  bitterly  on  the  part  of  a  people  I  know  have  been  impoverished  by  othe 
means,  tyrannical  and  restrictive  in  the  extreme. 

TRUSTS  AND   THE  TARIFF. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  print  with  my  remarks  a  table  showing  the  duties  paid  oi 
a  number  of  articles,  necessaries  of  life  in  this  country,  and  also  a  list  of  trusts  an( 
a  list  of  a  number  of  strikes  and  lockouts  : 


ARTICLES. 


Lumber 

Nails 

Common  window-glass. 

Linseed-oil 

White  lead 

Read  lead 

Wallpaper 

Stoves 

Carpets 

Oil-cloth 

Boots 

Glassware,       cheapest 

kind. , •• 

Cooking  utensils,    pots 

and  kettles 

Knives,  forks,  spoons, 

etc 

Common  soap 

Plowshares,  hoes,  and 

forks 

Shingles i 

Salt,  in  bags ! 

Salt,  in  bulk  i 

Needles •• 

Grindstones | 

Garden  seeds 

Castor-oil 

Earthenware 

Wool  hats,  not  valued! 

at  over  80  cents  per 

pound 

Knit  goods,  not  valued 

at  over  30  cents  per 

pound 

W  ool  yarn 

Women's  and  children's 

dress    goods,  wholly 

or  partly  of  wool 

Clothiog  ready-made.. 


ARTICIiBS. 


$2  per  thousand. 
43  per  cent. 

68  per  cent,  and  upward 
54  per  cent. 
40  per  cent. 
77  per  cent. 
25  per  cent. 
45  per  cent. 
50  per  cent. 
40  per  cent, 
25  per  cent. 

45  per  cent. 


45  per  cent. 

35  per  cent. 
20  \  er  cent, 

45  per  cent, 
17  per  cent, 
39  per  cent. 
1 9  per  cent. 
25  per  cent. 
1<  per  cent. 
30  per  cent. 
19  per  cent. 
55  per  cent. 


per  cent. 


per  cent, 
per  cent. 


60  to  80  per  cent. 
54  per  cent. 


Ii Cloak?,  dolmans,  jack-j 

!|    eta,  etc , 

India  rubber  shoes ; 

jj  Umbrellas j 

Looking-glasses 

I  Round  and  sheet-iron., 
jCut  nails  and  brads — 
Wrought-iron  spikes, 
I    nu  ts,  washers,  etc — 

'  Horse  or  ox  shoes 

I  Anvils,  mill-irons,  etc.. 

Iron  or  steel  axles 

Hcrse-shoe  nails,  hob-! 

nails, etc \ 

Iron  or  steel  chains  — ' 
Hand-saws  and    buck-l 


Files 

Screws .. 

Hollow-ware,  glazed  or 

turned 

Pens 

Penknives 

Sugar 

Molasses 

Starch 

Rice 

Cotton  thread  . .  • . :  ... 

Cotton  cloth 

Bags  and  bagging 

Woolen  cloth,  not  over 

80  cents  per  pound. . . 
Shawls,    not    over    80 

cents  per  pound 

Flannels,  not  over    30 

cents  per  pound 

Blankets,  not    over  30 

cents  per  pound 


67  per  cent. 
25  per  cent. 
45  per  cent. 
78  per  cent. 

40  to  50  per  cent 
35  per  cent. 

5  i  per  cent. 
55  per  cent. 

68  )  er  cent, 
62  per  cent. 

76  -nor  cent. 
47  per  cent..! 

40  per  cent» 
64  per  cent^j 
60  per  cent. 


47  per  cent, 
43  per  cent,  i 
50  per  cent.  • 
60  to  80  per  i 
47  per  cent. 
95  per  cent. 
113  per  cent. 
50  per  cent. 
50  to  75  per 
54  per  cent. 

89  per  cent. 

88  per  cent. 

73  per  cent. 

79  per  cent. 


THE  TRUSTS  BY  NAME— FORMER  TARIFFS. 

Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1789,  8>^  per  cent. 
Average  rate  ot  duty  under  tariff  of  1792, 13>^  per  cent. 
Averaee  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1816,  30  per  cent. 
Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1824,  37  per  cent. 
Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1828,  41  per  cent. 
Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1832,  33  per  cent. 
Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1846  to  1861, 19  per  cent. 
Average  rate  of  duty  under  tariff  of  1862,  35  per  cent. 
Average -rate  before  revision  of  1883,  43X  per  cent. 
Average  rate  under  the  present  tariff,  41  per  cent. 
Estimated  average  under  this  bill,  33  per  cent. 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


611 


e  following  is  a  list  of  a  few  of  the  trusts,  together  with  the  amount  of  bounty  tke 

^resent  tariff  seeks  to  allow  to  collect  from  the  people,  also  their  expense  for  lab(jr,  and 
he  excess  of  tariff  bounty  over  the  amount  they  pay  in  wages.  Not  one  of  these  trusts 
X)uld  live  were  it  not  for  the  war  tariff. 


1  •"■■■"' 

Adjusted  to  guarantee 
a  bonus  in  each  $100 
of   product  amount- 
ing to— 

Their    whole    expense 
for     labor     In     $100 
worth     of      product 
being— 

fait  trust 

50 
56 
84 
45 
45 
45 
45 
24 
52 
32 
74 
55 
26 
54 
25 
25 
35 
25 

$33 
36 
46 
33 
33 
33 
33 
22 
28 
24 
43 
36 
19 
35 
20 
20 
26 
20 

$25 

40 

9 

29 
29 
23 
25 

fail  trust 

teneral  iron  trust 

■opper  trust 

22 

25 
21 
65 
45 
8 
5 

'in  trust 

linseed-oil  trust ; 

Rubber-shoe  trust ., 

24 
11 

Invelope  trust 

'aper-bag  trust 

15 

ordage  trust 

12 

Average 

30 

24 

STB1KB8  AND  LOCKOUTS  tJNDBR  PROTECTION. 


Number. 

ill 

Employes 
striking    and 
involved. 

Number. 

fi 

Tears. 

Strikes. 

Establish- 
ments. 

Lock- 
outs. 

Establish- 
ments. 

1^ 
II 

81 

471 
454 
478 
443 
645 
1,412 

2,928 
2,105 
2,759 
2,367 
3,284 
9,893 

62 

^9Q  n9.t 

6 
21 
28 
38 
52 
127 

9 
42 
117 

183 
1,477 

1.0^ 
4.2 

IE 

11.6 

655 

4,131 

20,512 

18,131 

15,424 

100,705 

82 

4  6j         IrJrfififl 

83  .    

84 

5.8 
5.3 
35 

7.0 

149,763 
147,043 
242,705 
500,514 

85 

86 

Total 

3,903 

22,336 

5.7    1,324,152 

272 

2,182 

8.0 

159,548 

613  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

VIII. 

SUPPOSE  IT  WAS  A  DIRECT  TAX. 

A  SUGGESTION  AS  TO    WHAT  WOULD    BE  DONE   IF    THE    TAX    COLLECTOR  SHOULD 
COME  WITH  A  BILL   AND  DEMAND  IT. 

Eepresentative  Luther  F.  McKinney,  of  New  Hampshire^  May  3. 

How  long  would  the  people  endure  this  tax  if  instead  of  collecting  it  indirectly 
it  was  collected  directly  when  they  purchased  the  article  for  consumption?  A  man 
buys  a  dollar's  worth  of  sugar,  an  officer  demands  50  cents ;  he  buys  a  dollar's 
worth  of  rice,  an  officer  demands  40  cents ;  he  buys  a  pair  of  woolen  blankets,  an 
officer  demands  $2;  Le  buys  a  bolt  ot  cotton  cloth,  an  officer  demands  $1.50;  and  so 
through  the  entire  list  of  taxed  necessities.  Reduce  the  amount  one-half,  if  you 
please — I  care  not  how  much  it  is  reduced — collect  your  tax  direct  and  let  the  col- 
lection result  in  a  hundred  miliions  a  year  more  than  is  necessary  for  the  support  of 
the  Government,  and  there  would  be  revolution  and  the  party  that  advocated  such 
a  tax  would  be  speedily  relegated  to  the  rear.  Yet  we  are,  by  an  indirect  tax  on  the 
people,  gathering  into  the  Treasury,  of  the  people's  money,  tens  of  millions  a  year 
that  is  forced  to  lie  idle.  By  what  moral  right  is  this  money  collected  ?  Does  the 
Government  own  the  people's  property  or  earnings  ?  Is  the  Government  Treasury 
a  depository  of  the  people's  money  ? 

WHY  THE  WAGES  OF   LABOR  ARE  GOOD. 

If  the  statement  that  a  protective  tarifT  increases  the  price  of  labor  be  true,  then 
the  interests  that  have  the  largest  protection  ought  to  pay  the  highest  wages. 
This  is  not  so.  The  shoe  interest  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  interests  in  the 
line  of  manufacture  in  this  country.  Cotton  has  a  protection  of  5U  per  cent.,  woolens 
a  protection  of  58  per  cent,,  while  manufactured  shoes  only  have  a  protection  of  30 
per  cent.  Now,  anyone  who  has  investigated  the  subject  knows  that  the  wages  of 
operatives  in  shoe  manufactories  get  about  50  per  cent,  better  wages  than  the  opera- 
tives in  cotton  or  woolens.  One  of  the  largest  shoe  manufacturers  in  New  England 
told  me  a  few  days  ago  that  the  wages  of  his  employes  last  month  averaged  $10.93 
a  week>  men,  women  and  children.  In  this  corporation  they  manufactured  cheap 
shoes  that  sell  for  from  85  cents  to  $1.50  a  pair.  The  averages  wages  of  operatives 
in  woolens  and  cotton  is  considerably  less  than  $1  a  day.  I  have  talked  with  many 
of  the  largest  shoe  manufacturers  of  my  own  State,  and  they  all  tell  me  if  they  can 
have  their  raw  material  free,  leather,  serge,  buttons,  thread,  etc.,  they  can  compete 
with  the  world,  sell  their  shoes  in  the  foreign  markets,  and  will  ask  no  protection 
on  the  manufactured  goods. 

The  reason  why  they  can  pay  higher  wages  to-day  than  any  of  the  other  great 
manufacturing  interests  is  that  we  have  free  hides  and  only  20  per  cent,  on  leather. 
Take  away  your  tax  on  raw  material  and  give  us  an  opportunity  to  go  into  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  and  we  need  have  no  fear  of  foreign  competition.  We  can  sell  more 
in  their  markets  than  they  can  sell  in  ours.  It  has  been  shown  very  clearly  upon 
this  floor  that  while  we  pay  much  higher  wages  per  diem  in  this  country  than  is 
paid  in  the  same  industries  in  Europe,  yet  the  labor  cost  of  manufacturing  a  given 
product  here  is  less  than  in  the  Old  World.  Where,  then,  is  the  difficulty?  It  is  in 
the  system  of  first  taxing  the  material  that  enters  into  the  manufacture  and  creating 
a  necessity  to  tax  the  manufactured  article  to  overcome  it.  Thus  the  laborer's 
wages  is  not  increased,  but  the  price  of  what  he  consumes  is.  Make  first  the  raw 
material  as  cheap  as  possible  the  laborer's  wages  will  be  kept  where  they  are,  and 
the  purchasing  power  of  what  he  earns  will  be  increased.  It  is  easy  to  show,  fur- 
ther, that  under  our  protective  system  the  wages  of  labor  have  not  been  kept  up. 
The  average  wages  paid  in  the  worsted  manufactories  of  this  country  in  1870  was 


I 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  613 

^838,  in  1880  they  were  $302— a  decrease  of  $36  per  year.  In  the  carpet  manufac- 
tories the  averages  wages  in  1870  were  $387— in  1880,  $335;  a  decrease  of  $52  a  year; 
and  if  you  will  investigate  the  wages  paid  in  the  various  protected  industries  you 
will  find  they  are  far  less  to-day  than  in  1870. 

SOMETHING  FROM  AN  OLD   HISTORY. 

I  have  read  in  one  of  the  old  histories,  written  many  centuries  ago,  of  a  class  of 
people  who  had  a  monopoly  of  a  certain  industry  and  made  great  gain  therefrom. 
And  there  was  a  certain  man  came  into  the  land  where  these  people  dwelt  and 
preached  against  them,  and  his  words  were  so  powerful  that  those  who  used  curious 
a,rts  brought  their  books  and  burned  them  before  all  men,  and  they  counted  the  price 
of  them  and  found  it  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  silver.    And  we  are  told  at — 

The  same  time  there  was  no  small  stir  about  that  way,  for  a  certain  man  named  Deme- 
irius,  a  silversmith,  which  made  silver  shrines  for  Diana,  brought  no  small  gain  to  the 
craftsmen,  whom  he  called  together  with  the  workmen  of  like  occupation  and  said  :  "Sirs, 
ye  know  that  by  this  craft  we  have  our  wealth;  moreover,  ye  see  and  hear  that  not 
alone  at  Epheus  but  almost  throughout  all  Asia  this  Paul  has  persuaded  and  turned  away 
much  people,  saying  that  there  be  no  gods  which  are  made  with  hands;  so  that  not  only  .this 
our  craft  is  in  danger  to  be  set  at  naught,  but  also  that  the  temple  of  the  great  goddess 
Diana  should  be  despised,  and  her  magnificence  should  be  destroyed  whom  all  Asia  and 
the  world  worshipeth."  And  when  they  heard  these  things  they  were  full  of  wrath  and 
cried  out,  saying,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians." 

"Wow,  like  these  people  of  old,  Pennsylvania  has  for  a  long  time  had  a  monopoly 
in  many  of  those  industries  which  have  brought  to  them  great  wealth.  An  apostle 
has  come  into  their  midst  who  dwells  at  the  other  end  of  this  avenue,  and  has  pro- 
<;laimed  to  the  people  against  such  a  monopoly,  and  many  who  have  hitherto 
believed  in  their  doctrine  are  repenting  of  their  sins  and  proclaiming  tlieir  conver- 
sion before  all  the  people.  And  now  comes  the  great  apostle  of  protection  and  calls 
together  his  people  and  says:  Sirs,  ye  know  that  by  this  protection  we  have  our 
wealth.  Moreover,  ye  see  and  hear  that  not  only  in  Pennsylvania,  but  almost 
throughout  all  the  nation,  this  apostle  of  reform  hath  pursuaded  and  turned  away 
much  people,  saying  that  there  be  no  justice  in  this  doctrine  of  protection,  so  that 
not  only  this  our  wealth  is  in  danger  to  be  set  at  naught,  but  also  that  the  great 
goddess  of  protection  should  be  despised,  whom  Pennsylvania  and  all  the  land  hath 
heretofore  worshiped.  And  when  they  heard  these  words  they  were  full  of  wrath, 
■  cried  out,  Great  is  the  goddess  of  protection  ! 


IX. 
WHAT  THE  FARMER  PAYS. 

AN  ESTIMATE  OP  THE  TAXES    ON    ARTICLES    IN    COMMON    USE   NOW    PAID  WHICH 

WILL  BE  REDUCED   UNDER  THE  PROPOSED  LAW  ON  ARTICLES. 

Representative  John  D.  Stewart,  of  Georgia,  May  2  ; 

I  insist  that  the  farmers  of  this  country,  although  in  numbers  the  largest,  are  not 
benefited  by  a  high  tariff,  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  shamefully  discriminated  against, 
and  it  is  not  so  strange  that  their  farms  are  heavily  mortgaged  when  we  come  to 
understand  how  the  tariff  affects  them. 


I 


614 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


Under  the  present  law  let  us  see  what  an  ordinary  family  on  a  farm  has  to 
contribute  to  the  Government.  I  submit  a  schedule  of  articles  mostly  used  by  a 
family  as  an  illustration,  and  the  duty  on  them,  and  also  showing  the  reduction 
proposed  under  the  Mills  bill : 


Value. 


One  cook  stove... 

By  Mills  bill.. 

One  set  crockery. 
By  Mills  bill.. 


One  set  cheap  glassware. 
By  Mills  bill 


One  set  cheap  cutlery. 
By  Mills  bill 


Two  carpets,  112  and  $15. 
By  Mills  bill 


Sugar 

By  Mills  bill. 


Molasses 

By  Mills  bill. 

Salt. 


By  Mills  bill. 


'^ 

Two  suits  each  for  father  and  two  sons,  six  suits, 

fl4 

By  Mills  bill 


Two  suits  each  for  mother  and  two  daughters,  six 

suits,  *14 

By  Mills  bill 


Twelve  pairs  shoes,  $3.50  each. 
By  Mills  bill 


Six  wool  hats,  $1  each . 
By  Mills  bill 


Six  fur  hats,  $3.50  each. 
By  Mills  bill 


Six  ladies'  hats,  $3  each 
By  Mills  bill 


Six  bonnets  for  ladies,  $3  each. 
By  Mills  biU 


Farming  tools,  including  plows,  gear,  hand-saw,  ax, 

draw-knife,  chains,  etc 

By  Mills  bill  


Medicines 

By  Mills  bill. 


Thread,  needles,  thimbles,  scissors,  etc. 
By  Mills  bill 


Four  pairs  blankets,  $3  each  - 
By  Mills  bill 


Two  umbrellas,  $3. 50 each. 
By  Mills  bill 


$35  00 


12  00 


4  00 


200 
37  00 
20  00 


10  00 


3  00 


84  00 


84  00 
30  00 


600 


15  00 


18  00 
18  00 


60  00 
20  00 

12  00 

13  00 
500 


Duty. 


Per  cent. 

47=    $16  45 
31=      10  85 


65= 
35= 


56= 
41= 


50= 


47= 


60= 
50= 


47= 
35= 


4  20 


3  34 
1  64 


1  00 
70 


12  00 
800 


13  00 
10  00 


4  70 
3  50 


40=        1 
Free  list. 


54- 

45= 


30= 
15= 


73= 
40= 


52= 

40= 


45  36 
37  80 


900 
450 

438 
3  40 

7  80 
6  30 


70=      13  60 
40=       7  30 


70= 
40= 


47= 
34= 


*48- 
30= 


35- 

20= 


70= 
40= 


40= 
30= 


12  60 

720 


38  20 
13  60 


600 


4  20 
2  40 


8  40 
4  80 


2  00 
1  50 


Net 
Saving. 


♦Average, 


I 


TAKING   OFF   BURDENS. 


615 


Value. 

Duty. 

Net 
Saving. 

■Cotton  hosiery,  undershirts. 

etc 

1           8  00 

Fer  cent. 

45=       3  60 
30-       2  40 

60=        1  20 
43=           86 

94=       3  70 

47=       1  88 

ByMillsbill 

Window  glass . 

9  nn 

1  30 

By  Mills  bill '.' ' '- . ' "."".. 

Starch 

:           i  nn 

34 

ByMillsbill ■ 

in  m 

183 

Rice 

113=      11  30 
100=      10  00 

189  27 

., 104  98 

ByMillsbill " 

nt  tariff 

130 

Total  cost  under  prese 
Under  Mills  bill  .... 

i      $501  00 

$84  39 

WAGES  AND  COST  OF  LIVING  IN  EUROPE. 

Wabk  showing  average  weekly  wages  paid  in  the  enumerated  occupations  in  different  European 

countries. 
[Furnished  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  "Washington,  D.  C] 


ll^F               Occupation. 

< 

a 
•a 
1 

6 

i 
I 

<a 

1 

1 

Blacksmiths 

$3  18 
3  55 

2  60 
5  10 

3  64 
3  60 
3  40 

$5  38 
4  56 

3  23 

4  07 

5  17 
5  51 
522 

$5  81 
5  74 
3  13 
630 
5.58 
5  70 
533 

$4  00 
4  21 

2  92 
4  11 

3  97 

3  69 

4  67 
4  82 
443 
426 
3  41 
3  55 
3  34 
3  06  i 

1 

$7  37 
7  5b 
4  94 
7  66 
750 

6  63 

7  68 

$4  80 
4  80 
360 
480 
480 

$5  30 

Bricklayers 

5  21 

•Sod  carriers 

2  99 

"Carpenters  and  joiners 

4  74 

Coopers 

4  78 

Harness  and  saddle  makers •• 

5  30 

Masons 

5  27 

"Painters 

Plasterers 

4  01 
4  11 
4  03 
3  70 
7  00 
350 

4  66 

5  46 
5  58 
4  40 

634 
6  10 
5  02 
5  46 

7  80 
7  90 
7  40 
6  56 

■"4'62' 

4  00 
4  80 
500 
4  00 
3  75 
334 

5  03 

Plumbers 

5  18 

Tailors .... 

6  36 

Tinsmiths 

4  40 

Servants  (Domestic) - 

3  90 

Farm  laborers ^ 

3  73 

3  10 

Facts  relating  to  foreign  countries  are  taken  from  the  report  on  foreign  labor  pub- 
lished by  the  Department  of  State,  1885. 

COST  OF  LIVING— MASSACHUSETTS  AND  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

Rents  are  89.62  per  cent,  higher  In  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Board  and  lodging  is  39.01  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Fuel  is  104.96  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Clothing  is  45.06  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Dry  goods  are  13.36  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Boots  and  shoes  are  62.59  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Groceries  are  16.18  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
Provisions  are  23.08  per  cent,  higher  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Great  Britain. 
The  above  facts  are  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Massachusetts   bureau  of  labor 
statistics  for  1884. 


L 


616  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


HOW  THE  FARMER  IS  MADE  TO  SUFFER. 

THE  WAY  IN  WHICH  TAIUFF  TAXES  BEAR  WITH  UNNATURAL  WEIGHT  UPON  THE- 

AGRICULTURAL  INTERESTS  OF     THE  COUNTRY. 

Bepresenative  Knute  Nelson,  of  Minnesota,  {Sep.)  March  29, 1888, 

This  brings  me  to  a  consideration  of  our  tariff  taxes.  These  taxes  may  p'operly 
be  divided  into  two  great  heads,  namely:  Purely  revenue  taxes,  such,  for  instance, 
as  a  tax  on  tea  or  coffee,  and  protective  taxes,  such  as  are  laid  on  products  common 
to  this  country.  All  tariff  taxes  not  purely  revenue  taxes  are,  to  some  extent  or  in 
some  degree,  protective,  except  in  those  instances  where  nature  has  given  us  a  prac- 
tical monopoly,  as  in  the  case  of  petroleum,  cotton,  etc.,  or  where  there  is  a  great 
overproduction  dependent  on  export  trade,  as  in  the  case  of  wheat. 

Owing  to  the  vast  and  varied  resources  of  our  country  the  items  on  which  a 
purely  revenue  tariff  could  be  levied  are  quite  limited  and  to  a  large  extent  confined 
to  the  pure  necessaries  of  life,  and  hence  there  are  very  few  people  indeed  in  this 
country  who  desire  that  our  tariff  taxes  be  limited  to  pure  revenue  items.  So  few, 
indeed,  are  these  that  it  is  not  at  all  a  question  of  practical  moment.  When  we 
come  to  tariff  taxes  on  products  common  to  this  country  we  enter  the  domain  of 
"  protection,"  and  have  reached  a  practical  question.  A  tariff  on  a  commodity  we 
readily  produce,  where  our  production  does  not  quite  equal  or  exceed  our  consump- 
tion is,  as  a  rule  and  to  the  degree  of  the  tariff  tax  laid,  protective.  Where  the 
tariff  is  very  low  the  protection  will  be  slight  and  the  revenue  quite  ample.  Where 
the  taiiff  is  very  high  the  duty  will  be  more  than  protrctive;  it  will  breed  a 
monopoly,  and  yield  no  revenue  whatsoever.  The  primary  object  of  a  protective 
tariff  is  to  enlarge  and  expand  our  field  of  production  in  those  directions  in  whicb 
we  are  fairly  open  to  expansion,  for  I  do  not  believe  a  protective  tariff  is  justified  in 
those  cases  where  nature  has  put  a  veto  on  the  power  of  expansion,  and  where  rev- 
enue rather  than  increased  production  seems  to  be  the  chief  result,  as  in  the  case  of 
sugar. 

WHAT  HAS  PRODUCED  OUR  PROGRESS. 

Coming  to  the  question  of  the  degree  of  protection  that  ought  to  be  given  in  a* 
case  where  protection  is  fairly  warranted,  it  seems  to  me  that  only  so  high  a  duty 
should  be  laid  as  will  fairly  cover  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  productioa  here  and 
abroad,  be  it  in  labor,  raw  material,  or  interest  on  capital.  Such  a  tariff  I  call  a  low 
tariff  as  distinguished  from  a  revenue  tariff.  Where  a  tariff  tax  exceeds  in  a  material 
degree  this  measure  I  term  it  a  high  tariff.  It  then  becomes  more  or  less  pro  hibi- 
tive,  breeds  monopolies,  and  works  injury  both  to  the  consumer  and  the  labor- 
ing man; 

The  price  of  labor  is  primarily  governed  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
The  protected  producer  does  not  measure  the  wages  he  pays  by  the  amount  of  pro- 
tection he  gets,  but  by  the  ease  or  difficulty  with  which  he  can  procure  labor,  or  by 
the  fact  whether  labor  is  plenty  or  scarce.  A  protective  tariff  only  helps  labor 
indirectly  by  enlarging  the  demand  for  it.  One  of  the  secondary  results  of  a  very 
high  tariff  is  overproduction,  and  this  leads  to  stagnation  and  suspension,  from  which 
comes  to  the  laborer  lower  wages,  lockouts,  strikes,  and  untold  miseries. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  of  certain  economists  to  ascribe  the  marvelous  growth 
of  this  country  for  the  past  twenty- five  years  wholly  to  our  tariff  laws.  Statistics- 
of  growth  in  all  conceivable  forms  have  been  paraded,  accompanied  with  the 
exclamation,  "  Behold  the  tariff  1 "    This  is  all  pure  exaggeration. 

The  tariff  with  a  multitude  of  other  causes  have,  all  combined,  produced  the 
magnificent  result.  The  chief  factors,  however,  have  been  our  abundant  supply  of 
the  most  fertile  lands  in  the  world,  which  we  have  freely  given  away  under  our 
homestead  laws,  together  with  the  immense  tide  of  immigration,  with  all  its  capital 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


617 


of  money  and  muscle.  This  has  produced  our  great  home  market.  Our  oceans  of 
land,  as  free  as  water,  and  the  development  of  the  same  have  covered  a  multitude  of 
sins,  and,  not  least  of  all,  some  of  the  sins  which  lurk  here  and  there  in  our  tariff 
laws. 

Our  leading  agricultural  staples  are  breadstuffs  and  cotton.  The  latter  is  theo- 
retically and  the  former  practically,  so  far  as  our  producers  are  concerned,  free  of 
duty.  The  home  price  of  wheat  is  fixed  by  the  export  price,  and  the  farmer  in 
Minnesota  has  to  compete,  without  any  governmental  aid  direct  or  indirect,  with 
the  farmers  of  India  in  the  markets  of  England.  And  it  is  in  these  great  and  unpro- 
tected agricultural  industries  that  our  growth  has  been  the  greatest  and  most  pro- 
nounced. But  for  the  great  volume  of  export  of  our  non-protected  agricultural 
staples  our  foreign  commerce  would  cut  but  a  soriy  figure  and  the  balance  of  trade 
would  be  heavily  against  us  all  the  time.  During  the  last  fiscal  year  our  total 
imports  amounted  to  $692,330,000,  while  our  total  exports  amounted  to  $703  022,923, 
and  of  this  total  74.41  per  cent,  were  agricultural  products,  while  only  19.45  per 
cent,  were  products  of  manufactures,  as  the  following  table  shows : 

GENERAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  DOMESTIC  EXPORT  TRADE  DURING  1887. 

The  values  of  our  exports  of  domestic  merchandise  during  the  last  fiscal  year,  classified 
by  groups  according  to  sources  of  production,  were  as  follows : 


Articles. 


Values.     Per  cent. 


Products  of  agriculture 

Products  of  manufacture 

Products  of  mining  (including  mineral  oils). 

Products  of  the  forest 

Products  of  the  fisheries 

Other  products 


$523,073,798 
336,735,105 
11,758,662 
21,136,373 
5,155,775 
5,173,310 


74. 41 

19.45 

1.67 

3.01 

.73 

.73 


Total. 


100.00 


Against  an  aggregate  of  $692,320,000  of  imports,  our  non-protected  farmers  can 
show  an  aggregate  export  of  $523  073,798,  while  our  protected  manufacturers  can 
only  show  a  paltry  export  of  $136,735,105.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  in  this  con- 
nection, that  while  our  farmers  thus  proudly  enter  into  the  competitive  markets  of 
the  entire  world,  the  wages  they  pay  the  agricultural  laborer  are,  as  compared  with 
the  wages  paid  in  any  other  country  for  such  labor,  relatively  much  higher  than 
"le  wages  paid  by  our  manufacturers. 


XI. 


THE  DUTY  ON  LUMBER. 

IT  OPERATES    TO    INCREASE   THE  COST  OF  EVERT    HOUSE,  FENCE,  PIECE  OF  FUR- 
NITURE OR  HOUSEHOLD  ORNAMENT. 
Representative  W.  D.  Bynum,  of  Indiana,  June  5. 

In  Michigan,  "Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  there  are  large  quantities  of  white  pine. 
It  makes  a  valuable  lumber.  We  have  but  little  elsewhere.  The  pine  lumber  of 
the  Southern  States  is  valuable,  but  does  not  come  into  competition  with  the  white- 
'  pine  lumber  of  the  North.  The  yellow  pine  is  filled  with  turpentine  and  resin. 
The  white  pine  is  adapted  to  all  finishing  purposes.  It  can  be  used  where  you 
desire  to  paint.  Large  quantities  of  yellow  pine  are  shipped  all  over  the  world,  but 
is  not  used  for  the  same  purposes  as  the  white  pine.  Consequently  there  is  but 
little  competition  between  the  pine  lumber  of  the  South  and  that  of  the  North, 
whether  they  meet  in  the  markets  in  the  North  or  in  the  South. 


I 


618  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


Much  has  been  said  about  the  wages  paid  by  the  lumber  manufacturers 
Michigan  and  other  States.  It  is  claimed  that  if  lumber  is  placed  upon  the  free  list 
wages  in  this  industry  will  be  reduced.  It  will  require  more  than  mere  assertions ; 
it  will  require  more  than  the  testimony  of  interested  parties  to  convince  me  that 
wages  are  higher  in  the  lumber  regions  of  Michigan  than  they  are  in  close  prox- 
imity in  Canada.  Such  a  statement  the  gentleman  from  Maine  (Mr.  Reed)  would 
say  "everybody  knows  is  absurd."  The  laborers  of  Canada  are  not  going  to  work 
for  30  per  cent,  less  if  by  crossing  an  imaginary  line  they  can  get  30  per  cent,  more 
wages.  They  will  come  over  and  keep  coming  until  wages  have  so  fallen  in  the 
United  States  and  so  risen  in  Canada  as  to  be  upon  an  equality.  What  has  the 
tariff  done  ?  That  it  has  put  one  penny  into  the  pockets  of  the  wage-workers  no 
one  has  dared  to  claim.  Every  member  upon  the  other  side  when  pressed  has 
admitted  that  the  wages  paid  by  the  lumbermen  are  no  greater  than  those  paid  in 
other  avocations  in  the  same  locality.    Who,  then,  has  received  any  benefit  ? 

THE   PINE   TIMBER   CONTROLLED   BY   TRUSTS. 

The  price  of  white-pine  lumber  has  advanced  several  dollars  per  thousand  in 
the  last  two  years.  The  price  in  Saginaw,  Mich.,  in  1876  was  |9  67  per  thousand ; 
in  1877  it  was  $9  73;  in  1878  it  was  $9.66;  in  1879  in  was  $9.50;  in  1880  the  stump- 
age,  that  is  the  timber,  had  been  so  reduced  that  the  same  had  come  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  few  men,  who,  organizing  a  combination,  advanced  the  price  to  $11.63. 
In  1881  it  was  further  advanced  to  $13.92,  and  in  1882  it  was  sold  as  high  as  $14  per 
thousand,  and  still  sells  for  about  that  price;  that  is,  good  common  white  pine  lumber. 
This  advance  was, brought  about  by  a  combination  of  the  owners  of  the  stumpage, 
who  were  principally  the  lumbermen.  The  lumber  barons  have  gotten  hold  of  all 
the  timber,  advanced  the  price  of  stumpage  from  an  average  of  $1  to  an  average  of 
$4.50  per  thousand.  This  was  the  cause  of  the  advance  in  the  price  of  timber  lands 
of  from  300  to  1,000  per  cent.,  as  stated  by  the  gentleman  from  Minnesota  (Mr. 
Wilson).  The  gentleman  from  Maine  (Mr.  Reed)  attempted  to  answer  this  in  his 
usual  style,  declaring  that  the  increase  in  value  was  solely  on  account 
of  the  wonderful  growth  and  progress  that  had  taken  place  throughout  the 
country.  The  truth  is  that  the  best  farming  lands  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  the 
Western  States,  which  had  been  improved,  have  during  this  period  fallen  instead  of 
risen  in  value. 

This  argument  is  upon  a  par  with  all  the  sophistry  that  has  been  made  use  of 
by  gentlemen  upon  the  other  side  during  this  debate.  Why  should  white-pine 
stumpage  have  advanced  so  marvelously,  while  the  stumpage  of  all  other  kinds  of 
timber  remained  stationary?  Why  should  this  class  of  stumpage  be  worth  $4.50 
per  thousand  in  the  United  States  and  only  $1.25  per  thousand  in  Canada?  The 
reason  is  perfectly  apparent :  a  few  men  own  the  timber  in  the  United  States,  they 
have  combined  to  realize  every  dollar  they  possibly  can  out  of  it.  They  have  an 
advantage  over  their  Canadian  competitor  of  about  *1  per  thousand  in  the  cost  of 
transportation,  and  $2  per  thousand  in  the  duty,  and  these  they  have  added  to  the 
value  of  their  timber  and  estimate  it  as  a  part  of  the  cost  of  lumber.  Every  dollar 
goes  to  the  owners  of  the  stumpage.  Let  us  see  what  their  profits  amount  to.  The 
Government  sold  the  lands  upon  which  the  timber  stands  at  from  $1.25  to  $2.50  per 
acre— a  section,  at  the  highest  price,  costing  $1,600.  These  lands,  according  to  the 
lowest  estimate,  contain,  upon  an  average,  a  stumpage  of  5,000  feet  per  acre.  A 
section,  therefore,  contains  a  stumpage  of  3,200,000,  which,  at  $4.50  per  thousand, 
brings  $14,400. 

INTO   WHOSE  POCKBT  THE   TAX  GOES. 

The  land,  after  the  timber  has  been  removed,  sells  for  from  $2  50  to  $10 
acre.    Upon  an  average  it  brings  more  than  the  original  cost.    The  lumbermi 
therefore  realize  a  clean  profit  off  of  each  section  of  land  purchased  by  them  of  o 
$15,000. 

Here  is  where  the  $2  per  thousand  duty  has  gone.    Here  is  where  your  p 
tection  protects.    It  has  not  gone  into  the  calloused  hands  of  the  wage-worker,  bi 
into  the  price  of  the  timber,  before  labor  has  touched  it,  and  afterwards  into  the  bank 
accounts    of  the    timber    or    lumber  barons.     Shall  we  uphold  and   sustain  t' ' 
monopoly,  or  shall  we  release  the  people  from  its  grasp  ? 


1 


TAKING   OFF  BUEDEN8.  619 


Uk),000,000  feet  per  annum.    The  $2  duty  per  thousand,  which  they  have  placed 

Hipon  the  value  of  their  lumber  in  the  tree,  amounts  to  $10,000,000  annually.    Who 

I  pays  this  bonus?    The  ftirmers  of  the  West;  the  wage  workers  in  our  cities  who 

i|  are  struggling  by  the  aid  of  building  and  loan  associations  to  get  a  little  home  of 

;!  their  own,  trom  which  their  families  can  not  be  driven  when  they  are  out  of 

^aployment. 

■CMr.  O.  R.  Bishop,  of  Chicago,  an  iron-worker  representing  the  Knights  of 
jj^Pbr  before  the  Tariff  Commission  upon  the  subject  of  lumber,  said : 
'  ^^It  was  stated  yesterday  by  the  lumber  interests  that  they  had  paid  in  wages  to  56,000 
workers  S17,0fX),000.  Truly  a  larg-e  sum,  but  if  divided  by  56  000  it  g-ives  to  each  worker  the 
insigniflcaut  sum,  for  a  year's  hard  toil,  amid  snow  and  ice  in  winter,  and  malarial  fever  in 
summer,  $304  with  which  to  clothe,  feed  and  educate  hirrself  and  family,  while  the  few 
•employera  cleared,  by  their  own  figures,  nearly  $4,000,000  net,  and  still  have  $40,000,000 
worth  of  mills  and  tools  on  hand.  Why  should  they  not  wish  a  continuance  of  the 
monopoly  when  it  pays  so  Avell  ?  And  your  attention  is  called  to  the  action  of  the  Lumber- 
men's Exchange  (a  trade  union).  The  other  day  they  met  and  raised  the  price  of  all  grades  of 
lumber  Hl.SO  per  thousand,  which,  if  made  general  on  the  3,919,500,000,  will  increase  the 
profits  to  $8,000,000— a  very  mild  species  of  robbery. 

Gentlemen  talk  about  the  number  of  establishments  in  this  industry,  the 
amount  of  capital  invested,  and  the  number  of  laborers  employed  as  if  these  were 
all  to  be  extinguished  by  the  passage  of  this  bill.  The  number  of  establishments 
will  not  be  decreased,  the  wages  of  the  laborers  will  not  be  reduced,  nor  the  capital 
invested  be  diminished  by  placing  lumber  upon  the  free  list,  but  the  power  of  the 
trust  to  extort  from  the  people  $16,000,000  annually,  over  and  above  a  fair  and 
legitimate  profit,  let  us  hope  will  be  forever  destroyed. 

PUT  IT  DOWN  IN  HIS  WALLET. 
Bepresentative  Uharhs  E.  Hooker,  of  Mississippi,  May  9. 
I  have  read  the  views  of  this  gentleman  who  is  named  here  as  Mr.  Blanchard, 
©f  Chicago. 

Mr.  Blanchard,  of  Chicago,  in  a  short  speech  a  few  days  ago,  said  more  to  show  up  the 
evils  of  a  high  tariff  system  than  others  have  done  in  labored  speeches  and  ponderous  vol- 
umes. Mr.  Blanchard  ia  a  refreshing  sample  of  a  protected  operator  who  is  willing  to  tell 
the  truth  and  shame  his  demoniac  majesty,  and  furnishes  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
utter  selfishness  that  governs  the  beneficiaries  of  a  high  protective  tariff.  He  says:  "I  am 
high  tariff  on  lumb  r,  but  low  tariff  on  copper,  iron,  wool,  cotton,  leather,  glass,  etc.  I  will 
tell  you  why.  I  own  timber  lands  and  sell  stumpage;  besides,  I  operate  largely  myself,  and 
this  tariff  puts  money  into  my  pocket.  I  get  $2  per  thousand  feet  for  my  stumpage,  and 
$3  per  thousand  for  my  boards.  I  have  just  sold  5,000,000  feet  of  lumber.  Now,  S3  per  thou- 
sand on  5,000,000  feet  is  just  $10,000.  That  is  the  difference  to  me  between  high  tariff  and 
free  lumber.  I  am  high  tariff  on  lumber,  I  am.  The  blessed  tariff,  they  tell  us,  is  all  for 
the  benefit  of  the  American  laborer.  What  do  you  suppose  I  did  with  the  $10,000,  Divide 
it  among  my  workmen  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  I  put  it  right  into  this  calfskin  wallet,  I  did.  Or 
all  Tuy  workmen  I  am  the  only  protected  American  laborer.  Wages  depend  upon  supply 
and  demand,  my  friends,  and  not  upon  taxes.  When  you  see  two  men  after  one  boss  wages 
are  low ;  when  you  see  two  bosses  after  one  man  wages  are  high;  and  that  is  the  whole  of 
it— the  theory,  the  principle  and  practice." 


■ 


HOW  LABOR  IS  BROUGHT  FROM  CANADA. 
Bepresentative  Timothy  E.  Tarsney,  of  Michigan,  June  6. 
I  stand  here  as  the  representative  of  one  of  the  largest  lumber  constituencies 
in  the  United  States.  The  produce  of  the  Saginaw  river  during  the  last  year  was 
779,000,000  feet  of  lumber.  I  have  been  somewhat  amused  to  find  prairie  chickens 
from  the  prairie  fields  of  the  Northwest,  from  Iowa  and  Kansas,  standing  up  upon 
the  floor  of  this  House  to  protect  Saginaw  lum.ber.  And  I  have  been  accused  of 
neglecting  the  interest  I  represent.  Why,  sir,  as  I  have  said,  I  have  listened  to  all 
this  conversation  upon  this  floor,  and  I  have  heard  of  the  great  benefits  that  labor 
has  received  by  reason  of  your  protective  tarifiT.  But  when  did  you  ever  hear  under 
that  system  of  protection  of  its  ever  protecting  the  laboring  man  one  dollar's 
worth  in  the  world  ?  We  employ  thousands  of  men  in  our  lumber  industry,  but 
how  are  they  protected  ?  Within  a  few  miles  of  the  Canadian  line  we  have  found 
^ear  after  year  that  our  lumbermen,  instead  of  protecting  the  American  laborer, 


I 


630  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

would  go  into  the  province  of  Ontario  and  bring  over  cheap  Canadian  labor,  brii 
them  across  the  river  and  through  the  lines,  and  greet  them  with  a  good  mornii 
as  they  passed  out  of  the  custom-house  and  came  into  competition  with  Americ 
labor  whom  you  pretend  to  protect.    That  is  the  way  you  protect  American  lal 

I  wish  to  say  here  on  this  floor,  and  it  cannot  have  been  forgotten,  that  I  votec 
for  the  consideration  of  the  so-called  Morrison  tariff  bill  in  the  Forty-ninth  Con- 
gress. I  went  home  to  my  people  after  I  gave  that  vote  and  I  was  attacked  by  high 
protectionists.  The  gentleman  whose  name  headed  the  memorial  presented  by  my 
colleague  [Mr.  Burrows]  was  at  that  time  the  Democratic  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Saginaw.  He  is  a  protectionist.  He  oppo.«ted  me.  He  wrote  in  the  newspapers 
against  me.  He  placed  upon  every  door  step  of  every  house  in  that  city  a  flyer, 
"Do  not  vote  for  Tim  Tarsney ;  he  is  a  free-trader."  I  spoke  in  that  city  the  night 
before  the  election,  and  I  said  to  them  that  I  had  been  accused  of  being  an  enemy 
oi  my  own  surroundings.  If  that  were  true  I  was  my  own  enemy,  because  every- 
thing I  had  was  centered  in  Saginaw.  I  told  them  that  I  had  voted  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  so-called  Morrison  bill.  And  I  told  them  I  would  do- 
it again.  I  did  do  it  again.  Notwithstanding  those  statements,  not 
leaving  my  position  in  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  what  I  was  for  and  what  I  was. 
against,  the  next  day  after  that  speech  I  carried  the  city  of  Saginaw  by  a  larger 
majority  than  the  mayor  of  the  city  had  ever  received.  I  carried  the  county  of 
Saginaw  on  that  platform  by  1,650  majority. 


XII. 
A  WOOLEN  MANUFACTURER'S  IDEAS. 

A  CONCISE   EXPLANATION  OF  THE  EFFECT  OF  REDUCING  THE  TAXES  ON  WOOL 
HOW   IT  WILL  PROMOTE  OUR  INDUSTRIES. 
Sepresentative  John  E.  Russell,  of  Massachusetts,  May  16. 

The  highest  estimate  of  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  country  in  the  last  year  wa» 
much  less  than  50,000,000,  but  calling  it  that  it  requires  25  sheep  to  support  each 
person  with  wool  worth  about  $40  for  a  year's  work.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr* 
Butterworth],  who  does  me  the  honor  to  listen,  made  a  speech  in  Boston  recently 
before  the  Home  Market  Club,  and  when  some  one  in  the  audience  said,  "We  want 
free  wool,"  he  replied,  "But  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  thousands  of  mea 
who  make  a  living  herding  sheep?"  I  think  we  ought  to  find  them  a  better  busi- 
ness, for  if  they  were  supported  for  one  year  by  their  flocks  they  would  have  to  use 
all  the  wool  for  clothing,  and  the  mutton  for  food,  so  that  there  would  not  be  a  sheep 
left  in  the  country  at  the  tud  of  a  year.  If  there  are  any  facts  in  the  United  States- 
census  on  which  we  can  rely,  there  have  been  the  most  reckless  statements  current 
on  the  floor  of  this  House  in  the  interest  mainly  of  Ohio  wool  growers. 

The  wool-grower  is  dependent  for  the  sale  of  his  wool  upon  the  manufacturers 
of  his  own  country  alone.  Wool  is  the  only  one  of  our  farm  products  of  consider- 
able  value  for  which  there  is  no  foreign  demand.  If  there  is  a  surplus  it  must 
remain  on  hand.  The  manufacturers  of  other  nations  are  not  accustomed  to  our 
wools,  and  will  not  take  ihem. 

Like  all  other  things  men  wish  to  sell,  its  price  will  be  governed  by  the  demand! 
for  it ;  that  demand  will  arise  from  the  prosperity  of  your  customers,  and  that  only. 
Therefore,  if  the  business  of  the  woolen  manufacturers  is  good  you  will  get  a  fair 
price  for  your  wool,  but  if  these  men  are  not  successful,  if  their  business  is  hard  ancfi 
waning,  your  market  grows  narrow  and  wool  falls,  as  we  have  seen  it  fall  during 
the  last  ten  years.  The  wool-grower  and  the  manufacturer  can  have  no  divided 
interest ;  they  must  flourish  together  or  they  must  languish  together,  and  at  thi& 
time  they  are  equally  unhappy. 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  621 


HOW  THE  TAX  ON  WOOL  WAS  LEVIED, 


did  we  get  the  blessing  of  a  high  tax  on  imported  wool?    It  was  the  result 
I'combination  between  woolmen  and  manufacturers. 

Prior  to  1857  we  had  a  nominal  duty  on  wool,  and  the  fortunate  experience  of 

country  ic  every  department  of  industry  and  enterprise  under  the  tariff  of  184(v 
to  the  further  reduction  of  the  tariff  in  1857.  And,  as  I  had  the  pleasure  to- 
lind  the  House  in  the  debate  the  olher  day,  the  whole  delegation  from  Massa- 
setts  here  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol  voted  for  it.  In  that  revision  wool' 
ler  20  cents  a  pound  was  made  free. 

The  effect  upon  wool  Avas  immediate.  It  went  up,  and  in  1859  it  was  as  high  as 
as  ever  been  in  oui  history,  and  the  manufacturers  ot  Massachusetts  and  Rhode- 
,nd  made  more  money  than  they  ever  did  in  any  year  of  their  business.  They 
rished  together,  because  their  interests  are  identical. 

No  manufacturing  people  in  our  day  can  raise  all  its  own  wool.  No  soil  or 
late  will  produce  all  the  various  wools  that  enter  into  fabrics  ranging  from  coarse- 
)ets  to  cloths  mixed  with  silk.    The  wools  grown  in  America  are  not  complete 

material  even  for  the  cloths  for  men's  ordinary  wear.  We  are  controlled  by 
ion.  The  manufacturer  must  make  what  is  demanded.  He  has  to  make  cloths 
1  as  people  who  pay  high  prices  will  buy.  In  order  to  get  material  for  such 
hing  the  wool-buyer  must  go  to  the  world's  market  and  select  fleeces  to  mix  and 
id  with  American  wool.  He  may  require  Australian,  or  African,  or  South 
erican,  or  Spanish,  or  French  wools  for  his  purpose,  and  if  he  does  he  will  pay 
1  50  to  75  per  cent,  duty  on  them,  and  that  handicaps  him  in  competition  with 
men  who  have  free  wool ;  he  is  thus  at  a  disadvantage  with  the  manufacturers- 
'-   '  ,nd,  France,  Belgium  and  Germany,  the  great  cloth-exporting  countries. 


jiudai 


THE   KIND   OF   MATERIAL   USED   IN   MANUFACTURES. 


Mr.  Millikin.  The  gentleman  speaks  only  for  himself  and  not  for  other  mem- 
of  Congress  when  he  says  they  do  not  wear  domestic  goods.  The  cloth  in  which 
1  dressed  was  made  in  Maine ;  the  suit  was  made  in  Maine.  We  are  not  up  to 
sublimated  condition  of  some  gentlemen  from  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  Russell,  of  Massachusetts.  I  hope  the  establishment  that  made  the  gentle* 
's  cloth  is  prosperous,  for  there  are  but  few  in  New  England  that  are  so.  They 
lot  prosperous  because  of  the  tax  on  their  raw  material  that  enables  the  manu- 
irers  of  Europe  to  send  here  between  forty  and  fifiy  million  dollars'  worth  of 
I  a  year,  representing  not  less  than  150,000,000  pounds  of  wool,which  we  neither 
r,  nor  sheared,  nor  wove. 

Nor  does  the  gentleman  know  that  his  coat  is  wool  at  all.  Few  men  in  this- 
se  have  any  idea  how  far  substitutes  are  used  for  wool.  In  my  district,  in  the- 
ediate  neighborhood  where  I  live,  within  a  radius  of  4  or  5  miles  from  my 
;e,  there  is  turned  out  a  product  of  about  $2,000,000  of  woolen  cloths— so  called, 
flatter  yourselves  that  they  are  woolen  cloths,  and  so  they  are,  except  so  far  as- 
m  is  mixed  in  them;  but  the  wool  was  worn  by  previous  generations  of  sheep 
may  have  been  worn  by  two  generations  of  men.  These  cloths  are  made  from, 
picked  to  shred  and  fiber  in  a  shoddy  picker,  and  then  handled  like  wooL 
cloth  beara  the  relation  to  other  cloth  that  oleomargarine  does  to  butter. 

WHERE   SOME-CALLED  FINE   CLOTHES  COME  FROM. 

Do  you  ask  what  these  rags  are  ?  They  are  of  all  grades,  carefully  assorted  ^ 
are  tailor's  clippings  from  fine  clothes  which  make  a  good  '*  short  staple  ^^ 
;  but  in  this  thrifty  age  nothing  is  lost  and  the  shoddy  rags  come  back  agairw 
one  of  these  manufacturers  to  me,  "  I  have  seen  my  old  shoddy  goods  come? 
here  time  and  time  again  to  be  picked  up  and  made  into  new  cloth."  These 
lies  are  the  woolen  cloths  boastfully  mentioned  on  the  other  side  of  the  House 
make  the  cheap  suits  in  which  the  protected  laborer  is  dressed. 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 


Why,  the  cloth  which  the  geatleman  from  Maine  is  wearing  may  have 
procession  down  from  the  really  protected  magnates  of  the  land  and  been  wort 
the  commonest  beggar  shrinking  from  the  son.    These  shoddy  clothes  are 
cheaply  enough,  perhaps.    Men  may  get  their  money's  worth,  for  they  are  sol 
.prices  that  would  not  buy  their  weight  in  actual  wool. 

The  American  laborer  who  bears  with  the  farmer  the  real  burden  of  tf 
is  not  able  to  buy  woolen  cloth,  but  wears  the  wool  that  comes  from  the  cro] 
old  clothes.  ^ 

THE  ONLY  COUNTRY  WHICH  LAYS  A  TAX  ON  WOOL.        ^ 

We  are  the  only  civilized  country  on  the  earth  to-day  that  imposes  a  hign^ 
■on  wool,  except  poor  old-fashioned  Spain,  and  she  is  an  exporter  of  wools 
we  are  not.  England,  Belgium,  France,  and  Germany  took  the  duties  off  of  t 
years  ago. 

It  is  urged  here  that  our  people  can  not  keep  their  flocks  without  a  protect 
to  wool ;  it  is  said  our  sheep  will  disappear ;  one  will  forget  the  taste  of  mut 
"That  is  not  the  teaching  of  experience  here  or  abroad. 

The  high-priced  lands  of  England,  open  to  the  competition  of  all  mank 
carry  more  sheep  than  in  former  days.  The  pastures  of  France  have  double 
■sheep  they  had  when  wool  was  protected. 

No  vote  of  mine  would  ever  be  given  consciously  against  the  interest  of 
American  farmer,  but  I  would  take  the  duty  off  of  wool,  for  I  believe  that  in 
than  a  year  the  price  of  wool  would  advance  because  the  woolen  manufactu 
freed  from  the  tax  on  two-thirds  of  his  raw  material,  would  be  better  able  to  buy 
•Other  third. 

1  have  before  said  that  the  tariff  of  1867  was  the  result  of  a  combination 
manufacturers  and  wool  men  to  shear  mankind.  Like  Csesar  Augustus,  they  deci 
^that  all  the  world — their  world— should  be  taxed.  There  should  be  a  prodigi 
duty  on  wool  and  a  compensating  duty  on  cloth.  It  was  an  abominable  agreem 
The  Treasury  did  not  need  the  tax,  and  both  of  the  contemplated  beneficiaries  v 
fairly  prosperous.  The  war  was  over  and  no  revenue  change  was  ever  made  u 
such  slight  grounds.  It  brought  its  own  punishment.  It  was  an  Ohio  idea ; 
did  flocks  increase  in  Ohio  under  its  action,  or  in  any  State  east  of  the  Mississip 
The  census  figures  show  an  immediate  and  heavy  decrease  in  those  States.  Y 
tariff  proved  a  hireling  shepherd.  Within  a  year  wool  began  to  decline  and  flc 
to  shrink,  and  in  five  years  there  was  a  falling  off  in  the  number  of  sheep  in 
>older  States  of  twenty  per  cent. 

They  increased  heavily  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  from  new  and  unforee 
■causes — the  opening  of  free  range  by  the  extension  of  railroads  and  the  du 
3)earance  of  the  Indian  and  his  game  from  the  new  Territories. 


XIII. 
HIGH  TAXES :AND  THE  FARMER. 

THE   AGRICULTURAL  CLASSES  LEFT  WITH  THE    BAG   TO  HOLD   WHEN  THEIR  T] 

COMES  FOR  THE  EXPECTED  DISTRIBUTION  OF  REWARDS. 

Representative  Melbourne  H.  Ford,  of  Michigan,  April  37. 

But  it  is  to  the  farmer  of  the  United  States  that  the  advocates  of  this  tn 
<5reating  tariff  make  their  strongest  appeal.  He  is  told  by  them  that  he  sho 
etand  by  American  industries.  That  the  agitation  for  the  reduction  of  the  v 
^tariff  taxes  is  being  stimulated  and  encouraged  by  British  manufacturers  i 
British  gold. 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  628.' 

What  is  it  that  fixes  the  price  of  the  farmer's  wheat?  It  is  the  Liverpool 
•ket.  Let  the  price  of  wheat  go  up  in  Liverpool,  then  watch  how  quick  it  will 
ance  in  Chicago.  Let  the  price  of  wheat  in  Liverpool  decline  and  the  market 
)hicago  will  respond  instantly,  and  go  down.  We  cannot  begin  to  consume  our 
cultural  productions.  We  produce  a  good  deal  more  than  enough  to  supply- 
United  States,  and  are  obliged  to  depend  upon  a  foreign  market  for  the  disposal 
lur  surplus.  No  tariff  can  help  the  farmer  on  his  surplus  production,  because- 
price  at  which  it  is  sold  is  fixed  by  competition  with  all  the  producers  of  the- 
Id.  We  now  consume  at  home  about  70  per  cent,  of  our  agricultural  produc- 
s  and  export  about  30  per  cent,  of  them.  Now  mark  this :  Whenever  any  coun- 
produces  more  than  it  consumes  and  has  a  surplus,  the  price  of  that  surplus  wilJ 
ihe  price  of  the  whole  product.  Therefore,  so  long  as  our  farmers  produce  sj 
)lus  (and  this  they  will  always  do)  the  price  of  the  agricultural  productions  in 
United  States  will  be  the  same  as  the  world's  price.  There  is  no  escaping  this- 
ilusion.  You  may  pile  tarifl"s  on  wheat,  corn,  beef,  pork  and  cotton  mountains 
I  and  it  will  not  increase  the  price  of  those  products  in  this  country  a  penny — 
a  farthing. 

tie  farmer's  wheat  is  sent  3,000  miles  away  to  England,  and  it  then  comes  into- 
3t  competition  with  wheat  from  the  East  Indies,  raised  by  the  worst  pauper  labor- 
he  face  of  the  globe;  a  labor  so  low  and  so  half-civilized  that  the  American 
ler  can  scarcely  conceive  how  degraded  it  is.  The  price  of  one  of  the  most' 
)rtant  of  the  farmer's  crops  is  thus  fixed  by  competition  with  wheat  raised  by 
rers  whose  dress  consists  of  half  a  yard  of  cotton  cloth,  and  who  work  jfor  6^- 
8  a  day. 

WHAT   THE  FABMER  HAS  TO  BUY. 

But  how  is  it  with  regard  to  the  articles  which  the  farmer  cannot  produce  and 
;h  he  must  buy?  The  price  of  nearly  everything  which  the  farmer  buys  is 
I  by  so-called  protective  legislation.  The  English  farmer  stands  a  little  better 
lat  respect  than  the  American.  The  price  of  what  the  English  farmer  buys  is 
I  in  the  same  market  and  by  the  same  laws  which  fix  the  price  of  what  he  sells;, 
e,  as  for  the  American  farmer,  the  price  of  what  he  sells  is  fixed  by  competition 
16  open  markets  of  the  world,  and  the  price  of  what  he  buys  to  produce  his 
3  is  arbitrarily  determined  and  unnaturally  increased  by  the  laws  of  the  Con- 
i  of  his  own  country  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  manufacturers. 
But  the  duty  on  wool  is  one  of  the  strong  points  of  the  tariff*  monopolists. 
f  and  all  their  subsidized  newspapers  are  talking  continually  not  about  coal, 
ibout  glass,  not  about  iron,  but  about  wool.  They  have  constituted  themselves 
pecial  guardians  of  the  wool  tariflF,  and  are  overwhelmed  with  anxiety  to  save 
armer  from  utter  destruction  from  a  decrease  of  the  tariff"  on  wool.  I  very 
1  doubt  the  sincerity  of  some  of  these  new  converts  to  the  farmer's  interest, 
ght  be  well  supposed  that  they  were  more  anxious  for  their  own  particular 
3tries  than  for  the  farmer's.  To  an  unprejudiced  observer  it  would  look  very 
1  as  if  some  of  them  were  using  the  farmer  as  a  cat's  paw  to  further  their  own 
ests. 

[f  the  tariff  on  wool  benefits  the  farmer,  what  does  it  amount  to  ?  Taking  the 
e  value  of  our  agricultural  productions,  the  wool  crop  does  not  comprise  over 
3  per  cent,  of  it.  What  a  short-sighted  policy  it  is  for  a  farmer  to  calmly  sub- 
0  paying  war-tariff*  prices  for  nearly  everything  he  buys  to  produce  his  crop, 
r  some  supposed  trivial  benefit  derived  from  the  wool  tariff"  on  2  per  cent,  of 
roduct.  These  tariff"-tax  manufacturers  ask  the  farmer  to  pay  $15  for  a  $9  suit 
3thes  for  himself,  $17  for  a  $12  shawl  for  his  wife,  to  pay  increased  prices  on 
lows,  tools  and  agricultural  implements ;  they  ask  him  to  sell  his  produce  for 
gardly  sum,  and  they  tell  him  to  meekly  endure  all  this,  and  to  be  comforted 
;  e  thought  that  there  is  a  tariff  on  wool, 
fou  cannot  have  a  good  price  for  wool  unless  you  have  somebody  to  buy  it. 
.0  not  produce  enough  wool  for  our  own  consumption.  Our  manufacturers 
iport  foreign  wool ;  and  when  you  artificially  increase  the  price  of  foreign 


|np( 

I 


624  TAKING  OFF  BUB  DENS. 


wool  you  cripple  the  manufacturing  industry,  which  injures  the  farmer's  custor 
Take  the  result  in  my  State  for  instance,  the  State  of  Michigan.  In  1867  the  v 
tariff  was  enormously  increased ;  in  that  year  the  taritf  on  wool  was  raised,  so  i 
it  averaged  between  50  and  60  per  cent.,  and  it  so  continued,  practically  witl: 
interruption,  for  sixteen  years.  In  1867,  when  tlie  tariff  went  into  effect,  tl 
were  4,000,000  sheep  in  the  State ;  and  under  the  effect  of  this  high  tariff  on  v 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1880,  the  number  of  tliose  sheep  had  dwindled  down  to 
than  2,000,000.  This  wool  tariff  has  induced  many  farmers  to  vote  for  the  m; 
tenance  of  these  war  taxes.  When  some  farmers  have  viewed  the  tariff,  the  v 
has  been  pulled  over  their  eyes  to  that  extent  that  they  could  not  see  anything  € 
But  I  believe  the  farmers  are  beginning  to  appreciate  that  in  this  cry  of  "  W( 
wool ! "  there  is  more  noise  than  benetit. 

Another  statement  which  has  had  considerable  effect  is  that  our  high  tf 
gives  the  farmer  a  home  market.    This  claim,  it  seems  to  me,  can  be  absolu 
demonstrated  to  be  false  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt.    Let'  us  examine 
<luestion  and  see  how  much  of  a  home  market  these  tariff  taxes   have  given 
farmer.    We  consume  at  home  about  70  per  cent,    of  our  entire  agricultural  j 
ductions,  and  export  about  30  per  cent.    Our  farmers  comprise  about  one-hal; 
the  population  of  this  Republic,  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  they  would  consi 
one-half  of  the  products  of  agriculture  which  are  consumed  in  this  country. 
we  consume  70  per  cent,  here,  our  farmers  would  consume  one  half  of  that  amoi 
or  35  per  cent,  of  the  whole  crop.    The  people  engag<^d  in  manufacturing,  min 
and  mechanical  pursuits,  according  to  the  census  of  1880,  comprise  about  one  f 
of  our  population ;  therefore  they  would  consume  one-fifth  of  the  70  per  cent., 
14  per  cent,  of  our  entire  production.    But  it  is  well  known  that  only  a  small  \ 
portion  of  those  engaged  in  mining,  manufacturing  and    mechanical  pursi 
receive  any  benefit  from  the  present  high  tariff     To  a  great  number  of  our  inc 
tries  the  war  tariff  acts  as  a  bane  and  a  curse.    Making  a  liberal  estimate,  let 
assume  that  of  those  engaged  in  manufacturing,  mining  and  mechanical  industi 
one-third  of  them  are  benefited  by  the  high-tariff  taxes.    Then  the  amount  of 
farmer's  productions  that  they  would  consume  would  be  one-third  of  the  14 
cent.,  or  4f  per  cent,  of  the  whole  product— call  it  5  per  cent.    Therefore  the  c 
sumers  which  the  tariff- trust  advocates  say  they  have  created  for  the  farmer,  i 
who  will  give  him  a  home  market,  only  take  5  per  cent,  of  his  product,  while 
farmer's  foreign  customer  takes  30  per  cent,  of  it. 

What  an  insignificant  thing  this  home-market  scheme  is  when  the  facts  are  1 
bare. 

The  proposition  is  that  the  farmer  is  to  be  taxed  to  support  an  industry  wh 
■would  not  otherwise  exist,  and  he  is  to  get  his  money  back  by  selling  his  prod' 
to  men  who  work  in  the  industry.  The  farmer  is  to  be  compelled  to  pay  taxes 
help  the  manufacturer,  and  he  is  to  get  it  back  in  money  for  his  produce  !  T 
would  be  a  remarkable  investment.  As  Henry  George  well  says,  this  is  like 
man  who  owned  stock  in  a  railroad  and  kept  riding  on  the  cars  and  paying  his  f 
in  order  to  increase  the  dividend  he  would  get  out  of  the  stock. 

The  home  market  delusion  amounts  to  about  this.  The  protected  manufactu 
Bays  to  the  farmer,  "I  want  you  to  vote  for  a  Congressman  who  will  aid  in  ma 
taining  this  war  tariff,  and  I  will  agree  to  take  5  per  cent  of  your  crop.  But  if  I 
that  I  want  the  privilege  of  charging  you  47  per  cent,  more  than  my  goods  : 
worth  in  the  markets  of  the  world."  In  other  words,  he  say :  "Out  of  every  $2,1 
worth  of  your  agricultural  productions  I  will  take  $100  worth,  and  when  I  pay  j 
that  $100  I  want  you  to  buy  $100  worth  of  my  goods,  but  I  want  you  to  pay : 
$147  for  them,"  while  the  farmer's  foreign  customer  says:  "Out  of  every  $3,( 
worth  of  your  productions  I  will  take  $600  worth,  and  I  will  let  you  have  $600  wo: 
of  my  goods  without  paying  any  bonus  whatever." 

Our  agricultural  productions  are  always  more  than  we  can  consume,  and  c 
farmers  must  rely,  of  necessity,  upon  the  markets  of  the  world.    No  act  of  Con^ 
can  prevent  this.    Ever  since  the  war  tariff  has  been  in  force  the  farmer's  hoi 
kethas  been  growing  smaller  and  smaller. 


TAKING  OFF   BURDENS.  625 

I  have  a  table  here,  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  which  absolutely 
refutes  the  pretension  that  the  war  tariff  has  enlarged  the  home  market  of  the 
farmer. 


Year. 

Value    of  agricul- 
tural products 
(in  gold.) 

Value  of  agricul- 
tural products 
exported. 

Per  cent, 
exported. 

Per  cent. 

consumed  at 

home. 

I860 

No  record 

1356,560,972 
361,188,483 
685,961,095 

1870 

^1,958,030,926 
2,213,403,564 

18 
31 

83 
69 

1880 

We  have  no  record  of  our  agricultural  productions  ia  1860,  but  we  have  data  of 
:he  agricultural  exports  for  that  year.  We  find  that  the  exports  of  the  products  of 
;he  farm  are  constantly  growing  and  growing.  We  find  that  in  1870  this  country 
Dought  82  per  cent,  of  our  agricultural  productions,  and  in  1880  it  bought  but  69 
Der  cent,  of  them.  Observe  what  this  wonderful  American  system  has  done  for  the 
'armer.  After  wearily  waiting  year  after  year  for  that  home  market  which  the  high 
.ar  iff  advocates  told  him  would  surely  come,  what  is  the  result  ?  In  1870  the  farmer 
vas  obliged  to  look  to  foreign  countries  for  the  disposal  of  only  18  per  cent,  of  his 
irop,  and  after  ten  years  of  war  tariff  taxation,  under  which  monopolies  have  grown 
ich,  and  trusts  have  become  defiant,  he  finds  his  home  market  ebbing  away,  and 
,hat  he  must  go  abroad  to  sell  31  per  cent,  of  his  productions. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  a  few  of  the  trusts,  together  with  the  amount  of  bounty 
he  present  tariff  seeks  to  allow  them  to  collect  from  the  people,  also  their  expense 
or  labor,  and  the  excess  of  tariff  bounty  over  the  amount  they  pay  in  wages.  Kot 
me  of  these  trusts  could  live  were  it  not  for  the  war  tariff. 


626  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

XIV. 

THE  APPEAL  OF  A  REPUBLICAN. 

THE    EARLY    HlfeTORY    OF    THAT    PARTY    CITED    TO  SHOW  ITS  PRINCIPLES    IN    ITS 
BETTER   DAYS  BEFORE   IT   EMBRACED   FREE   "WHISKEY. 

Mepresentative  A.  R.  Anderson,  of  Iowa,  June  6. 

I  ask  my  friends  on  this  side,  Republicans  with  whom  I  have  trained  all  my  life, 
in  the  face  of  the  distinct  pledges  that  have  marked  the  history  of  this  business  from 
its  beginning — I  ask,  how  do  they  account  for  the  wonderful  strides  they  have  made 
with  reference  to  this  question?  I  am  a  Republican,  and  always  have  been.  I  learned 
all  my  political  knowledge,  though  it  may  be  little,  in  the  Republican  household;  and 
while  tht  re  are  those  who  may  criticise  me  with  reference  to  my  party  fealty,  it  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  I  am  familiar  Avith  the  history  of  the  Republican  party  of  this 
country.  I  know  its  record  not  only  in  my  State  bat  in  this  Union  with  reference 
to  this  great  economic  question,  and  I  want  to  produce,  if  I  am  allowed  to  do  so^ 
some  authority  with  reference  to  this  matter.  I  want  to  say  in  answer  to  all  such 
questions  that,  as  for  myself,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  the  tax  burden  upon  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country,  which  is  $100,000,000  in  excess  of  what  it  ought  to  be,  should  be 
reduced  to  that  extent.  As  to  matters  of  detail,  I  challenge  this  side  of  the  House,, 
in  spite  of  all  its  boasted  glee  in  tackling  this  great  question,  to  bring  in  a  bill  on 
which  you  can  align  your  own  forces.  While  the  bill  under  consideration  does  not 
n  many  particulars  satisfy  me,  I  undertake  to  say  that  it  is  a  step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion and  that  it  is  more  reductive ;  there  is  a  less  per  cent,  of  protection  in  it  than 
there  would  be  in  any  bill  now  pending  in  this  House  if  the  Republican  side  domi- 
nated the  House.  This  is,  as  already  suggested,  a  question  of  details  ;  and  you  have- 
not  during  the  long  months  that  this  question  has  been  here  exhibited  any  disposi- 
tion to  get  yourselves  together  upon  the  matter  of  details  and  point  out  the  items 
upon  which  you  will  agree  to  a  reduction  ;  but  you  stand  here  in  the  way,  finding 
fault  with  the  men  who  are  making  honest  effort  in  the  direction  of  reduction  of 
taxation. 

In  politics  the  principle  of  protection  is  what  poison  is  in  medicine;  it  must  be 
handled  in  the  same  guarded  manner.  It  is  the  lell  influence  of  this  institution, 
growing  and  widening  like  a  Up&s  tree,  that  accounts  for  the  great  strides  Republican 
leaders  in  certain  quarters  have  taken  in  re/erence  to  this  question.  They  have 
found  this  principal  not  only  a  politic  thing  in  certain  quarters,  but  they  have  found 
that  it  is  or  may  be  an  exceedingly  lucrative  thing.  There  is  one  further  point  I 
want  to  make,  and  it  is  in  the  trend  of  the  argument,  if  I  may  call  it  such,  to  show 
what  progress  and  in  connection  with  showing  what  progress  to  show  what  dan^ 
there  is  in  this  principle  of  so-called  protection  if  it  is  not  properly  and  carefu 
guarded  and  restrained. 

REPUBLICAN  OPINION  ON   THE  LUMBER  TAX. 

My  predecessor  on  the  floor,  whose  loyalty  to  the  country  and  the  party 
not  been  questioned  by  those  men  who  have  thought  fit  to  difler  with  me,  when  he 
came  fresh  from  the  people,  with  his  homely  virtues,  such  as  we  have  upon  the 
prairiee,  was  occupying  the  position  as  to  the  question  of  lumber  that  would  to-day^ 
put  his  standing  in  the  party,  as  far  as  the  would-be  leaders  of  the  party  are  00:5  ~ 
cerned,  in  jeopardy,  and  I  want  to  show  what  his  opinion  was  with  reterence 
this  subject  in  some  of  the  debates  that  took  place  on  this  floor  some  years  ago, 
which  he,  no  doubt  entertains  to  day,  unless,  forsooth,  he  has  made  as  much  pi 
gress  as  some  of  his  colleagues  on  this  floor.  In  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  on 
14th  day  of  February,  1883,  in  his  place  in  this  Hall,  my  distinguished  predecesa 
made  these  remarks,  and  I  wish  to  repeat  that  his  whole  political  standing  in 
party,  if  some  of  those  self-constituted  bosses  are  allowed  to  determine  the  questio 
would  be  jeopardized. 


TAKING  OFF  BUBDENS.  627 

Mr.  Hepburn  said :  It  seems  to  me,  Mr,  Chairman,  the  gentleman  from  "Wisconsin  as 
well  as  the  gentleman  from  Maine,  is  unnecessarily  indignant  towards  those  of  us  wholhave 
said  something  with  reference  to  the  preservation  of  the  forests  of  this  country.  No  one 
has  proposed  to  say  that  the  gentleman  from  Maine  and  the  gentleman  from  Wisconsin 
may  not  destroy  their  forests  as  rapidly  as  they  choose.  It  is  not  the  question  presented  in 
this  paragraph.  The  question  is  as  to  whether  we  will  offer  them  a  bonus  of  ten,  fifteen,  or 
twenty  dollars  an  acre  for  the  destruction  of  their  forests.    That  is  what  they  ask  us  to  do. 

He  does  not  put  it  on  the  doubtful  ground  that  is  suggested  here  by  some.  He 
wants  to  protect  the  forests  by  a  broad  and  manly  and  defensible  plan  in  the 
interests  of  his  constituents  and  of  all  the  people  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Chairman,  this  is  what  my  colleague  said  further : 

It  is  not  the  question  presented  in  this  paragraph.  The  question  Is  as  to  whether  we 
will  offer  them  a  bonus  of  #10,  ^15,  or  $20  an  acre  for  the  destruction  of  their  forests.  That  is 
what  they  ask  us  to  do.  There  is  no  objection  to  these  forests  being  destroyed,  perhaps. 
There  is  no  question  of  the  right  of  these  gentlemen  who  own  them  to  destroy  them  if 
they  see  fit. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  concur  with  my  predecessor  in  that,  and  I  put  my  belief  in  free 
trade  in  lumber  on  no  such  grounds  as  the  protection  of  the  forests.  My  predecessor 
went  on  to  say : 

But  they  have  no  right  to  quarrel  with  us  because  we  refuse  to  give  them  this  bonus  of 
one,  two,  three,  and  three  and  a  half  dollars  a  thousand  feet  for  their  destruction,  which 
amounts  to  from  130  to  $25  an  acre  for  the  forests. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  invite  attention  to  the  reason  which  my  predecessor  gives  at 
this  point.    He  says  further : 

Here  is  the  difference,  it  seems  to  me,  between  the  position  of  this  now  under  consider- 
ation and  any  of  the  other  protected  industries  of  thla  country.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
reason  why  this  protection  should  be  given  is  to  protect  the  laborer,  and  yet  a  gentleman 
speaking  by  authority  for  the  State  of  Michigan  only  a  few  days  ago  in  another  place 
admitted  that  10,000  or  EL  ore  laborers  from  the  Dominion  of  Canada  each  winter  cross  the 
river,  or  an  imaginary  line,  and  become  competitors  with  our  people  in  the  forests  of  Mich- 
igan, We  know  that  in  Maine  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  introduce  all  the  cheap  labor— the 
pauper  labor,  if  you  choose— from  Canada.  Now,  why  should  we  offer  this  bonus  to  that 
class  of  laborers? 

There  are  more  laboring  men  than  those  engaged  in  the  technically  protected 
industries  of  the  country.  There  are  thirty  millions  of  people  in  this  country  who 
are  interested  in  the  labor  of  agriculture,  and  they  are  put  off  by  such  a  tub  to  the 
whale  as  a  duty  on  exports. 

Granting  for  argument's  sake  that  the  laborers  in  the  protected  industries 
receive  increased  wages  on  account  of  the  high  war  taxes  being  retained,  those  so  to 
be  benefited  are  very  few  in  numbers  compared  with  the  great  body  of  farmers  who 
must  pay  these  taxes,  and  who  are  not,  in  turn,  in  any  way  benefi.ted  thereby. 

I  wish  to  say  to  gentlemen  who  talk  so  eloquently  about  devoloping  the  indus- 
tries of  America,  that  there  is  perhaps  no  trouble  in  developing  the  tin-plate  industry 
or  any  other  if  the  parties  developing  it  can  make  the  millions  of  people  who  are  not 
interested  in  the  business  foot  the  bills. 

If  there  is  a  single  thing  in  the  country  that  the  laboring  people  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits  are  concerned  in,  it  is  the  domination  and  control  of  the  greatjcom- 
mercial  establishments,  which,  like  the  railroads,  the  telegraph,  the  banks,  and  the 
manufactories,  the  creatures  of  legislation,  are  dictating  unduly  and  at  the  expense 
of  the  other  industrial  establishments  of  the  country  the  laws  that  impose  the 
hundreds  ©f  millions  of  taxes  which  the  people  pay  annually  into  an  overflowing 
Treasury. 


40 


638  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

XV. 
TPIE  BURDENSOME  TAX  ON  SALT. 

THE  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  SALT-PRODUCING  DISTRICTS  SAY  THEY  CAN  COl 
PETE   SUCCESSFULLY  WITH  THE  WORLD. 
Bepresentative  Justin  B.  Whiting,  of  Michigan,  June  9. 

Although  I  am  a  manufacturer  of  salt,  I  do  not  feel  justified  in  taking  a  course 
against  tariff  reduction  on  this  article  of  commodity.  Had  I  thought  that  would  be 
wise,  I  could  not  have  accepted  a  nomination  for  a  seat  upon  this  floor  upon  a 
platform  which  clearly  and  boldly  asked  for  tariff  reduction. 

T  see  the  gentleman  from  Michigan  (Mr.  Burrows)  does  not  clearly  understand 
the  facts  as  to  this  question  of  salt.  The  foreign  salt  which  is  imported  into  Michi- 
gan sells  there  at  wholesale,  or  at  the  agencies,  at  $2.75  for  224  pounds  of  salt,  which 
is  four  bushels  of  salt.  The  dairymen  buy  this  salt ;  the  farmers  also  buy  it.  The 
ordinary  Michigan  salt  brings  the  manufacturers  about  60  cents  for  280  pounds  of 
salt,  which  is  five  bushels.  Now,  is  it  not  a  bad  criticism  on  the  intelligence  of 
these  men  if  they  will  pay  $2  75  for  224  pounds  of  foreign  salt,  if  the  ordinary 
domestic  salt,  which  brings  the  manufacturer  but  60  cents  for  280  pounds,  will 
answer  just  as  well  ? 

But  they  buy  the  foreign  salt  because  they  believe  it  to  be  a  necessity  on  their 
part.  They  pay  the  higher  price  for  foreign  salt  because  they  believe  it  keeps 
their  butter  better.  If  they  did  not  so  believe  they  would  buy  the  cheaper  Ameri- 
can product  and  not  pay  so  large  a  price  for  the  foreign  salt.  But  they  feel  that  it 
is  an  injustice  to  them,  when  there  is  really  no  competition  between  the  ordinary 
American  product  and  the  foreign  salt,  that  they  should  be  compelled  to  pay  27 
cents  a  sack  duty  on  every  sack  of  foreign  salt.  They  are  in  favor  of  putting  salt 
on  the  free  list.  They  know  very  well,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  large  exporter  of 
meat  has  the  duty  on  salt  remitted  when  he  exports  his  product.  The  large 
exporters  of  meat  get  a  rebate  when  their  product  is  exported.  The  exporters  of 
meat  and  fish  get  their  salt  free.  "Why,  then,  should  the  dairyman  or  farmer  be 
compelled  to  pay  27  cents  a  sack  on  foreign  salt  when  that  foreign  salt  does  not 
come  in  competition  with  the  common  grade  of  American  salt,  and  the  higher  grades 
when  they  bring  anything  like  the  price  of  English  salt  duty  free  do  not  need 
any  protection.  The  dairymen  use  foreign  salt  because  they  get  more  for  their 
butter.  They  sell  their  product  for  an  average  price  of  30  cents  a  pound,  and  they 
use  fine  English  salt  to  keep  up  the  price ;  and  the  duty  on  salt  imported  is  there- 
fore a  burden  upon  them  which  ought  to  be  remitted. 

Now,  the  claim  made  by  the  gentleman  from  Michigan,  that  we  can  not 
sell  our  salt  in  New  York  city,  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  fact,  so  far  as  my 
knowledge  goes. 

ABLE  TO  COMPETE  WITH  ANY  COUNTRY. 

The  gentleman  from  Michigan  said  that  the  English  salt  could  be  landed  in 
New  York  city  for  $5.75  a  ton.  1  have  been  told  by  a  gentleman  here,  a  very  intel- 
ligent gentleman,  and  in  the  salt  business,  that  this  Liverpool  salt  costs  there  $6  a 
ton.  That  is  not  a  material  difference,  therefore,  in  that  respect.  But  the  Warsaw 
salt  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  send  their  salt  to  New  York  city  and  sell  it  at 
$4.50  a  ton.  Church  &  Co.,  the  salaratus  manufacturers,  buy  their  salt  at  $4.25  a 
ton  and  are  satisfied  with  the  quality  of  it  in  their  business.  There  is  no  reason  in 
the  world  why  Michigan  should  send  its  common  salt,  or  what  is  called  "fine  sal^ 
into  New  York  at  all.  New  York  State  can  supply  the  city  of  New  York  wijH 
salt,  and  she  need  not  go  West  to  interfere  with  the  Michigan  industries.  9 

Now,  I  want  to  say  that  salt  is  bulky  and  will  not  bear  very  srreat  transporta- 
tion as  a  rule.    It  will  not  pay  to  ship  salt  to  Kansas,  as  there  have  been  discovered,, 
great  salt  fields  in  Kansas;  and  I  have  been  of  opinion  lately  that  at  my  first  oppi 
tunity  I  would  like  to  go  to  Kansas  and  manufacture  salt  there.    It  can  be  m; 


TAKING  OPP  BURDENS.  629 

there,  and  let  me  tell  you  that  English  salt  free,  or  even  with  a  premium  added  to  it, 
could  not  be  transported  to  Kansas  and  compete  with  salt  made  there.  And  if  there 
^re  places  somewhere  on  the  seaboard  where  British  salt  can  be  laid  down  in  com- 
petition with  American  salt,  I  do  not  think  it  is  fair  for  the  manufacturer  to  ask  the 
people  living  there  to  pay  from  four  to  six  dollars  a  ton  transportation  to  get 
it  there.    It  is  not  honest. 

Now,  on  this  tarifT  question  generally  I  have  but  one  thing  to  say.  I  believe 
that  a  reduction  of  the  tariff  simply  reduces  the  toll  which  a  foreign  manufacturer 
pays  for  access  to  our  markets.  If  that  toll  is  reduced  it  will  make  that  access  freer 
and  easier  to  him,  but  that  necessarily  increases  competition,  and  competition  means 
lower  prices,  and  that  is  what  the  people  demand.  It  is  what  the  manufacturers 
need  if  they  would  make  a  success  of  manufacturing  long  in  this  country.  I  do  not 
see  how  manufacturers  can  expect  with  impunity  to  combine,  close  up  part  of  their 
factories,  and  then  ask  the  overtaxed  agricultural  people  of  this  country  to  pay 
them  higher  prices.    It  curtails  business  and  throws  labor  out  of  employment. 

HOW  THE  REPUBLICANS  PROTECTED  SALT. 
Bepresmtative  Timothy  E.  Tarsney^  of  Michigan,  June  1. 

It  happens  that  I  come  from  the  centre  of  the  salt- producing  district  of  the 
Northwest,  the  great  Saginaw  district,  the  city  in  which  I  live.  Last  year  we  pro- 
duced 3,944,000  and  some  odd  barrels  of  salt.  That  is  just  about  our  average  annual 
products,  although  this  year  it  will  probably  exceed  4,000,000  barrels.  That,  as  has 
been  said  by  my  distinguished  colleague  (Mr.  Burrows),  is  more  than  one-third  of 
the  entire  salt  consumed  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  About  one-half  of 
the  balance  is  produced  in  the  other  States  of  the  Union  outside  of  Michigan,  and 
the  remainder  is  imported. 

Now,  I  desire  to  make  a  statement  concerning  the  true  position  that  salt  has 
held,  which  may  be  startling  to  some  of  my  friends  on  the  other  side,  and  I  ask 
their  careful  attention  to  it.  I  desire  to  make  this  statement,  and  I  make  it  from 
personal  observation,  as  well  as  from  the  best  testimony  that  I  can  get  from  leading 
salt  manufacturers,  even  from  the  president  of  the  Salt  Association  of  Michigan 
himself,  and  all  of  these  point  to  the  fact,  which  is  admitted  by  the  president  of  the 
Salt  Association  to  which  I  have  referred,  that  salt  is  practically  upon  the  free-list 
to-day. 

Now  listen  ;  if  while  you  are  talking  about  protecting  salt  I  point  to  the  record 
3f  the  Republican  party  and  show  the  fact  that  it  was  from  your  hands  came  the 
7ery  first  blow  that  struck  down  the  duties  on  salt,  then  I  think  your  arguments  on 
.his  subject  will  have  been  largely  met.  I  refer  to  the  record  of  your  acts  in  1871, 
ind  I  call  your  attention  to  what  a  leader  of  your  party  then  said,  Mr.  Eugene  Hale. 
Oo  you  know  him  ?  He  introduced  a  bill  into  this  House,  or  rather  he  called  it  up 
br  consideration,  to  place  salt  upon  the  free-list.  There  was  the  first  attack  upon 
his  product,  and  you  will  find  by  reference  to  the  record  of  that  session  of  Congress 
he  evidence  of  what  was  done. 

THE  ATTACK  MADE  ON  THE  INTEREST  OP  THE  FISHERMEN. 

1  Will  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  that  now.  The  very  next  day  the 
istinguished  decliner  of  the  Presidency  moved  to  place  coal  upon  the  free-list, 
i'hen  time  passed  on  again  until  1883,  and  what  do  we  find  there  ?  This  provision 
flaw,  to  be  found  on  page  514  of  the  Statutes  of  that  year,  which  did  ruin,  if  that 
3rm  can  be  applied,  the  industry  of  salt,  and  why  ?  Because  the  duty  was  removed 
)  the  extent  of  90  per  cent,  on  all  salt  manufactured  in  the  country  for  the 
urposes  of  curing  meats,  epecially  upon  proof  that  it  was  used  for  that  puipose ; 
ut  salt  imported  for  the  purpose  of  curing  fish  was  admitted  in  bond,  and  that 
leant  absolutely  free.  Who  is  benefited  by  it  ?  Why,  the  gentleman  from  Maine, 
ho  has  so  manfully  attacked  this  proposition,  and  the  gentleman  from  Michigan, 
ithhis  salt.  But  who  passed  that  bill?  I  find  that  on  March  3, 1883,  on  the  vote 
•r  free  salt,  there  were  recorded  the  names  of  such  distinguished  gentlemen  as  the 
llowing  (now  I  ask  you  to  listen) :  Julius  C.  Burrows,  of  Michigan.    I  find  another 


630  TAKING   OFF  BURDENS. 

protective  patriot  loudly  proclaimiDg  for  protection,  then  representing  the  district 
from  which  my  friend  from  New  York  comes,  the  Syracuse  district.  I  refer  to  Mr. 
Frank  Hiscock.  His  name  I  find  appended  tliere  in  favor  of  free  salt.  I  find  tha 
name  of  another  distinguished  gentleman  who  marshals  his  forces  here  upon  the 
floor  of  the  House  to-day  in  opposition  to  every  proposition  suggested  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Ways  and  Means  to  benefit  the  people  of  this  country  by  a  reduction  of 
these  charges — Mr.  Reed,  of  Maine,  who  voted  for  free  salt  on  that  3d  day  of  March^ 
1883.    There  is  your  record. 

I  remember  well,  Mr.  Chairman,  when,  in  1884, 1  stood  upon  a  platfonn  in  the- 
city  of  Saginaw,  at  that  time  as  now  the  attorney  for  many  salt  producers  of  the 
State — and  made  the  bold  and  open  declaration  that  there  was  then  no  such  thing 
as  protection  to  them  upon  their  salt.  1  pointed  out  the  record  that  Mr.  Hale  had 
made  and  Mr.  Hoar  had  made,  and  the  record  of  Mr.  Hiscock  upon  this  question. 

WANTS  THE  RUPUBLICAN  LEADER'S  HELP. 

I  also  pointed  out  to  them  the  record  my  distinguished  friend  from  Maine  (Mr.. 
Reed)  had  made.  I  stated,  these  are  the  men  who  have  protected  you ;  see  what 
they  have  done.  Oh,  yes ;  but  before  that  the  same  man  Hale,  who  struck  the  blow 
at  our  salt  industry,  came  to  Saginaw  and  took  a  great  interest  in  that  question  of 
our  protection.  Oh  !  you  ought  to  have  seen  the  elaborate  preparations  they  made 
to  receive  the  distinguished  protectionist,  the  man  who  was  doing  so  much  for  their 
loca]  industries.  A  platform  of  salt  barrels  and  lumber  and  shingles  was  erected  in 
an  angle  of  the  street,  and  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Maine  had  talked* 
boldly  ard  loudly  about  protecting  the  very  salt  that  he  voted  to  destroy  and  tried 
to  destroy. 

A  distinguished  gentleman  whose  death  we  mourned  here. but  a  few  months 
ago,  Hon.  John  A.  Logan — he,  too,  voted  for  free  salt ;  and  one  of  my  predecessors, 
one  John  F.  Griggs,  who  represented  the  Saginaw  district,  and  as  consistent  and 
honorable  a  gentleman  as  ever  lived,  came  here  then,  an  ex-member  of  Congress^ 
deputed  to  plead  for  the  salt  industries  of  that  district  in  my  State.  Mr.  Logan 
turned  to  him  and  said :  "  Why,  Griggs,  I  voted  at  that  time  to  maintain  the  duty 
upon  salt,  and  I  never  got  the  devil  so  much  in  my  life  as  I  did  from  ray  constitu- 
ents for  the  vote  that  I  then  gave." 

Now,  then,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  desire  to  occupy  the  attention  of  this  com- 
mittee bat  a  moment  longer,  and  I  simply  do  so  to  call  to  the  attention  of  the  com- 
mittee the  fact  that  I  represent  a  district  and  the  people  of  a  district  whom  I  know 
well.  Knowing  the  ground  upon  which  I  stand,  knowing  the  situation  of  our  people 
there,  I  could  not  permit  myself  to  remain  silent  upon  this  floor,  and  have  one  of 
my  colleagues,  who  hitherto  has  voted  to  strike  down  the  very  industry  for  which 
he  now  pleads,  undertake  to  represent  me  or  my  constituents- 

I  will  take  care  of  myself.  I  will  do  my  duty  to  my  own  constituents  without 
his  aid.  I  can  go  home  to  my  constituents  at  Saginaw,  and  I  can  justify  the  vote 
that  I  shall  cast  upon  this  question  to  them. 

To  my  distinguished  friend  from  Maine  I  desire  to  say,  and  to  the  House,  that 
every  time  I  have  been  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  Saginaw  district  that  gent" 
man  has  been  there  opposing  me. 

Mr.  Cox — You  ought  to  thank  him  for  it. 

Mr.  Tarsney— I  do  thank  him  for  it ;  and  I  desire  to  say  more  than  that :  thaf 
I  should  ever  be  so  unfortunate,  as  I  hope  I  shall  not  be,  of  becoming  again  a  candi- 
date for  Congress,  all  I  desire  is,  on  behalf  of  myself,  and  on  behalf  of  the  salt  man- 
ufacturers of  Saginaw,  on  behalf  of  my  constituents  generally,  to  invite  the  gentle- 
man from  Maine  to  come  down  again  and  help  to  send  me  back  here. 


that 
Ltl|i 

aB 


TAKING  OFF  BURDENS.  631 


XVI. 

THE  POWER  OF  TAXATION. 

"WHAT  IT  COSTS  THE  PEOPLE   UNDER   THE  WORKINGS    OP    THE   PRESENT    LAW  TO 

MAINTAIN  TRUSTS  AND  MONOPOLIES. 

James  D,  Eichardson,  May  8, 1888.  » 

Whence  comes  the  power  to  tax  the  people  to  build  up  monopolies  and  make 
a^ich  certain  special  interests  by  subsidy  ?  I  remember  one  argument  I  have  hereto- 
fore had  to  meet,  and  I  have  heard  it  repeated  on  this  floor,  that  all  high  protective 
duties  or  taxes  are  paid  by  the  foreigners  who  manufacture  goods  and  bring  them 
'here  to  market.    How  is  this  ?    Recently  I  read  this  statement : 

In  1881  the  duty  on  the  best  plate  glass  was  113  per  cent.  Glass  of  this  kind  sellinfr  in 
Belgium  for  $386,000  was  importpd  here,  and,  at  112  per  cent.,  duty  or  tariff  was  paid  on  it  to 
the  amount  of  $437,000.  It  was  then  sold  here  in  the  United  States  for  $850,000.  Now,  who 
paid  this  duty?  Did  the  Belg-ian  manufacturer?  If  he  did,  then  outof  the  $386,000,  which 
•was  all  he  got  for  his  glass,  he  paid  $437,000  to  our  government  for  the  privilege  of  sending 
it  here.  In  other  words,  he  gave  us  his  glass  for  nothing  when  he  could  have  sold  it  at  home 
fOT  $386,000,  and  he  gave  us  $51,000  more  for  leave  to  do  so. 

If  this  glass  only  sold  for  $386,000  in  Belgium,  when  it  was  brought  here  and 
«old  to  our  consumers  for  $850,000,  of  which  $437,000  went  into  'the  Treasury  as 
taxes,  I  want  to  know  if  the  consumers  here  did  not  pay  this  tax  ?  But  for  the  high 
tariff  of  112  per  cent,  on  the  glass  our  consumers  here  would  have  been  able  to  buy 
it  at  $386,000,  and  the  transportation  added.  There  can  be  no  answer  to  this  argu- 
ment. In  many  instances,  however,  the  tariff  is  laid  so  high  that  it  amounts  to  a 
total  prohibition  of  the  importation  of  the  goods  so  taxed.  Then  what  is  the  inevi- 
table result  ?  If  the  goods  are  not  imported,  you  s  ly  of  course  the  Treasury  gets  no 
tax  or  tariff.  This  is  true ;  but  while  that  is  true,  our  people  who  have  to  buy 
•these  goods  from  American  manufacturers,  thus  prohibited  from  importation  by 
reason  of  high  duty,  pay  the  increased  prices  all  the  same.  Not  that  it  goes  into 
the  Treasury,  for  in  this  case  it  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  American  manufacturer 
in  the  shape  of  subsidy  or  increase  in  profits.  Many  of  the  cheapest  of  woolen 
goods  are  thus  taxed  so  high  they  are  not  imported.  The  duty  on  them  varies 
from  115  to  200  per  cent.,  and  they  cannot  be  brought  here  by  foreign  merchants 
and  sold  after  paying  this  high  rate  of  tariff  duty.  The  American  manufacturer, 
towever,  knowing  this,  charges  from  75  to  150  per  cent,  more  for  these  goods  than 
the  foreigner,  and  is  secure  against  his  competition. 

ALL  A  TAX  PAID  BY  THE  CONSUMER. 

Who  pays  this  increased  price  to  our  manufacturers  ?  Not  the  foreign  importer,  ^ 
for  we  have  seen  he  does  not  in  this  case  import  on  account  of  the  high  duty,  but  it 
is  all  paid  by  the  poor  consumer  in  our  country  who  is  compelled  to  buy  these  cheap 
woolen  goods.  And  even  in  cases  where  the  foreigner  imports  his  goods,  if  he  pays 
■duty  upon  them  he  is  not  at  least  the  party  who  suffers  most  under  this  tariff  for 
protection.  The  best  statistics  we  have  show  that  the  proportion  of  American 
goods  we  use  to  foreign  goods  is  about  five  to  one ;  so  that  the  tariff  raises  the  price 
of  goods  to  our  people  about  five  times  where  it  places  the  tax  once  upon  the 
foreigner  who  brings  his  goods  here  for  sale.  Therefore  when  $1  is  paid  into  the 
Treasury  for  tariff  our  people  have  paid  $5  to  the  American  manufacturer  in  the 
fhape  of  subsidy.  As  we  raise  every  year  about  $200,000,000  by  the  tariff,  it  follows 
that  to  do  this  the  people  pay  five  times  this  sum,  or  ten  hundred  millions  in  subsidy. 
Such  a  law  for  taxation  is  not  right  and  cannot  be  defended  on  any  just  or  equitable 


OH»  TAKING  0Px7  BURD3NS. 

principle ;  yet  any  propositions  wtiicli  look  to  any  reduction  of  taxes  or  the  gh 
of  any  relief  to  the  people  are  met  by  the  cry  of  ""free  trade,"  and  that  an  assault 
being  made  upon  the  great  American  system  of  protection 

Whence,  I  ask  again,  comes  the  authority  to  Congress  to  lay  any  duty  whic 
does  not  look  simply  to  raising  revenue?  Congress  has  no  more  authority  unde 
the  Constitution  to  take  money  from  me  which  it  does  not  need  for  the  Government 
under  the  guise  of  a  revenue  law,  with  the  view  of  aiding  or  benefiting  some  othe 
citizen  or  class  of  citizens,  than  it  has  to  take  my  horses,  mules,  sheep,  or  other  proj 
erty  for  a  like  purpose. 

According  to  the  logic  of  the  argument  of  protection  Congress  can  levy  a 
upon  the  people  to  raise  $101,000,000,  of  which  one  million  will  go  into  the  Treasui 
as  taxes  and  the  remaining  one  hundred  millions  will  go  into  the  pockets  of  a  bene 
fited  class.  Such  a  proposition,  I  submit,  is  monstrous.  Who  contends  that  tl 
tariff  is  not  a  tax?  I  have  heard  that  there  are  some  who  make  this  contentioi 
Hear  the  great  Western  lawyer  and  orator,  Mr.  Storrs,  on  this  point.    He  said 

Finally,  what  is  a  tarlfif?  It  is  a  tax.  It  is  nothing  less  and  nothing  but  a  tax.  It  is  i 
tax  which  we  do  not  pay  to  the  Government ;  for  where  protection  begins  revenue  cease 
The  consumer  is  impoverished,  the  Government  is  not  aided. 

This  is  an  honest  statement.  A  protective  tariff  laid  upon  four  thousand  article 
of  daily  consumption  by  our  people  means  a  tax  laid  upon  these  articles,  not  fo 
revenue,  not  for  any  purpose  of  government ;  for  as  quoted  above,  "where  protection 
begins  revenue  ceases."  I  have  heard  it  gravely  argued  here  and  elsewhere  that  tl 
high  tariff  reduced  the  price  of  every  merchantable  commodity,  and  that  all  profit 
are  raised  by  this  system.  If  this  be  true  it  opens  up  a  new  way  for  us  all  to  get  ricl 
and  it  is  to  be  recommended  as  a  popular  panacea  for  poverty.  We  need  only  keejj 
on  piling  up  taxes,  increase  the  protection,  make  the  tanff  altogether  prohibitor3 
place  restrictions  upon  trade  until  profits  are  carried  up  300  or  400  per  cent., 
when  all  trade  has  ceased  everybody's  profits  will  be  increased. 

This  again  is  absurd.  Take  the  article  of  quinine  which  a  few  years  ago  WJ 
sold  under  a  high  duty.  Our  people  paid  $3.50  per  ounce  for  it ;  the  tariff  was  take 
off,  and  did  this  "merchantable  commodity"  go  higher  as  was  predicted?  On  tl 
other  hand  it  retails  at  80  cents  per  ounce.  When  it  was  sold  at  $3.50  per  ounc 
who  paid  it?  The  consumers  among  our  people.  Who  got  the  benefit  of  tl 
protection  on  it?  Only  two  or  three  manufacturers  in  the  United  States.  Wl 
gets  the  benefits  now  of  the  reduction  to  80  cents  per  ounce?  The  questie 
answers  itself. 

Let  us  pursue  this  a  little  further.  To  the  manufacturer  the  protectionist  says^ 
we  give  you  a  protective  tariff,  that  you  may  get  higher  prices  for  your  goods ;  that 
is  the  avowed  object  of  it.  To  the  consumer  of  these  goods — the  farmer,  the- 
lawyer,  the  mechanic,  the  doctor — he  says,  we  will  give  you  a  protective  tariff,  that 
you  may  get  goods  you  buy  of  the  manufacturer  cheaper.  And  to  the  laborer  he 
Bays,  we  give  you  protective  tariff  that  you  may  get  higher  wages  from  the  manu- 
facturer. And  the  people  believe  him  in  each  case.  Let  us  suppose  the  object  o| 
the  protective  tariff  was  to  enable  lawyers  to  charge  larger  fees  for  their  legal  seij 
vices,  and  as  a  lawyer  I  was  to  say  to  my  clients,  you  ought  to  favor  this  law,  fcj 
while  it  enables  me  to  charge  you  lart?er  fees  it  aho  enables  you  to  get  my  servic 
more  cheaply.  Let  the  miller  say  to  his  customers,  you  should  favor  this  lai 
because  it  enables  me  to  take  more  toll  from  you  and  at  the  same  time  gire  yc 
more  meal.  So  with  the  physician.  So  with  the  mechanic  who  builds  your  houa 
This  argument  would  not  work  at  all  in  any  of  these  cases,  but  just  apply  it  to  tl 
manufacturer  and  it  acts  like  a  charm.    It  is  a  wonderful  antidote. 


WHAT  THE   TAX   PAYER  HAS  TO  BEAR. 


To  answer  further  the  contention  that  this  protective  tariff  lessens  the  cost 
living  and  cheapens  goods  to  our  people,  I  will  insert  here  a  table  which  shows  tl 
rate  of  tax  laid  upon  some  of  the  necessaries  of  life  which  enter  into  daily  consumj 
tion  by  every  family  in  the  land,  I  care  not  how  rich  or  poor  they  may  be : 


TAKING   OFF  BURDENS.  633 

TARIFF  ON  CLOTHES  AND  OTHER  ARTICLES. 

cents.  cents. 


Men'ssuitaof  wool— on  every  dollar  you 

invest  in  a  suit  the  tariff  takes 48 

Woolen  hosiery  and  undershirts 75 

Cotton  hosiery  and  undershirts 45 

Woolen  hats  and  caps 75 

Your  wife's  silk  dress,  about 50 

Gloves 60 

Blankets 60 


Pen-Knives 50 

Needles 25 

Steel  pens 45 

Paper GO 

Razors 55 

On  your  carpet,  if  made  of  druggets,  for 

every  dollar 74 

Carpet,  if  made  of  tapestry. 


Alpaca  dresses 63 1  Furniture  (ask  G.  R.  dealers) 35 

Any  other  woolen  dressing 70  Wall  paper 25 

Scissors 45 1  Window  curtains 45 

Brass  pins 30 1  Looking  glass 60 

Hair-pins 45IOrnament8 35 

TARIFF  ON  KITCHBN8. 

cents.  cents. 


On  every  dollar's  worth  of  iron  in  your 

stove  there  is  a  tariff  of    45 

Pots  and  kettles 58 

Copper  and  brass  utensils 45 

Crockery  of  the  commonest  kind 55 

Glassware,  cheapest  kind  45 


Table  cutlery  and  spoons 45 

Pickled  and  salt  fish 25 

Salt 36 

Sugar 48 

Rice 123 

Oranges  and  other  fruit 10 


If  your  woolen  suit  cost  you  $10,  put  it  down  that  $4.80  of  that  cost  is  protective 
tariff  tax,  and  so  with  each  article  named  in  the  table.  So  the  laboring  man,  the 
farmer,  the  lawyer,  the  preacher,  the  physician,  the  mechanic,  everybody,  every 
day,  everywhere  in  our  land  is  paying  this  tribute  under  the  present  tariff  laws.  It 
is  an  insidious  tax.     It  is  an  indirect  tax. 

If  a  tax  collector  of  the  United  States  stood  at  the  store  door  and  levied  and 
collected  the  tax  upon  every  article  set  forth  in  the  preceding  table  at  the  rate 
therein  set  forth,  there  would  be  an  immediate  outcry,  and  the  gentlemen  now  on 
this  floor  who  are  defending  with  their  might  the  present  rate  of  taxation  would 
change  their  position  on  this  question  or  they  would  be  retired  by  the  people  to  the 
shades  of  private  life.  While  this  ia  true,  the  very  people  who  would  rather  fight 
than  pay  such  a  tax  as  I  have  mentioned  to  a  tax-gatherer  at  the  store  door  will 
uncomplainingly  pay  higher  taxes  when  they  are  collected  by  the  storekeeper  in  the 
shape  of  iacreased  prices. 


XVII. 
THE  PAUPER  LABOR  ARGUMENT. 

AN    INSULT    TO    THE   FREE    AND    EFFICIENT    LABOR    WHICH    HAS   BUILT    UP    THIS 
COUNTRY   BY   ITS   HARD   TOIL. 

Bepreamtative  John  E.  Russell^  of  Massachusetts,  May  28. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  "  pauper  labor  "  and^about  the  workingmen  of 
New  England— of  Massachusetts,  for  instance— being  unable  to  com.pete  with  it.  I 
scorn  that  araruraent.  My  people  can  compete  with  the  labor  of  any  part  of  the 
world  if  they  have  a  free  field.  Let  me  give  you  an  instance  in  our  boot  and  shoe 
industry  which  will  prove  that.  A  few  years  ago  one  of  the  great  inventors  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  one  of  the  makers  of  those  magnificent  automatic  machines 
Jhat  play  so  great  a  part  in  the  manufactures  of  our  day,  invented  and  took  out  let- 
ters patent  all  over  the  world  for  sewing  and  heeling  machines  which  turned  out  the 
biandsomest  boots  and  shoes  that  can  be  made.    The  proprietors  of  those  machines 


634  TAKING  OFF  BURDENS. 

did  not  choose  to  sell  them  directly  to  the  pianufacturers;  they  preferred  to  lease 
them,  their  use  being  paid  for  by  a  royalty  upon  each  boot  or  shoe  sewed  on  them, 
the  number  being  indicated  by  a  device  which  registered  it  upon  the  machine  itself. 
After  that  machine  was  started  in  this  country  they  went  over  to  Europe  with 
it  and  introduced  it  into  the  great  boot  and  shoe  manufacturing  establishments  not 
only  of  Great  Britain,  but  also  of  Germany,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  they  were 
very  much  surprised  to  find  that  their  royalties  from  the  machines  in  use  in  England 
reached  only  47  per  cent,  of  what  they  collected  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  They 
were  alarmed  and  suspicious.  They  knew  that  from  the  accurate  construction  of 
the  machine  and  the  certainty  of  its  rei?istering  power  it  could  not  tell  any  lie  about 
its  own  work ;  so  they  sent  over  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  Massachusetts  in  the 
examination  of  patent  matters  to  investigate. 

Il^^,,..Hp.  came  back  and  told  them  that  they  were  getting  an  honest  return  from  the 
foreign  boot  and  shoe  manufacturers,  and  that  the  explanation  was  that  the  best 
labor  of  England  could  not  produce  with  those  machines  more  than  47  per  cent,  of 
the  amount  of  work  thai  was  produced  by  the  Massachusetts  operatives  upon  the 
same  machine.  That  meant  that  the  American  mechanic,  with  his  enterprise  and 
his  ambition,  standing  at  those  machines  worked  more  hours  a  day  at  a  greater  rate 
of  speed  than  did  the  "  pauper  labor,"  as  it  is  called,  of  Great  Britain  ;  it  meant  that 
the  Englishman  quit  work  on  Saturday  afternoon  and  did  not  come  back  to  work 
until  Tuesday  moruing ;  it  meant  that  he  would  not  work  as  many  hours  or  stand 
to  his  work  as  well  as  the  Massachusetts  workman,  and  there  is  the  whole  difference 
between  **  pauper  labor  "  and  free  labor. 

HOW  THE  QUESTION  WAS  FORMERLY  DEALT  WITH. 

Gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  declare  that  the  whole  prosperity  of 
this  country  is  founded  upon  the  tariff  of  47.10  per  cent.,  and,  so  far  as  I  understand 
their  position,  they  will  not  agree  that  one  jot  or  tittle  of  what  they  call  *'  protec- 
tion "  in  that  regard  shall  be  touched  or  taken  away.  That  was  not  the  feeling  of 
our  people  in  old  times,  when  the  cotton  manufacturing  industries  of  Massachusetts 
were  established.  It  was  not  the  feeling  of  the  House  of  Representatives  when  it 
came  to  deal  with  the  question  of  a  great  surplus  in  1856. 

We  were  then  living  under  a  tariff  averaging  28  per  cent.,  the  tariff  of  1846, 
which  was  made  by  the  greatest  financier  that  this  country  had  seen  since  Alexan- 
der Hamilton.  I  mean  Robert  J.  Walker.  He  was  not  from  Arkansas;  he  was  not 
from  Texas ;  he  was  not  from  Kentucky ;  but  he  happened  to  be  from  Mississippi, 
and  yet  the  tariff  which  the  Mississippian  made  brought  prosperity  to  the  country. 
So  we  may  be  permitted  to  hope  that  a  tariff  made  in  part  by  a  Texan  (Mr,  Mills) 
may  produce  the  same  result.  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  1857,  when  the  country  had 
a  large  surplus  and  we  were  living  uuder  a  tariff  of  28  per  cent.,  the  manufacturera 
of  New  England,  and  especially  of  Massachusetts,  came  to  this  House  and  asked 
for  a  reduction  of  the  tariff.  That  reduction  was  21  per  cent.,  and  if  the  gentleman 
from  Maine  will  look  back  at  the  record  of  that  time  he  will  see  nine  members  of 
Congress,  the  whole  delegation  in  this  House,  and  the  two  Senators  voted  with  the_ 
solid  South  to  reduce  that  to  21  per  cent.  I  regret  they  were  not  followed  by  all  " 
New  England. 

In  1871  the  Treasury  showed  pretty  much  the  same  condition  we  have  to-daj 
There  was  a  surplus  of  $100,000,000.  Under  the  administration  of  General  Gral 
the  President  repeatedly  advised  the  reduction  of  the  tariff,  and  no  man  howled  fre 
trade  when  he  made  such  recommendations  to  Congress.  What  did  the  House  do 
that  time  ?  What  did  the  Republican  party  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  Congress  at  tl 
time  do  ?  Did  they  pass  a  bill  in  favor  of  cheap  whiskey  and  cheap  tobacco  ?  D| 
they  pass  a  tariff  taking  off  revenue  taxes  and  leaving  all  the  taxes  on  the  commc 
articles  of  consumption  ?  No,  Mr.  Chairman,  not  a  bit  of  it ;  but  they  passed  a  b^ 
to  reduce  the  tariff,  and  they  did  reduce  the  tariff  under  the  lead  of  another  Mass 
chusetts  man,  Mr.  Dawes,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  wt 
brought  in  a  bill  similar  to  that  which  you  laughed  away  from  the  doors  of  tl 
House  when  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  by  its  chairman, 
Morrison,  a  horizontal  reduction  of  10  per  cent. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR.  635 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 


?HE  MESSAGE  OF  PRESIDENT   CLEVELAND  ON   THE  QUESTION  OF 
RETALIATING  UPON  CANADA. 


To  the  Congress : — The  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  treaty  lately  negotiated 
for  the  settlement  and  adjustment  of  the  differences  existing  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  concerning  the  rights  and  privileges  of  American  fisher- 
men in  the  ports  and  waters  of  British  North  America,  seems  to  justify  a  survey  of 
the  condition  to  which  the  pending  question  is  thus  remitted. 

The  treaty  upon  this  subject  concluded  in  1818,  through  disagreeements  as  to 
the  meaning  of  its  terms,  has  been  a  fruitful  source  of  irritation  and  trouble.  Our 
citizens  engaged  in  fishing  enterprises  in  waters  adjacent  to  Canada,  have  been  sub- 
jected to  numerous  vexatious  interferences  and  annoyances,  their  vessels  have  been 
seized  upon  pretexts  which  appeared  to  be  entirely  inadmissible,  and  they  have 
been  otherwise  treated  by  the  Canadian  authorities  and  officials  in  a  manner  inex- 
cusably harsh  and  oppressive. 

This  conduct  has  been  justified  by  Great  Britain  and  Canada,  by  the  claim  that 
the  treaty  of  1818  permitted  it,  and  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary  to  the 
proper  protection  of  Canadian  interests.  We  deny  that  treaty  agreements  justify 
these  acts,  and  we  further  maintain  that,  aside  from  any  treaty  restraints,  of  disputed 
interpretation,  the  relative  positions  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  as  near  neigh- 
bors, the  growth  of  our  joint  commerce,  the  development  and  prosperity  of  both 
countries,  which  amicable  relations  surely  guarantee,  and  above  all,  the  liberality 
always  extended  by  the  United  States  to  the  people  of  Canada,  furnished  motives 
for  kindness  and  consideration  higher  and  better  than  treaty  covenants. 

While  keenly  sensitive  to  all  that  was  exasperating  in  the  condition,  and  by 
no  means  indisposed  to  support  the  just  complaints  of  our  injured  citizens,  I  still 
deemed  it  my  duty  lor  the  preservation  of  important  American  interests  which  were 
directly  involved,  and  in  view  of  all  the  details  of  the  situation,  to  attempt  by  nego- 
tiation to  remedy  existing  wrongs  and  to  finally  terminate,  by  a  fair  and  just  treaty, 
these  ever  recurring  causes  of  difficulty. 

I  fully  believe  that  the  treaty  just  rejected  by  the  Senate  was  well  suited  to  the 
sxigency,  and  that  its  provisions  were  adequate  for  our  security  in  the  future  from 
vexatious  incidents  and  for  the  promotion  of  friendly  neighborhood  and  intimacy, 
without  sacrificing  in  the  least  our  national  pride  or  dignity. 

I  am  quite  conscious  that  neither  my  opinion  of  the  value  of  the  rejected  treaty 
lor  the  motives  which  prompted  its  negotiation,  are  of  importance  in  the  light  of  the 
udgment  of  the  Senate  thereupon.  But  it  is  of  importance  to  note  that  this  treaty 
las  been  rejected  without  any  apparent  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  to  alter 
)r  amend  its  provisions,  and  witli  the  evident  intention,  not  wanting  expression, 
'hat  no  negotiation  should  at  present  be  concluded  touching  the  matter  at  issue. 


936^  THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 

The  co-operation  necessary  for  the  adjustment  of  the  long-standing  nationa 
differences  with  which  we  have  to  deal,  by  methods  of  conference  and  agreement 
having  thus  been  declined,  I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  abandon  the  interests  an( 
the  rights  of  our  people  in  the  premises,  or  to  neglect  their  grievances ;  and  I  there 
fore  turn  to  the  contemplation  of  a  plan  of  retaliation  as  a  mode,  which  still  remainj 
of  treating  the  situation. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  gravity  of  the  responsibility  assumed  in  adoptinj 
this  line  of  conduct,  nor  do  I  fail  in  the  least  to  appreciate  its  serious  consequences 
It  will  be  impossible  to  injure  our  Canadian  neighbors  by  retaliatory  measures  with 
out  inflicting  some  damage  upon  our  own  citizens.  This  results  from  our  proximity 
our  community  of  interests,  and  the  inevitable  commingling  of  the  business  enter 
prises  which  have  been  developed  by  mutual  activity. 

Plainly  stated,  the  policy  of  national  retaliation  manifestly  embraces  the  inflic 
tion  of  the  greatest  harm  upon  those  who  have  injured  us,  with  the  least  possibl 
damage  to  ourselves.  There  is  also  an  evident  propriety  as  well  as  an  invitation  t 
moral  support,  found  in  visiting  upon  the  offending  party  the  same  measure  or  kin 
of  treatment  of  which  we  complain,  and  as  far  as  possible  within  the  same  linei 
And  above  all  things  the  plan  of  retaliation,  if  entered  upon,  should  be  thorough  an 
vigorous. 

CONGRESS  APPEALED  TO  FOR  ADDITIONAL  POWER. 

These  considerations  lead  me  at  this  time  to  invoke  the  aid  and  counsel  of  tl 
Congress  and  its  support  in  such  a  further  grant  of  power  as  seems  to  me  necessa 
and  desirable  to  render  effective  the  policy  I  have  indicated. 

The  Congress  has  already  passed  a  law,  which  received  Executive  assent  on  th 
third  day  of  March,  1887,  providing  that  in  case  American  fishing  vessels  being  6 
visiting  in  the  waters,  or  at  any  of  the  ports  of  the  British  Dominions  of  Nor  ' 
America,  should  be,  or  lately  have  been,  deprived  of  the  rights  to  which  they  wer 
entitled  by  treaty  or  law,  or  if  they  were  denied  certain  other  privileges  therein 
specified,  or  vexed  and  harassed  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  same,  the  President  might 
deny  to  vessels  and  their  masters  and  crews  ot  the  British  Dominions  of  North  Amer- 
ica any  entrance  into  the  waters,  ports  or  harbors  of  the  United  States,  and  also  deny 
entry  into  any  port  or  place  of  the  United  States  of  any  product  of  said  Dominions, 
or  other  goods  coming  from  said  Dominion  to  the  United  States. 

While  I  shall  not  hesitate  upon  proper  occasion  to  enforce  this  act,  it  would 
seem  to  be  unnecessary  to  suggest  that,  if  such  enforcement  is  limited  in  such  a 
manner  as  shall  result  in  the  least  possible  injury  to  our  own  people,  the  effect 
would  probably  be  entirely  inadequate  to  tlie  accomplishment  of  the  purpose 
desired. 

I  deem  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  certain  par- 
ticulars in  the  action  of  the  authorities  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  in  addition  to 
the  general  allegations  already  made,  which  appear  to  be  in  such  marked  contrast 
to  the  liberal  and  friendly  disposition  of  our  country  as  in  my  opinion  to  call  for  such 
legislation  as  will,  upon  the  principles  already  stated,  properly  supplement  the 
power  to  inaugurate  retaliation  already  vested  in  the  Executive. 

Actuated  by  the  generous  and  neighborly  spirit  which  has  characterized  our 
legislation,  our  tariff  laws  have  since  1866  been  so  far  waived  in  favor  of  Canada  as 
to  allow  free  of  duty  the  transit  across  the  territory  of  the  United  States  of  property 
arriving  at  our  ports  and  destined  to  Canada,  or  exported  from  Canada  to  other 
foreign  countries. 

When  the  treaty  of  Washington  was  negotiated  in  1871  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  having  for  its  object  very  largely  the  modification^  of  the 
treaty  of  1818,  the  privileges  above  referred  to  were  made  reciprocal  and  given  in 
return  by  Canada  to  the  United  States  in  the  following  language,  contained  in  the 
twenty-ninth  article  of  said  treaty : 

"It  is  agreed  that,  for  the  term  of  years  mentioned  in  article  thirty-three  of  this  treaty* 
goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  arriving  at  the  ports  of  New  York,  Boston  and  Portland,  and 
any  other  ports  in  the  United  States  which  have  been  or  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  spe- 
cially designated  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  destined  for  Her  Britannic 
Majesty's  Possessions  in  North  America,  may  be  entered  at  the  proper  custom-house  and 
conveyed  in  transit,  without  the  payment  of  duties,  through  the  territory  of  tho  United 


THE  PROTECTION  OP  NATIONAL  HONOR.  637 

States,  under  such  rules,  regulations  and  conditions  for  the  protection  of  the  revenue  as 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  may  from  time  to  time  prescribe  ;  and  under  like 
rules,  regulations,  and  conditions,  goods,  wares  or  merchandise  may  be  conveyed  in  transit^, 
without  the  payment  of  duties  from  such  Possessions  through  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  for  export  from  the  said  ports  of  the  United  States. 

"It  is  further  agreed  that,  for  the  like  period,  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  arriving  at 
any  of  the  ports  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Possessions  in  North  America,  and  destined 
for  the  United  States,  may  be  entered  at  the  proper  custom-house  and  conveyed  In  transit 
without  the  payment  of  duties,  through  the  said  Possessions,  under  such  rules  and  regula- 
tions and  conditions  for  the  protection  of  the  revenue  as  the  Governments  of  the  said  Pos- 
sessions may  from  time  to  time  prescribe ;  and,  under  like  rules,  and  regulations,  and  con- 
ditions, goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  may  be  conveyed  In  transit,  without  payment  of 
duties,  from  the  United  States  through  tbe  said  Possessions  to  other  places  in  the  United 
States,  or  for  export  from  ports  in  the  said  Possessions." ' 

SUSPENDTNO  THE  RIGHT  OP  TRANSIT. 

In  the  year  1886  notice  was  received  by  the  representatives  of  our  Government 
that  our  fishermen  would  no  longer  be  allowed  to  ship  their  fish  in  bond  and  free  of 
duty  through  Canadian  territory  to  this  country ;  and  ever  since  that  time  such  ship- 
ment has  been  denied. 

The  privilege  of  such  shipment  which  had  been  extended  to  our  fishermen,  was 
a  most  important  one,  allowing  them  to  spend  the  time  upon  the  fishing-grounds 
which  would  otherwise  be  devoted  to  a  voyage  home  with  their  catch,  and  doubling^ 
their  opportunities  for  profitably  prosecuting  their  vocation. 

In  forbidding  the  transit  of  the  catch  of  our  fishermen  over  their  territory  in 
bond  and  free  of  duty,  the  Canadian  authorities  deprived  us  of  the  only  facility 
dependent  upon  their  concession,  and  for  which  we  could  supply  no  substitute. 

The  value  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  of  the  privilege  of  transit  for  their  exports 
and  imports  across  our  territory,  and  to  and  from  our  ports,  though  great  in  every 
respect,  will  be  better  appreciated  when  it  is  remembered  that,  for  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  each  year,  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  which  constitutes  the  direct  avenue  of 
foreign  commerce  leading  to  Canada,  is  closed  by  ice. 

During  the  last  six  years  the  imports  and  exports  of  British  Canadian  Provinces 
carried  across  our  territory  under  the  privileges  granted  by  our  laws,  amounted  in 
value  to  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  millions  of  dollars,  nearly  all  of  which 
were  goods  dutiable  under  our  tarifl"  laws^  by  far  the  larger  part  of  this  traffic  con- 
sisting of  exchanges  ol  goods  between  Great  Britain  and  her  American  provinces, 
brought  to  and  carried  from  our  ports  in  their  own  vessels. 

The  treaty  stipulation  entered  into  by  our  government  was  in  harmony  with 
laws  which  were  then  on  our  statute-book,  and  are  still  in  force. 

1  recommend  immediate  legislative  action  conferring  upon  the  Executive  the- 
power  to  suspend  by  proclamation  the  operation  of  all  laws  and  regulations  permit- 
ting the  transit  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  in  bond  across  or  over  the  territory 
of  the  United  States  to  or  from  Canada. 

There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  suspending  these  laws  arising  from  the  supposi- 
tion that  their  continuation  is  secured  by  treaty  obligations,  for  it  seems  quite  plaia 
that  article  twenty- nine  of  the  treaty  of  1871,  which  was  the  only  article  incorpo- 
rating such  laws,  terminated  the  first  day  of  July,  1885. 

The  article  itself  declares  that  its  provisions  shall  be  in  force  "for  the  term  of 
j^ears  mentioned  in  article  thirty-three  of  this  treaty."  Turning  to  article  thirty - 
■.hree  we  find  no  mention  of  the  twenty-ninth  article,  but  only  a  provision  that  arti- 
jles  eighteen  to  twenty-five,  inclusive,  and  article  thirty  shall  take  effect  as  soon  as 
■he  laws  required  to  carry  them  into  operation  shall  be  passed  by  the  legislative 
)odies  of  the  difl'erent  countries  concerned,  and  that  "they  shall  remain  in  force  for 
he  period  of  ten  years  from  the  date  at  which  they  may  come  into  operation,  and 
urther  until  the  expiration  of  two  years  after  either  of  the  high  contracting  parties 
hall  have  given  notice  to  the  other  of  its  wish  to  terminate  the  same." 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  "term  of  years  mentioned  in  article  thirty-three," 
eferred  to  in  article  twenty- nine  as  the  limit  of  its  duration,  means  the  period  during 
yhich  articles  eighteen  to  twenty -five,  inclusive,  and  article  thirty,  commonly  called 
he  "fishery  articles,"  should  continue  in  force  under  the  language  of  said  article 
liirty- three. 


h 


«38  THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 

That  the  Joint  High  Commissioners  who  negotiated  the  treaty  so  understood 
and  intended  the  phrase,  is  certain,  for  in  a  statement  containing  an  account  of  their 
negotiations,  prepared  under  their  supervision  and  approved  by  them,  we  find  the 
•following  entry  on  the  subject : 

"The  transit  question  was  discussed,  and  it  was  agreed  that  any  settlement  that  might 
be  made  should  include  a  reciprocal  arrangement  in  that  respect  for  the  period  for  which 
the  fishery  articles  should  be  in  force." 

In  addition  to  this  very  satisfactory  evidence  supporting  this  construction  of 
the  language  of  article  twenty-nine,  it  will  be  found  that  the  law  passed  by  Congress 
^o  carry  the  treaty  into  effect  furnishes  conclusive  proof  of  the  correctness  of  such 
•construction. 

THE   UNDOUBTED  RIGHT  OP   THE    UNITED   STATES  TO   TAKE   THIS  ACTION. 

This  law  was  passed  March  1, 1873,  and  is  entitled  "An  act  to  carry  into  effect 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  signed  in 
the  city  of  Washington  the  eighth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one, 
relating  to  the  fisheries."  After  providing  in  its  first  and  second  sections  for  put- 
ting in  operation  articles  eighteen  to  twenty- five,  inclusive,  and  article  thirty  of  the 
treaty,  the  third  section  is  devoted  to  article  twenty-nine  as  follows : 

"Section  3.  Tbat  from  the  date  of  the  President's  proclamation  authorized  by  the 
•first  section  of  this  act,  and  so  long  as  the  articles  eighteenth  to  twenty-fifth,  inclusive,  and 
articlf  thirtieth  of  said  treaty  shall  remain  in  force  according  to  the  terms  and  conditions 
of  article  thirty-third  of  said  treaty,  all  goods,  wares  and  merchandise  arriving,  etc.,  etc."— 

following  in  the  remainder  of  the  section  the  precise  words  of  the  stipulation  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States  as  contained  in  article  twenty-nine,  which  I  have 
already  fully  quoted. 

Here,  then,  is  a  distinct  enactment  of  the  Congress  limiting  the  duration  of 
this  article  of  the  treaty  to  the  time  that  articles  eighteen  to  twenty-five,  inclusive, 
and  article  thirty,  should  continue  in  force.  That  in  fixing  such  limitation  it  but 
gave  the  meaning  of  the  treaty  itself,  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  its  purpose  is 
declared  to  be  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  and  by  the  further 
fact  that  this  law  appears  to  have  been  submitted  before  the  promulgation  of  the 
treaty  to  certain  members  of  the  Joint  High  Commission  representing  both  countries, 
and  met  with  no  objection  or  dissent. 

There  appearing  to  be  no  conflict  or  iuconsistency  between  the  treaty  and 
the  act  of  the  Congress  last  cited,  it  is  not  necessary  to  invoke  the  well -settled 
principle  that  in  such  conflict  the  statute  governs  the  question. 

In  any  event,  and  whether  the  law  of  1873  construes  the  treaty  or  governs  it, 
section  twenty -nine  of  such  treaty,  I  have  no  doubt,  terminated  with  the  proceedings 
taken  by  our  Government  to  terminate  articles  eighteen  to  twenty-five,  inclusive, 
and  article  thirty  of  the  treaty.  These  proceedings  had  their  inception  in  a  joint 
resolution  of  Congress  passed  May  3, 1883,  declaring  that  in  the  judgment  of  Con- 
gress these  articles  ought  to  be  terminated,  and  directing  the  President  to  give  the 
notice  to  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  provided  for  in  article  thirty-throe  of  tlM 
treaty.  Such  notice  having  been  given  two  years  prior  to  the  first  day  of  Ju^ 
1885,  the  articles  mentioned  were  absolutely  terminated  on  the  last-named  dt 
and  with  them  article  twenty-nine  was  also  terminated. 

If  by  any  language  used  in  the  joint  resolution  it  was  intended  to  reli( 
section  three  of  the  act  of  1873  embodying  article  twenty-nine  of  the  treaty  frc 
its  own  limitations,  or  to  save  the  article  itself,  I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  the  int 
tion  miscarried. 

But  statutes  granting  to  the  people  of  Canada  the  valuable  privileges  of  trans 
for  their  goods  from  our  ports  and  over  our  soil,  which  had  been  passed  prior  to 
the  making  of  the  treaty  of  1871  and  independently  of  it,  remained  in  force ;  and 
ever  since  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty,  and  notwithstanding  the  refusal  of  Canada 
to  permit  our  fishermen  to  send  their  fish  to  their  home  market  through  her  terr^ 
tory  in  bond,  the  people  of  that  Dominion  have  enjoyed  without  diminution 
•advantages  of  our  liberal  and  generous  laws. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR.  639 

THE  PRINCIPLES  UPON  WHICH  RETALIATION  IS  BASED. 

Without  basing  our  complaint  upon  a  violation  of  treaty  obligations,  it  ia 
nevertheless  true  that  such  refusal  of  transit  and  the  other  injurious  acts  'which 
have  been  recited  constitute  a  provoking  insistance  upon  the  rights  neither  mitigated 
by  the  amenities  of  national  intercourse  nor  modified  by  the  recognition  of  our 
liberality  and  generous  considerations. 

The  history  of  events  connected  with  this  subject  makes  it  manifest  that  th& 
Canadian  Government  can,  if  so  disposed,  administer  its  laws  and  piotect  the  inter- 
ests of  its  people  without  manifestation  of  unfriendliness,  and  without  the 
unneighborly  treatment  of  our  fishing  vessels  of  which  we  have  justly  complained  • 
and  whatever  is  done  on  our  part  should  be  done  in  the  hope  that  the  disposition 
of  the  Canadian  Government  may  remove  the  occasion  of  a  resort  to  the  additional 
Executive  power  now  sought  through  legislative  action. 

I  am  satisfied  that  upon  the  principles  which  should  govern  retaliation  our 
intercourse  and  relations  with  the  Dominion  of  Canada  furnish  no  better  oppor- 
tunity for  its  application  than  is  suggested  by  the  conditions  herein  presented ;  and 
that  it  could  not  be  more  efl'ectively  inaugurated  than  under  the  power  of  suspen- 
sion recommended. 

While  I  have  expressed  my  clear  conviction  upon  the  question  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  section  twenty -nine  of  the  treaty  of  1871, 1  of  course  fully  concede  the 
power  and  the  duty  of  the  Congress,  in  contemplating  legislative  action,  to  construe 
the  terms  of  any  treaty  stipulation  which  might,  upon  any  possible  consideration 
of  good  faith,  limit  such  action ;  and  likewise  the  peculiar  propriety  in  the  case 
here  presented  of  its  interpretation  of  its  own  language  as  contained  in  the  laws 
of  1873  putting  in  operation  said  treaty,  and  of  1883  directing  the  termination 
thereof;  and  if  in  the  deliberate  judgment  of  Congress  any  restraint  to  the  proposed 
legislation  exists,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  expediency  of  its  early  removal  will 
be  recognized. 

THE  NAVIGATION  OF  THE  GREAT  LAKES. 

I  desire,  also,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  another  subject  involving^ 
such  wrongs  and  unfair  treatment  to  our  citizens  as,  in  my  opinion,  require  prompt 
action. 

The  navigation  of  the  great  lakes,  and  the  immense  business  and  carrying  trade 
growing  out  of  the  same,  have  been  treated  broadly  and  liberally  by  the  United 
States  Government,  and  made  free  to  all  mankind,  while  Canadian  railroads  and 
navigation  companies  share  in  our  country's  transportation  upon  terms  as  favorable 
as  are  accorded  to  our  own  citizens. 

The  canals  and  other  public  works  built  and  maintained  by  the  Government 
along  the  line  of  the  lakes  are  made  free  to  all. 

In  contrast  to  this  condition,  and  evincing  a  narrow  and  ungenerous  commer- 
cial spirit,  every  lock  and  canal  which  is  a  public  work  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
is  subject  to  tolls  and  charges. 

By  article  twenty- seven  of  the  treaty  of  1871  provision  was  made  to  secure  to 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  the  use  of  the  Welland,  St.  Lawrence,  and  other 
canals  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  on  terms  of  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Dominion,  and  to  also  secure  to  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  the  use  of  the  St. 
Clair  Flats  Canal  on  terms  of  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 

The  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Dominion  which  we  were  promised 
in  the  use  of  the  canals  of  Canada  did  not  secure  to  us  freedom  from  tolls  in  their 
navigation,  but  we  had  a  right  to  expect  that  we,  being  Americans  and  interested  in 
American  commerce,  would  be  no  more  burdened  in  regard  to  the  same  than  Cana- 
dians engaged  in  their  own  trade;  and  the  whole  spirit  of  the  concession  made  was, 
or  should  have  been,  that  merchandise  and  property  transported  to  an  American 
market  through  these  canals  should  not  be  enhanced  in  its  cost  by  tolls  many  times 
higher  than  such  as  were  carried  to  an  adjoining  Canadian  market.  All  our  citizens, 
producers  and  consumers,  as  well  as  vessel-owners,  were  to  enjoy  the  equality 
romised. 


640 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 


And  yet  evidence  has  for  some  time  been  before  the  Congress,  furnished  by  the ' 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  showing  that  while  the  tolls  charged  in  the  first  instance 
are  the  same  to  all,  such  vessels  and  cargoes  as  are  destined  to  certain  Canadian 
ports  are  allowed  a  refund  of  nearly  the  entire  tolls,  while  those  bound  for  Ameri- 
can ports  are  not  allowed  any  such  advantage. 

To  promise  equality,  and  then  in  practice  make  it  conditional  upon  our  vessels 
doing  Canadian  business  instead  of  their  own,  is  to  fulfill  a  promise  with  the  shadow 
of  performance. 


A   GOVERNMENT  MUST  PROTECT  ITS  OWN  CITIZENS. 

I  recommend  that  such  legislative  action  be  taken  as  will  give  Canadian  vessels 
navigating  our  canals,  and  their  cargoes,  precisely  the  advantages  granted  to  our 
vessels  and  cargoes  upon  Canadian  canals,  and  that  the  same  be  measured  by  exactly 
the  same  rule  of  discrimination. 

The  course  which  I  have  outlined  and  the  recommendations  made  relate  to  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  our  country  and  the  protection  and  preservation  of  the  rights 
and  interests  of  all  our  people.  A  government  does  but  half  its  duty  when  it  pro- 
tects its  citizens  at  home  and  permits  them  to  be  imposed  upon  and  humiliated  by 
the  unfair  and  over-reaching  disposition  of  other  nations.  If  we  invite  our  people 
to  rely  upon  arrangements  made  for  their  benefit  abroad,  we  should  see  to  it  that 
they  are  not  deceived ;  and  if  we  are  generous  and  liberal  to  a  neighboring  country 
our  people  should  reap  the  advantage  of  it  by  a  return  of  liberality  and  generosity. 

These  are  subjects  which  partisanship  should  not  disturb  or  confuse.  Let  us 
survey  the  ground  calmly  and  moderately,  and  having  put  aside  other  means  of 
settlement,  if  we  enter  upon  the  policy  of  retaliation  let  us  pursue  it  firmly,  with  a 
determination  only  to  subserve  the  interests  of  our  people  and  maintain  the  high 
standard  and  the  becoming  pride  of  American  citizenship. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Executive  Mansion, 

August  33, 1888. 


politic:rl  tables. 


642 


POLITICAL  TABLES. 


PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Name. 


George  Washington.. 
George  Washington. 

John  Adams 

Thomas  Jefferson  — 

Thomas  Jefferson 

James  Madison 

James  Madison 

James  Monroe 

James  Monroe 

John  Quincy  Adams. 

Andrew  Jackson 

Andrew  Jackson 

Martin  Van  Buren.... 

Wm.  H.  Harrison* 

John  Tyior 

James  K.Polk 

Zachary  Taylor* 

Millard  Fillmore 

Franklin  Pierce 

James  Buchanan 

Abraham  Lincoln 

Abraham  Lincoln*.... 

Andrew  Johnson 

Ulysses  S.  Grant 

Ulysses  S.  Grant 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes. 
James  A-  Garfield*  — 

Chester  A.  Arthur 

Grover  Cleveland 


1      QUAT.TriED. 

Born. 

Died. 

April  30,  1789  { 
March  4,  1793  f 

Feb.   22,  1732 

Dec.    14,  1799 

March  4,  1797 

Oct.    19,  1735 

July     4,  1826 

March  4,  1801 1 
March  4,  1805  f 

April    2,  1743 

July     4,  1836 

March  4,  1809 ) 
March  4,  1813  f 

March  5,  1751 

June   28,  1836 

March  4,  1817  ( 
March  5,  1821  f 

April  28,  1758 

July     4,  1831 

March  4,  1835 

July   11,  1767 

Feb.    23,  1848 

March  4,  1839 ! 
March  4,  1833  f 

Mar.   15,  1767 

June     8,  1845 

March  4,  1837 

Dec.     5,  1783 

July    24,  1863 

March  4,  1841 

Feb.     9,  1773 

April    4,  1841 

April    6,  1841 

Mar.   29.  1790 

Jan.     17,  18«2 

March  4,  1845 

Nov.     2,  1795 

June  15,  1849 

March  5,  1849 

Nov.  24,  1784 

July      9,  1850 

July      9,  1850 

Jan.      7,  1800 

March  8,  1874 

March  4,  1853 

Nov.  23,  1804 

Oct.       8,  18t)9 

March  4,  1857 

April  22,  1791 

June     1,  1868 

March  4,  1861 ) 
March  4,  1865  t 

Feb.    13,  1809 

April  15,  1865 

April  15,  1865 

Dec.    29,  1808 

July    30,  1875 

March  4,  1869  I 
March  4,  1873  f" 

April  27,  1822 

July    23,  1885 

March  5,  1877 

Oct.      4,  1822 

March  4,  1881 

Nov.  19,  1831 

Sept.  19,  1881 

Sep't  28,  1881 

Oct.      5,  1830 

June  18,  1886 

March  4,  1885 

Mar.   18,  1837 

♦Died  in  office. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Born.  DibbI 


Name. 


QUAIilFIED. 


John  Adams 

John  Adams 

Thomas  Jefferson  .... 

Aaron  Burr 

George  Clinton 

George  Clinton* 

Blbridge  Gerry* 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins.. 
Daniel  D.Tompkins.. 

John  C.  Calhoun 

John  C.  Calhoun? 

Martin  Van  Buren — 
Richard  M.Johnson.. 

John  Tyler§ 

George  M.  Dallas 

Millard  Fillmoro§ 

William  R.  King" 

John  C.  Breckenridge 

Hannibal  Hamlin 

Andrew  Johnson§  .... 

Schuyler  Colfax 

Henry  Wilson* 

William  A.  Wheel«r.. 
Chester  A.  Arthurg. . . 


June  3, 
Dec.  2, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  5, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  4, 
March  5, 
March  4, 


17891 

17931 

1797 

1801 

1806  > 

1809$ 

1813 

1817) 

183,5  f 

18-^5  ( 

1839  f 

1833 

1837 

1841 

1845 

1849 

1853 

18(57 

1861 

1886 

1869 

1873 

1877 

1861 


17a5 

1743 

1756 

1739 
1744 
1744 

1783 

1783 
1780 
1790 
1793 
1800 
1786 

I8ai 

1809 
1808 
1833 
1812 
1819 


1836 
1813 
1814 


1850 

1863 

18-« 

IS'- 

]b< 

18t>J 
1859 


1875 
1886 
1875 
1887 


*Died  la  office.    TReslenaed  the  Vice-Presidency.    §Beoame  President. 


POLITICAL  TABLES. 


643 


CONGKESSIONAL  REPRESENTATION  OF  THE  STATES. 

1.   Ratio  of  Repbesentatives  and  PopuIjAtion. 

By  Constitution  1789 One  to  30  000 

"    First  Census,  from  March  4th,  1793 "   33000 

"    Second    "        '    1803 u   33'oQQ 

"    Third       "         "          "         "    1813 »    35'ooo 

"    Fourth    "         "          "         »    1823 "    ^oloOO 

''    Fifth       "         ' 1833 "    4770Q 

"    Sixth        "         "           "         ''    1843 -    70,680 

"    Seventh"        "          "        "    1853  »•    93433 

"    Eighth     "         "          "         "    1863 "127  381 

"    Ninth      "         "           "         "    1873 "  13l'425 

"    Tenth '    1883 ^^15^3^ 


^H         II.   Repbesentatives  from  Each  State  Under  Each  Census 

. 

States. 

Hi 

if 

0 

^1 

4 

6 

si 

a 

°l 

4 
1 
8 
6 
10 

1 

34 

9 
24 

3 

7 
15 
10 

4 
11 
31 

7 

7 
10 

4 

7 

4 

5 

1 

8 

eg 

0 

6 

0 

if 

5 
1 
3 

6 
8 
3 

4 
6 
5 

8 
1 
5 
10 

7 
1 

8 

14 

4 

5 

10 

10 

13 

2 

6 

19 

2 

2 

7 
1 
4 
9 

17 
5 

1? 

13 

'1 

8 

7 
2 

6 
9 

20 

6 

6 

27 

13 

23 

2 

9 

23 

10 

6 

6 

6 

1 

7 

9 

13 

6 

6 

34 

13 

26 

3 

9 

23 

12 

5 

9 

14 

3 

1 

3 

3 

7 

1 

1 

6 
1 
9 

8 

1 

6 

40 

13 

28 

2 

9 

21 

13 

5 

13 

19 

5 

3 

7 

3 

8 

2 

2 

4 
1 
8 
6 

11 
3 
5 

33 
8 

25 

I 

13 

10 

3 

10 

21 

7 

9 

11 

4 

6 

5 

7 

2 

4 

1 
2 
3 

1 
2 
3 

4 
1 
7 
5 
10 
3 

8? 

4 

2 
4 

11 
9 
3 
8 

19 
6 

14 

11 
5 
5 
5 
9 
3 
6 
3 
1 
6 
2 
1 
4 
6 
1 
1 
1 

4 

1 
9 

6 
11 
3 

7 
33 
8 
27 
2 
5 
9 
10 
3 
10 
20 
8 
19 
13 
6 
5 
6 
13 
4 
9 
4 
3 
9 
3 
1 
6 
8 
3 
1 
1 
1 
3 

4 

1 
10 

6 
12 

3 

9 
28 

2 

7 
10 
11 

2 
10 
21 

8 
30 
13 

J 

reorjria 

laryland 

Ifissachusetts ............ 

Few  Hampshire 

Tew  Jersey ••• 

Few  York 

Forth  Carolina 

ennsylvania  .••..••••••>• 

ihode  Island 

3uth  Carolina • 

irffinia 

ennessee 

hio 

lat)ama  ......•■ 

llnois 

:;;:;;::: 

idiana ....... 





nnisinnn. 

g^ing , 

ississinoi 

7 

14 
5 

11 
6 
3 

11 
S 
1 

11 
9 
7 
3 
1 
1 
4 

ilif  ornia 

** 

*' 

3vada  . .  • .  •  •  .  .    . 

'lorado ......   .         . 

est  Vircinia    .  . 

Whole  number 

^ --L^ — 

65 

105 

141 

181 

213    1  240 

223 

237 

243 

293 

325 

L 


644 


POLITICAL  TABLES. 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL   ELECTION. 

The  Presidential  election  will  take  place  on  Tuesday,  November  6, 1888.  The  Oonstitu 
tion  prescribes  that  each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereo 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  Congress.  For  the  election  this  year  the  elector 
by  States  will  be  as  follows : 


States.  Electoral 

Vote. 

Alabama 10 

Arkansas 7 

California 8 

Colorado 3 

Connecticut 6 

Delaware 3 

Florida 4 

Georgia 12 

Illinois 22 

Indiana ■ 15 

Iowa 13 


Kentuclcy 18 

Louisiana 8 

Maine 6 

Maryland 8 

Massachusetts 14 

Michigan 13 

Minnesota 7 

Mississippi 9 

Necessary  to 


States.  Electora 

Vote. 

Missouri i 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hamphire 

New  Jersey 

New  York g 

North  Carolina l 

Ohio  2 

Oregon , 

Pennsylvania 8 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee ] 

Texas j 

Vermont 

Virginia ] 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin , 

Total 

a  choice,  20L 


I 


POLITICAL  TABLES. 


POPUIiAB  VOTB  FOB  PRESIDENT,  1884, 


645 


A  table  showing  the  vote  by  States  for  each  of  the  four  leading  candidates  for  PresI- 
ent,  the  plurality  received,  the  aggregate  vote  cast. 


entucky 
3uisiana. 
aine 
aryland 
assachusetts 
ichigan 
Innesota 
ippi 
issouri 
abraska, 

3vada  

3W  Hampshire 
3W  Jersey 
iw  York. 
)rth  Carolina 

lio  

egon 

tnnsylvania 
lode  Island 
uth  Carolina. 


xas 

irmont 

rginla , 

38t  "Virginia 
sconsin 


'otal I   4,911,017i   4,848,334 

iveland's  plurality.. 

fcent I         48.871         48.35 

ittering ! ! 


*In  these  three  States,  Iowa,  Michigan  and  Nebraska,  there  was  a  "  fusion  "  of  the 
nocratic  and  the  National  Greenback  parties  on  one  Electoral  ticket. 

tin  Missouri  and  West  Virginia  there  was  a  "fusion"  of  the  Republicans  and  the 
■Jonal  Greenback  parties  on  one  Electoral  ticket. 

The  blank  and  scattering  votes  reported  were:  Connecticut,  6;  Georgia,  895;  Kansas, 
Louisiana,  458;  Michigan,  4,384;  Nebraska,  47;  New  Haaipshire,6;  New  Jersey,  784  New 
k.  4,360;  Oregon,  50;  Texas,  13;  Vermont,  37;  West  Virginia,  3;  Wisconsin,  73.    Total, 


646 


POLITICAL  TABLES. 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTOBAIi  VOTES  FOR  PRESIDENT,  1860-1884. 


CQ 

6 
525 

B 

Political 
Party. 

Presidents.                   ] 

Vice-Presidents. 

k 

o 

> 

1 

Candidates. 

Vote.        | 

J2   . 

1 

Popular. 

1 

i 

Candidates.        ^ 

I860 

33 

♦36 

t37 

37 

38 

88 
88 

814 

369 

869 
400 

Republican 

Democratic 

Cons.  Union.... 

Ind.Dem 

Republican 

Democratic 

iRepublican 

Democratic 

Republican 

iDem.  and  Lib... 

Democratic 

Temperance .... 

Abraham  Lincoln... . 
J.  C.  Breckinridge... 
John  Bell 

17 
11 
3 
3 

1 

11 

26 
8 
3 

31 

1,866,352 
845,763 

180 

72 

Hannibal  HamUn... 

18( 
75 
3J 
li 

2U 
2] 
8^ 

21' 
8( 
Z. 

28) 
4 

589,581!    39 
1,375,1571    13 
3,216,067  213 
1,808,735     21 

81 

3,015,071  214 
2,709,613!    80 

1    23 

3,597,070!  286 
2,834,079;.... 
29,408.... 
5  608' 

Edward  Everett 

H.V.Johnson 

Andrew  Johnson.... 
G.H.Pendleton 

1864 

S.A.Douglas 

Abraham  Lincoln.. . . 
Geo.B.  McClellan... 

Vacancies 

Ulysses  S.  Grant.... 
Horatio  Seymour... . 

Vacancies 

1868 

Schuyler  Colfax 

F.P.Blair,  Jr 

187?. 

Ulysses  S.Grant 

Horace  Greely 

Charles  O'Connor... 
James  Black 

B.  Gratz  Brown 

Geo.W.  Julian 

A  H  Colouitt    .  .. 

Thos.  A.  Hendricks.. 
B  Gratz  Brown 

43 

18 

2 

1 

John  M    Palmer. . . 

T*    "R    Bmmlfiftfl    ... 

Charles  J.  Jenkins.. 
David  Davis 

W  S  Groesbeok. 

' ' 

"Willi«  Tl    \fnoVipn. 

' ' 

N   P  Banks 

1 



Not  Counted 

17 

1876 

jRepubUcan 

Democratic 

IGreenback 

iProhibition 

Rutherford  B.Hayes 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.... 

21 
17 

4,033,950 

4,284,885 

81,740 

9,522 

3,636 

4,449,053 

4,442.035 

307,306 

13.576 

4,911,017 

4,848,334 

151,809 

133  825 

185 
184 

Wm.  A,  Wheeler.... 
Thos.  A.  Hendricks. 

181 
1& 

Green  Clay  Smith... 
Scattering 

•• 

' 

1880 

iRepublican 

jDemocratic 

Greenback 

James  A.  Garfield... 
Winfleld  S.  Hancock 
James  B.  Weaver... 

19 
19 

314 

Chester  A.  Arthur. . . 

Wm.H.  English 

B.J.  Chambers 

21 
151 

1884 

iDemocratic 

Republican 

IProhibition 

iRrefinhnnTr 

Grover  Cleveland... . 

James  G.Blaine 

John  P.  St.  John.... 
Benj  F.  Butler 

20 
18 

219 
182 

.... 

iThos.  A.  Hendricks. 

John  A.  Logan 

William  Daniel 

A  M  West 

21 

18! 

'  

Scattering 

11,362'.... 

..• 

MiB 

♦El 
Bissi 
tTh 

ever 
PPi, 
ree 

I  States  did  not  a 
North  Carolina, : 
States  did  not  vo 

?^ote,  viz.:   Alabama, 
Dennessee,  Texas  and 
to,  viz. :  Mississippi,  1 

A 

rkansas, 
'irglnia. 
cas  and  V 

Plor 
Irgir 

Ida,  Georgia,  Louis 
lia. 

PRINCIPAL  OFFICERS  OF  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  647 


RINCIPAL  OFFICERS  OF  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 


RESiDJENT  OF  THE  United  States,       .       .       .       GROVER  CLEVELAND,  of  New  York. 
RivATE  Secretary, Daniel  S.  Lamont,  of  New  York. 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CABINET. 

cretary  of  State Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware. 

icretary  of  the  Treasury Charles  8.  FAiRCHiiiD,  of  New  York. 

'cretary  of  War,        .....        William  C.  Endicott,  of  Maseachusetts. 

'cretary  of  the  Navy, Willliam  C.  Whitney,  of  New  York. 

cretary  of  the  Interior, William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin. 

ystmaster- General.  .......  Don  M.  Dickinson,  of  Michigan. 

ttorney- General Augustus  H.  Garland,  of  Arkansas. 


Wn't 


ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES. 


't.  Secretary  of  State, George  L.  Rives,  of  New  York. 

d  Ass't.  Secretary  of  State,  Alvey  A.  Adbb. 

I  Ass' t.  Secretary  of  State, John  B.  Moore,  of  Delaware. 

»»^    Q^.^.^f^^i^o  of  th^  'r^y,f,c„«»,  (  Hugh  S.  Thompson,  of  South  Carolina. 

8 1.  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,      .       .       .      -^  jg^^^  ^   Maynard,  of  New  York. 

mnander-in-Ohitf  of  the  Army,       .       .       .        Major-General  John  M.  Schofield. 

miral  of  the  Navy, David  D.  Porter. 

Assistant  Postmaster- General, A.  E.  Stevenson,  of  Illinois. 

1^^  "  "  A.  Leo  Knott,  of  Maryland. 

^R**  "  Henry  R.  Harris,  of  Georgia. 

Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior,        .       .       .       Henry  L.  Muldrow,  of  Mississippi. 
istant  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  ....        David  L.  Hawkins,  of  Missouri. 

citor- General, George  A.  Jenks,  of  Pennsylvania. 

tmissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,       .        .       •        .      S.  M,  Stockslager,  of  Indiana. 

imissioner  of  Fateuts, Benton  J.  Hall,  of  Iowa. 

imissioner  of  Pensions, John  C.  Black,  of  Illinois. 

imissioner  of  Agriculture, Norman  J.  Colman,  of  Missouri. 


648 


PRINCIPAL  OFFICERS  OF   THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT. 


CIVIL-SERVICE  COMMISSIONERS. 

Alfred  P.  Edgebton,  of  Ohio,  John  H.  Oberly,  of  Illinois, 

Charles  Lyman,  of  Connecticut. 


Cfovemment  Printer, 


Thomas  E.  Benedict,  of  New  York. 


President  of  the  United  States  Senate, 


John  J.  Ingalls,  of  Kansas. 


Speaker  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 


John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky.^ 


Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 


Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas. 


Chairman  of  tlie  Appropriations  Committee,  .       .         Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania.. 

COLLECTORS  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  PORTS.  S 

Mw  York  City Daniel  MagohH 

Philadelphia, John  Cadwaladbr^ 

Boston, Levkrett  Saltonstall. 

Chicago, A.  F.  Seeburger.. 

San  Francisco, John  S.  Hagab, 

New  Orleans B.  F.  Jonas. 

Baltimore James  B.  Groome. 

POSTMASTERS  OP  THE  PRINCIPAL  CITIES. 

Ifew  York  City Henry  G.  Pearson. 

Chicago, S.  Corning  Judd^ 

Philadelphia, William  F.  Harrity.. 

Boston,  John  M.  Corse. 

Brooklyn,  .       • Joseph  C.  Hendrix. 

San  Francisco, William  J.  Bryan, 

New  Orleans, George  W.  Noir. 

Pittsburg John  B.  Larkin»- 

Baltimore, Frank  Brown. 

MINISTERS  TO  LEADING  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  <,_ 

England, Edward  J.  Phelps,  of  Vermc 

France Robert  M,  McLane,  of  MaryU 

Germany,       .       .       » George  H.  Pendleton,  of  01 

Bussia George  V.  N.  Lothrop,  of  Michi 

Italy, John  B.  Stallo,  of  01 

Austria, A.  R.  Lawton,  of  Geor 

Spain, J.  L.  M.  Cdrry,  of  Virgil 

China,  Charles  Denby,  of  Indii 

Japan, Richard  B.  Hubbard,  of  Tea 

Turkey, Oscar  S.  Strauss,  of  New  JTc 

Brazil Thomas  J .  Jarvis,  of  North  Carol 


INDEX. 


IN  DEX 


PAGE 
AGBICUIiTURE— 

s&The  Department  of 355  to  264 

Relations  with  Colleges  and  Experi- 

5?»  ment  Stations 355 

Investig-ating  Adulterations  and  Imi- 

ak    tat  ions 356 

Stamping  Out  Cattle  Diseases 356 

Signal  Service  Stations  for  Farmers..  257 
General  Extension  of  the  Department 

Work    258 

Valuable  Experiments  in  Sugar  from 

Sorghum 359 

Closer  Relations  with  Practical  Farm- 
ers   359 

General  Record  of  the  Work  of  the 

Department 360 

The  President's  Message  on  Oleomar- 
garine  363 

Cleveland's  Message  to  Congress 363 

AT^iiTSON,   Senator,  of    Iowa,    on    the 

Tariff 119, 130, 131  and  125 

American  Citizens  Abroad,  Protec- 
tion of 151 

Abthur,  Chester  A.,  President,  on  the 
Tariff 118  and  125 


Bayard,  Chinese  Treaty,  The 155 

Blaine,  James  G  ,  on  Lumber 116 

Blaine,  James  G  .,  on  the  Tariff 118 

Blaine,  James  G.,  Pressure  of  Bogus 

Claims UQ 

Burchard,  Horatio  C,  on  the  Tariff.  134 
BUTTERWORTH,  Ben.j.,  on  the  Tariff.. ..  128 

Burdens.    Taking  off 596  to  634 

Decline    of    American    Shipping    in 

Thirty  Years  596 

Decline  in  comparative  JV umber  of 

Homes 597 

Workers  in  Non-Protective    Indus- 
tries  599 

■Some  of  the  Rates  of  Taxation 603 

Enhancing  the  Cost  of  Living 604 

•Garfield  and  the  Cobden  Club 606 

How  Ireland  has  suffered  from  High 

Taxes 609 

Suppose  it  was  a  Direct  Tax 613 

What  the  Farmer  Pays 613 

How  the  Farmer  is  made  to  Suffer. . .    616 

The  Duty  on  Lumber 617 

A  Woolen  Manufacturer's  Ideas 620 

High  Taxes  and  the  Farmer 633 

The  Appeal  of  a  Republican 636 

The  Burdensome  Tax  on  Salt 638 

The  Power  of  Taxation 631 

Dhe  Pauper  Labor  Argument 633 


PAGE 

Collins,  Patrick  A.,  Speech  of  at  St. 

Louis  Convention 11 

Candidates,  Notification  of 17 

CooLEY,  Thomas  M.,  on  the  Tariff 138 

Chinese  Immigration.    The  Restric- 
tion of 383  to  404 

Mr.  Thur man's  Opinion  in  1870 382 

Mr.  Hoar  states  the  Republican  posi- 
tion  383 

Chinese    Coolies    took  the  place  of 

Soldiers 384 

Efforts  to  Restrict  Immigration  Killed 

by  Republicans 384 

Mr.  Thur  man  states  the  case 385 

Party  Records  on  the  Question  386 

Attitude  of  Parties  after  a  New  Treaty 

had  been  Concluded 386 

Position  of  the  Democratic  Candidates  388 

A  N  ew  Treaty  Negotiated 389 

Mr.  Bayard  to  the  President 389 

Full  Text  of  the  Treaty  of  Exclusion    390 

Republican  Evasion  of  this  Law 393 

How  the  Thing  is  Done  in  Spite  of  the 

Law 393 

The  Vigorous  Protest  of  the  Repre- 

senatives  of  Labor 393 

Methods    Suggested  for  Preventing 

this  Importation 393 

A  Strong  Memorial  to  Congress 393 

Efforts  of  the  Department  of  Justice.  394 

What  Labor  Gets  in  China •  •  395 

Wages  per  Month  in  the  Province  of 

Amoy,  China  395 

Wages  and  Living  In  other  Provinces.  395 
Chine  e  Competition  in  this  Country. .  397 
Almost    Absolute    lack    of    Chinese 

Homes 397 

The  Terrible  Condition  of  the  Chinese 

Question 398 

How  these  Human  Herds  Live 398 

How  "  Protection "  is  Prevented  by 

these  People 399 

How  the  Influx  of  this  Servile  Class 

Continues 399 

How   the   Chinese    are    Driving  out 

Women  as  well  as  Men 400 

How  to  Protect  Labor  in  Earnest 401 

What    Harrison's    Personal    Organ 

Thought 401 

Republican  Opinion  in  California  in 

1883 403 

Chinese  Treaty,  The  New 154 

Chinese  Treaty,  The  Bayard 1.55 

Cleveland  and  Corporations.. 378  to  381 
Cleveland,  G rover— 
Speech  Accepting  Nomination,  1888.. .    17 


652 


INDEY. 


PAGE 

Cleveland,  Grover— 

Sketch  of 20 

Speeches,  Letters  and  Messages  of . . ..    45 

First  Important  Veto  as  Mayor,  1883.    45 

Inaugural  Address  as  Governor,  1883.    46 

Inaugural  Address  as  Pre8ident,1885.    47 
Political  Letters  and  Speeches  of 50 

Address  Accepting  Nomination  for 
Mayor  of  Buffalo,  1881 50 

Letter  Accepting  Nominaiion  for 
Governor,  1883 51 

Serenade  Speech  in  Albany,  N.  Y., 
1884 !    53 

Response  to  Notification  of  Nomina- 
tion at  Albany,  N.  Y.,1884 54 

Letter  of  Acceptance  as  President, 

1884 55 

Letters  and  Addresses  to  Religious 
Bodies...  57 

Address  at  the  Laying  of  the  Corner- 
stone of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building, 
in  Buffalo,  1883 57 

Reception  to  Cardinal  Gibbons 58 

Address  at  the  Laying  of  the  Corner- 
stone of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building, 
at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1887 59 

Address  to  the  Evangelical  Alliance, 
1887 60 

Remarks  Before  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Presbyterian  Assemblies 

at  Philadelphia,  1888 60 

Thanksgiving  Proclamations  as  Piosi- 
dent 63 

Annual  Proclamation,  1885 63 

Annual  Proclamation,  1886 63 

Annual  Proclamation,  1887 63 

To  Commercial  and  Agricultural  Or- 
ganizations     64 

At  the  Oswpgatche  Fair,  Ogdens- 
burgh,  N.  Y.,  1883 64 

At  the  Agricultural  Fair,  Richmond, 
Va.,1886 66 

At  the  Commercial  Exchange,  Phila- 
delphia, 1887 67 

Before  the  Milwaukee  Merchants' 
Association,  1887 67 

New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce. .    68 

Texas  Seed  Bill,  Veto  of 69 

Before  Patriotic  Meetings  and  Socie- 
ties   70 

Presenting  the  Lecturer, Rev.Father 
Sheehy,  at  St.  Stephen's  Hall,  Buf- 
falo, 1881 70 

Address  at  St.  James'  Hall,  Buffalo, 
at  a  Mass-Meeting  protesting 
against  the  treatment  of  Ameri- 
can Citizens  Imprisoned  Abroad, 
1882 70 

At  the  Annual  S^ngerfest  in  Buf- 
falo, 1883 73 

At  the  Dinner  of  the  Hibernian  So- 
ciety, Philadelphia.  1887 73 

Speechs  at  Centennial  Celebrations ...    74 

At  the  350th  Anniversary  of  Harvard 
College,  1886 74 

At  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  1887 75 

Response  to  toast,  "The  President  of 
the  United  States,"  at  the  Cen- 
tennial Celebration  at  Clinton,  N. 
Y.,  1887 77 

At  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the 
Adoption  of  the  Constitution,  Phil- 
adelphia, 1887 80 

At  the  Dinner  Given  by  the  Histor- 
ical and  Scientific  Societies  of  Phil- 
adelphia, 1887 78 


PAGE 

Cleveland,  Grover— 
At  the  Unveiling  of  Monuments  and 

Statues 81 

Unveiling  of   Bartholdi   Statue,  at 

New  York,1886 81 

Unveiling  of  the  Gai-fleld  Statue,  at 

Washington,  D.  C,  1887 81 

Letters  to  Soldiers'  Organizations 83 

Letter  to  the  Re-union  of  Union  and 
ex-Confederate  Soldiers  at  Gettys- 
burg, 1887 82 

To  Mayor  Francis,  of  St.  Louis,  1887.    83^ 

Estimates  of  Public  Men 8-'5 

The  Character  of  Andrew  Jackson, 

1886 85 

A  Tribute  to  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  1888 .    86 
The  Career  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 

1888 87 

Tribute  to  General  P.  H.  Sheridan, 

1888 88 

Civil  Service  Reform 89 

Consistent  record  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land on 89 

Speeches,  Letters  and   Official  Mes- 
sages advocating 89 

Letter  Accepting  Nomination  for  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  1883 89 

From   First  Message  to  New  York 

Legislature,  1883 89 

From  Second  Annual  Message  to  New 

York  Legislature,  1884 90 

From  Letter  Acccepting  Nomination 
for  President  of  the  United  States, 

1884 90 

Letter  from  George  William  Curtis, 

Esq.,  1884 90 

Reply  of  Governor  Cleveland  to  G.  W. 

0.,1884 91 

Letter  from  George  William  Curtis, 

Egq.  and  others,  1884 93 

Reply  of  Grover  Cleveland,  President 

Elect,  1884 

From  Inaugural  Address  as  President, 

1885 

From  First  Annual  Message  to  Con- 
gress, 1885 

Order  to  the  Executive  Departments, 


From  Second  Annual  Message  to  Con- 
gress, 1886 

Republican  Extension  of  the  Service 
alter  the  Election  of  1884 

Letter  to  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion, 1888 

Letter  to  Congress,  1888 

Civil  Service,  Condition  or  the.... 

Employed  Without  Authority  of  law.. 

Condition  of  Custom  Houses  and 
Postoffices 

Its  Condition  as  Described  by  a  Repub- 

When  Abuses  Reached  their  Fullest 
Development 

The  Assessment  Law  a  Confederate 
Brigadier  Conspiracy 

The  Improvement  Under  Democratic 
Administration 

The  Contesr  with  the  Senate 

Cleveland's  Message  to  the  Senate.... 

Democratic  Doctrines 

Dougherty,  Danikl,  Speech  of 

Dawes,  Henry  L.,  on  the  Tariff  

Democratic    Secretaries    op    the 

Treasury,  on  the  Tariff U 

Democracy  and  the  Soldier,.. 268  to; 


INDEX. 


65» 


PAOK 

Dbmocbacy,  The,  and  Labor 348  to  377 

An  Honest  Day's  Wages  for  an  Hon- 
est Day's  Work 848 

The  Labor  Plank  of  1882 340 

Cleveland's  Labor  Record  as  Governor  349 

The  Democracy  in  1884 . .  351 

The  President's  Interpretation  of  the 

Labor  Plank 353 

Cleveland's  Recommendations  as  Pres- 
ident  353  to  356 

Labor  Imported  Under  Contract 356 

Enforcing:  the  Law. ...   359 

Eight-hour  Legislation 363 

Some  Labor  Tendencies 367 

Harrison  and  Irishman 373 

Labor  Denunciations  of  Harrison 375 

Labor  Interests  in  Congress 377 

EVARTS,  WiiiLiAM  M.,  on  the  Tariff. ...  123 

FoiiGER,  Chablbs  J.,  on  the  Tariff 130 

Fitch,   Representative  of  New  York, 

on  the  Tariff 133 

Fisheries  Treaty,  The 163 

Free  Whiskey  Policy,  The 418  to  439 

Moral  effect  of  Internal  Taxes 418 

How  the  new  Policy  of  the  Republi- 
cans would  bring  the  Price  of  Whis- 
key down 419 

Gen'l  Clinton  B.  Fisk's  Letter  of  Ac- 
ceptance   421 

Robert  G  Ingersoll,  the  Poet  of  the 
New  Crusade 423 

Even  M  r.  Blaine  Opposed  to  his  Party 
Platform 433 

How  the  Emancipation  of  Whiskey  is 
to  be  Brought  about  by  the  Efforts 
of  the  Republican  Party 436 

The  Blight  of  Free  Whiskey 427 

Mr.  Jefferson's  Opinion  on  the  Ques- 
tion   437 

What  Free  Whiskey  will  do  for  the  • 
South 438 

What  Republicans  say  toWorklngmen  428 

Abolition  of  the  Whiskey  Tax 439 

"FEiiLow  Like  Morton,  A 445  to  448 

Grant,  Presidbnt,  on  the  tariff — 117, 118 

Garfield,  James  A.,  on  the  tariff 

121, 122,  123, 124  and  130 

Gear,  John  H,  on  the  tariff 133 

Grimes,  James  W.,  on  the  tariff 137 

Government  Printing  Office— 

The 337  to  330 

Contracts    for  material  and   ma- 
chinery  337 

Work  for  private  parties 338 

When  and  how  Reform  Methods  were 

Inaugurated 339 

How    the    Improved    System    has 

Worked 329 

Economy  with  which  the  Work  has 

been  done 330 

Gettysburg  Reumion.   The 441  to  444 

Speech  of  General  Longstreet 441 

Speech  of  General  Sickles,  of    New 

York 442 

Speech  of  Governor  Gordon,of  Georgia  443 
Speech  of  Governor  Beaver,  of  Penn- 
sylvania   443 

Government,  Principal  Ofacers  of  the 
Federal 647 

Hale,  Eugene,  on  the  Tariff 117 

Harrison,  Bsnjamin,  on  the  Tariff..  118 
^  kY,  John  B.,  on  the  Tariff 139 


PAGE 

Harrison  and  the  Chinese 405  to  410 

No  use  to  Make  the  Fight 405 

For  the  Chinese  when  at  Home 40T 

For  the  Chinese  when  in  the  Senate. .  407 

Indian  Bureau,  The 339  to  248 

Indians,  Interest  of  the  President  in 

the 239  to  243 

Progress    made    by,   under    Present 

Administration 342 

More  Quiet  than  Ever 343 

Keeping  down  Wars  by  making  no 

Aggression 344 

Agency  Clerks  and  other  Employes, 

Choice  of 345 

Agency  Physicians 245 

Deception,  Safeguards  against 346 

Leaves  of  Absence 346. 

Schools 247 

Expenditures  for  Service 248 

Justice,  The  Department  of ...  .252,  253, 254 

Enforcing  the  Laws 352 

U.  S.  Marshals  in  the  South 253- 

Court  Expenses 25* 

Three  years  of  Arthur's  Administra- 
tion   253 

Three  years  of  Cleveland's  Admin- 
istration   354 

U.  S.  Judges  Appointed  since  March 
4th,  1885 254- 

Kelley,  Wm.  D,,  of  Pennsylvania,  on 
Free  Wool 116- 

Kelley,  Wm.  D.,  of  Pennsylvania,  on  Tax 
Reduction, 117' 

Kasson.  John  A.,  on  the  Tariff.  .  •  117, 127 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  on  the  Tariff..  121 

Long,  John  D.,  on  the  Tariff  121 

Logan,  John  A.,  on  the  Tariff 127 

McCuLLOCH,HuGH,onthe  Tariff  .117  and  124 
McKiNLEY,  William,  on  the  Tariff. ...  117 

Miller,  Warner,  on  the  Tariff 117 

Miller,  Justice  of  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  on  the  Tariff 119 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  on  the  Tariff 121 

MoGill,  Governor  of  Minnesota,  on  the 

Tariff 124 

Morrill, Justin  S.,onthe  Tariff. 128  and  ISO- 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  on  the  Tariff 128 

Marshall,  S.  S.,  on  the  Tariff 12» 

Miller's, Guilford,  Farm 332  to  338 

Mills  Bill.  English  Fear  of  the-  .461  to 467 
The  Statesmen,  Economists,  and  Man- 
ufacturers of  England  Anxious  and 

Watchful  about  It 461 

Against  the  Interest  of  England 463 

Doesn't  have  a  Free  Trader's  Method  464 
What  an  English  Fair  Trader  Thinks.  464 
N  o  other  Country  Adopting  England's 

Policy \;-:.\:^--:  *^^' 

Of  Great  Disadvantage  to  Enghsh  Busi-    ^ 

ness :,"••  *^ 

Very  Little  Interest  taken  in  the  Move- 
ment  •,;j';;-  ^^ 

What  the    Gladstone    Organ   (Daily 

New)  Thinks  of  It 466 

Some  Trade-Paper  Opinions 467 

Mills  Bill  is.  What  the 506  to  o27 

The  Free  List 506 

Dutiable  List,  Chemicals,  &c 509 

Earthenware  and  Glassware  519> 

Metals fig: 

Woodenware 51^ 

Sugar 61*' 


•654 


PAGE 

Mills  Bill  i8— 

Provisions 514 

Cotton  and  Cotton  Goods 514 

Hemp,  Jute  and  Flax  Goods 515 

Woolen  Goods 515 

Books,  Papers,  &c 517 

Sundries 517 

•Articles  in  which  no  Change  i-i  Made. .  518 

Earthenware  and  Glassware ...  519 

Metals 520 

Wood  and  Wooden  ware 533 

Sugar 533 

Tobacco 533 

Provisions 533 

Liquors 534 

Cotton  and  Cotton  Goods 534 

Wool  and  Woolens 535 

Silk  and  Silk  Goods 535 

Books,  Papers,  &c 535 

Sundries 535 

flecapitulation  of  Estimated  Reduc- 
tion   537 

."Nelson,  Representative  of  Minnesota, 

on  the  Tariff 123 

National  Honor,  The  Protection  of, 

635  to  640 
The  Message  of  President  Cleveland 
on  the  Question  of  Retaliating  upon 

Canada 635 

National    Association    op    Demo- 
cratic Clubs 436  to  440 

:NAV!r,  The  Reconstruction  of  the 196 

'O'Reilly,  John  Boyle  on  the  Tariff.. .  490 

Party  Platforms  for  1888 449  to  456 

Platform  of  1888,  Democratic 3 

Platform  of  1884,  Democratic 5 

•Platform  of  1868,  National  Republi- 
can, on  the  Tariff 119 

Platform  of  1884,  National  Republi- 
can, on  th  '  Tariff 119 

Plumb,  P.  B.,  on  the  Tariff 129 

Protection  of  American  Citizens 

Abroad,  The 151 

Public  Land  Policy,  The 309 

President  Cleveland  on  Public  Lands.  309 

Reckless  Railroad  Grants 311 

Land  Grant  Forfeitures 313 

'Republican    Responsibility    for   the 

Waste 213 

The  Guilford  Miil'or  Case .'.'.". ." ! '. ' '. '.  *. '. '. *. '.  215 

The  Action  of  the  Department 216 

Private  Land  Claims 318 

Fraudulent  Surveys 318 

The  Benson  Fraud  319 

Method  of  Working  Fraudulent  Sur- 
veys    320 

Lands  Restored  to  Public  Domain 333 

-Areas  and  Population  of  LeadingCoun- 

tries 335 

Area  of  Statt^s  and  Territories 335 

Timber  Depredations 336 

Land  Office  Policy 337 

Public  Buildings,  The  331  to  337 

Honest  and  Efficient  Work 331 

The  Promotion  of  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency   331 

Sharper    Competition    and    Quicker 

Work 333 

Buildings  Now  Under  Construction..  333 
Veto  of  Public  Building  Bills.. 333  to  337 

£>atent  Office,  The 349,  350  and  351 

High  Order  oi  Merit  in  Decisions 349 

Corporate  Power  and  the  Patent  Laws  250 
•Comparative  Statement  of  Work  Done  351 


PAG 


POSTOFFICE,  The 304  to  326 

Increase  of    Efficiency  at   Reduced 

Comparative  Cost 305, 306  and  307 

Railway   Mail  and   Star  Route  Ser- 
vices  308  to  313 

Mail  Transportation 314  and  315 

Mail  Equipment 316 

Condensed  Statement  Showing   Sav- 
ings Effected    In   Annual  Rate   of 

Expenditure  for  Postal  Service 317 

Expedition  of  Mails 319 

Bringing  Delinquents  to  Book 321 

Work  Done  by  Postoffie  Inspectors 
During  the  Fiscal  Years  1884,  1886, 

1887  and  1888 333 

Decline  of  Complaints - 333 

Gains  In  the  Free  Delivery  Service...  334 
Sale    of    Postage    Stamps,  Amount 

Realized  from  the 334 

Increase  in  Number  of  Postofflces  . .  •  334 

Further  Gains  in  Hon'^sty 334 

Parcel  Post  Conventions. 335 

Promoting  Trade  with  Mexico 335 

Gains  in  Honest  Service  for  Salaries 

Paid 336 

Gains  in  Saving  in  Department  Ex- 
penditures    326 

Pensions  -More  Granted 268 

Agents,  The,  Soldiers  in  Office 269 

Department  Work 270 

Last  Three    Years  of  Dudley's  Ad- 
ministration    370 

First  Three  Years  of  Black's  Admin- 
istration   371 

Net  increase  to  rolls 371 

Funds  Disbursed  on  Account  of 373 

New  Names  Added  to  Rolls 373 

Annual  Value  of  and  the  Increase  of.  373 
Efficiency   of  the  Department,  Rep- 
resentative McKinney's  speech  on 

the 273,374 

Cleveland  and  the  Soldiers 374 

Cleveland's  Speech  before  the  Grand 

Army,  1885 375 

The  President  and  the  Soldiers 376 

Acts  Approved  by  the  President 377 

Mr.  Cleveland's  Veto  (Dependent  Pen- 
sion Bill) 379 

Republican  Testimony  in  favor  of  the 
President's  Veto  of  the  Dependent 

Bill 380 

Republican  Press  on  the  Veto  of  De- 
pendent Bill 381 

The  President  to  the  Grand  Army. ...  283 

The  Private  Pension  Vetoes 284 

The    President's     Reasons     for    his 

Vetoes 385 

Grant's  Vetoes 388 

Geo.  W.  Childs  on  the  Vetoes 388 

The  Vetoed  Bills 390  to  303 

Political  Tables 643  to  646 

Presidents  and  Vice-Presidents  of  the 

United  States 643 

Congressional  Representation  of  the 

States  643 

The  Presidential  Election 644 

Popular  Vote  for  President,  1884 645 

Popular  and  Electoral  Votes  for  Presi- 
dent, 1860-1884 646 

Republicans  Vote  FOB  FREE  Coal..  134 
Religious  Revolt,  The 430  to  435 

St.  Louts  Convention,  The 11 

Sherman,  Senator    of  Ohio,    on    the 

Tariff 117,118,123,134,126,  129 

Storbs,  Emory  A.,  on  the  Tariff 128 


INDEX. 


655? 


^  PAGE 

State  Department,  The 145 

Blaine's  Pressure  of  Bogus  Claims. . . .  146 

The  Equality  of  Nations 149 

The  Protection  of  American  Citizens 

Abroad 151 

The  Bayard  Chinese  Treaty 155 

Resenting-  Ileligious  Intolerance 156 

Extradition  Treaty  with  Great  Britain  159 

The  Fisheries  Treaty 163 

Practical  Workings  of  the  Department  173 
"Subsidy"— Mr.  Harrison's  Ugly  Word, 

411  to  417 
Mr.  Harrison's  Ignorance  exposed —  411 
What  American  Merchants  say  of  the 

Present  Policy 411 

What  the   Government  of    Great 

Britain  thinks  of  it 412 

The    Best  Results   Secured    by  the 

American  System 413 

Increased    Compensation    paid    to 

American  Vessels 413 

Expediting  the  Service  to  Cuba 413 

Great  Britain  asks  to  use  our  Central 

American  Mails 413 

Postmaster  General  Dickinson  on  Sub-  » « 

sidy  Schemes 414 

Hampering  the  Depjirtment  and  the 

Mail  Service 414 

A  Scheme  for  the  Benefit  of  a  Small 

Number  of  Persons 415 

The  Best  Service  always  Commended.  415 
The  Postoffice  not  the  Purveyor  of  Sub- 
sidies   415 

Why  England  may  Afford  to  Pay  a 

Bounty 416 

Our  Business   Relations  with   South 

and  Central  America.. 416 

Tariff  Changes.  The  History  of  .457  to  460 

Senator  Allison,  of  Iowa,  on  the 

119. 130, 121,  125 

President  Arthur  on  the 118  and  125 

Cleveland  on  the 27  to  42 

Message  to  New  York  Legislature, 

1884 27 

Speech  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  1884 28 

Inaugural  Address,  1885 29 

First  Annual  Message  to  Congress, 

1885 29 

Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress, 

1886 80 

Third  Annual  Message  to  Congress, 

1887 32 

Letter  to  Tammany  Hall  Celebra- 
tion, 1888 41 

Commission,  Report  of 138 

Pairchild,  Charles  S.,  on  the 142 

Manning,  Daniel,  on  the 142 

Presidents  of  the  United  States  on 

the 131  to  139 

Republican  Opinions  on  the 116 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  on  the 143 

Wilson,  Henry,  on  the 121  and  125 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  on  the 339 

Blaine,  James  G.,  on  the 118 

Burchard,  Horatio  C,  on  the 118 

Butterworth,  Benj.,  on  the 128 

Cooley,  Thomas  M.,  on  the 128 

Dawes,  Henry  L.,  on  the 124 

Evarts,  William  M.,  on  the 122 

Folger,  Charles  J.,  on  the 120 

Grant,  President,  on  the 117  and  118 

Garfield,  James  A.,  on  the 

121,  122,  r<;3, 124,  130 

Gear,  John  H.,  on  the 122 

Grimes,  James  W.,  on  the 127 

I  Hale,  Eugene,  on  the 117 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  on  the 118 


„  PAGE: 

Tariff— 

Kasson,  John  A.,  on  the 117  and  127 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  on  the 121 

Long,  John  D.,  on  the jw 

McCulloch.  Hugh,  on  the 117  and  124 

McKinley.  William,  on  the 117 

McGill,  Governor  of  Minnesota,  on  the  124 

Marshall,  S.  S,,  on  the 139 

Miller,  Justice  of  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  on  the 119 

Miller,  Warner,  on  the 117 

Morrill,  Justin  S.,  on  the 127  and  130 

Morton,  Levi  P.,  on  the 128 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  on  the 121 

Plumb,  P.B.,  on  the 129 

Sherman,  Senator,  of  Ohio,  on  the  .... 

117,118,123,124,126,  129 

Storrs,  Emory  A.,  on  the 128 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  on  the 339. 

Tariff.  "Fat"  in  the 468  to  473 

Circular  Letter  of  James  P.  Foster, 
President  of  the  Republican  League 

of  the  United  States 469^ 

The  Reply  of  a  Republican  Manufac- 
turer to  Mr.  Foster's  Circular,  Why 

hecannotHelp 470 

The  Advice  given  by  a  Senator.  471 

Not  Afraid  of  Tarift  Revision 472 

Tax  REVi8iON,Reason8  inFavor  of  .474  to  498 

Opinions  of  Operatives 474 

How  Discrimmations  Injure  the  Man- 
ufacturer   475 

How  Trusts  are  Encouraged 476 

The  Burdens  of  Taxation 477 

The  Average  Wages  Earned  in  Mills. .  479 
What  the  Tariif   Beneficiaries  have 

done 479 

The  Wage  Account  in   the  Woolen 

Industry 480- 

A  Petition  for  Free  Wool 481 

A  Manufacturer's  Opinion  482 

How  Invention  has  Cheapened  Manu- 

"f  ftCtUTG  ••••••••   ••••■  id.fis5l 

Ready  to  Compete  with  the  World!.'.*!  483 

"It  has  set  us  to  Thinking" 434 

Hugh  M  cCulloch's  Opinion 487 

How  the  Average  is  Computed 488 

Ashbel  P.  Fitch  Deserts  the  Cause  of 

High  Taxes 489 

Ex-Mayor  of  Brooklyn,  Seth  Low, 
cannot  Stand  the  Republican  Plat- 
form   491 

Argument  of  Wool  Manufacturers  in 

Favor  of  Free  Raw  Material 492 

How  the  Difficulty  may  be  Met 493 

Edwin  G.  Sanford,  Hat  Manufacturer, 

Wants  Free  Raw  Materif  Is 493 

William  Harney,  Sec'y  Golden  Gate 
Woolen    Manufacturing    Co.,    San 
Francisco,  in  Favor  of  Free  Wool. . .  494 
James  Russell  Lowell,  on  Cleveland..  496 
Speech  of  Emory  A .  Storrs  in  1870. ...  497 

Taxes  of  the  Rich,  The 499  to  505 

How  these  have  been  Released  since 

1866 499 

Removal  of  Taxes  on  Incomes,  etc....  501 
Removal  of  Taxes  on  Drinking  and 

Smoking 503 

"A  Condition— NOT  A  THEORY.".528  to  595 

Whatis  proposed  and  Why.  Report  of 

the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 

April  2,  1888.. 529  to  538 

Efficiency  of  American  labor.  Speech 
of  R.  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas,  April  17, 1888. 

539  to  553 
Importing    Labor     under    Contract. 
From  the  Speech  of  Benton  McMil- 
lan, of  Tennessee,  April  24, 1888..553  to  555 


656 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Analyzing  the  Schedule.  From  the 
Speech  of  Clifton  R.  Breckenridf?e, 
of  Arkansas,  May  17, 1888 555  to  562 

The  Effect  of  Free  Wool.  From  the 
Speech  of  W.  C.  P.  Breckenridpre,  of 
Kentucky,  July  16 562  to  565 

Comparison  with  the  War  Tariff. 
From  a  Speech  by  Henry  G.  Turner, 
of  Georgia,  May  10 565  to  567 

Variation  of  the  Kate  of  Wages. 
From  a  Speech  by  William  L.  Wilson, 
of  West  Virginia,  May  3d 567  to  571 

Cost  of  High  Taxes  to  thf*  Farmer 571 

Decline  of  Sheep  Raising 584 

Purely  a  Practical  Question 587 

Thitrman,  Allen  G.— 

Public  Record 338  to  347 

Views  on  the  Tariff 339 

On  State  Rights  and  Federal  Powers,  339 
Objections  to  Centralization — ,  —  340 


PAOB 

Thurman,  Allen  G.— 

The  Elective  Franchise 341 

On  the  Chinese  Question 343 

Opposition  to  the   Squandering  of 

Public  Lands 344 

His  Position  Justified 346,  347 

Treasury— 

Administration  of  the 174  to  195 

Buying  Bonds  for  the  Sinking  Fund.  175 

Reducing  the  Public  Debt 180 

Auditing  the  Public  Accounts 183 

The  Internal  Revenue  Bureau 189 

General  Good  Results 191 

Taxes  on  Necessaries 193 

Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the 
Government 194 

Wilson,  Henrt,  on  the  Tariff 121-135 

War  Department,  The 265,  266,  367 

Doing  Away  with  Favoritism 365 

The  Battle  Flags  Incidents 286 


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